Bullet Casting Woes

[villiers]

I´ll try and make exact measurements of the Buffalo Werder cases (to make it a bit more complicated, they´ve got the Mauser dished base). I´ve got the Hensel mould ... but shot the Werder again yesterday. I´d re-set the front sight and got ALL the rounds centred. But couldn´t get the height anything like standard (shooting from a very stable rest). They were either much too high or too low and much too varied to have been me. So I can only assume that it´s the weight of the bullets. If the carbine can shoot an accurate, centred group and only the height varies, it can be little else, and all I can do is to work on the ammunition. (With all your help) I´ll work on getting a sizing die.

BTW, Patrick, I was astounded at the eGun auction result. Sometimes quite rare items go for practically nothing and then ... goes through the proverbial roof.

[jmoore]

I bought one in a standard size and turned up some inserts. The turning itself is not the problem. Your problem will be in finding someone who will cut the fine US thread on the insert, or getting hold of a suitable die to do it yourself.

And this bit was in reference to what? The Lee bullet sizing dies have only the coarse 7/8-"whatsits" thread on the OD. RCBS or Lyman bullet sizing dies have no threads at all...

[Patrick Chadwick]

Well spotted JM! And thanks for the tip. I fooled myself there, because the parts were in the same holder as the Lee push-through sizer.

The full story is as follows:

I have a 451 muzzle-loading target rifle. for which I purchased a Lee sizer. I wanted to try fine-tuning the bullet size and tin-lead alloy for best results. Being both impatient and economic, I did not want to pay out a lot of money and have to wait until the season was over for Lee sizers in various bullet diameters.

(BTW, the conclusion of all the experimentation was that the rifle performs best with the bullets fired as cast from the Hensel mould with 3% tin!)

I therefore turned up my own sizer inserts for an anonymous (RCBS?) die shell with a 5/8"x 18 internal thread. The original Lee sizer is on the right.

Attachment 43599

You can see that I made the new ram to be somewhat longer than the original Lee ram. The Lee ram is rather too short, leaving at least two bullets in the sizer when you are finished. But the maximum length is determined by the press stroke. And the ram must fit the inside of the sizer insert fairly closely, otherwise the bullet base tends to smear around the top of the ram.

The external diameter of the sizer insert must also fit the bore of the die shell quite closely. The knurled section at the top means that one has to cut the thread from the bottom. Since the diameter of the sizer insert is a trifle larger than the core diameter of the thread, the result is a vestigial thread up the body of the sizer. Note also that there is a clear-cut groove between the knurled section and the thread, to allow a thread run-out. This is vital, whether you cut the thread by hand or in a lathe, to avoid a nasty jam when the cutting tool reaches the end of the thread just before the knurled section.

Maybe someone else can identify the die shell which I used. It has no markings that I can find.

Anyway, I hope the principle is now adequately clear for those with machine tools to do likewise.

Which leads me to the following P.S:
Patrick, if you really want to follow the BPCR path seriously for oddball BPCR calibers, you need a small lathe - or a friendly local turner who is interested enough to spend time on such one-off projects and a well-filled purse! Even if one had the money, eternal season-long waits for custom equipment would lead to a loss of interest. When I have an idea, I want to try it out last week!

[villiers]

I always wanted to try my hand on a lathe. Shortly after German re-unification, I found a large Soviet 4WD with a fully fitted out cabin that contained a small lathe etc. on the airfield. It was almost mine, when an East German NCO turned up and insisted that the lathe (new and unused) together with a whole collection of tools (still wrapped in wax paper) was to be scrapped. Later, it was my pleasure to refuse the NCO his first civilian job.

[Patrick Chadwick]

insisted that the lathe (new and unused) together with a whole collection of tools (still wrapped in wax paper) was to be scrapped.

And did you believe him?

[Patrick Chadwick]

Sometimes quite rare items go for practically nothing and then ... goes through the proverbial roof.

That's why I go for "armory mint" - kicked around on the outside, as new on the inside. Exactly what you cannot judge at online auctions!

[villiers]

That was the basis of contention. I offered to purchase the lathe and donate it to the local gliding club. But he insisted on his "regulations" and had it smashed and tipped onto a scrap container. It was later pointed out that the lathe was an exact copy of a British Victorian era model.

[jmoore]

Just got a four cavity mould. Very nice. Except there's no handles to be had! Aieee!!!

Dad-gummed capitalist swine! Lyman 4-cavity moulds have a narrow handle slot and big retaining pins. RCBS two cavity moulds have a slot just enough narrower than the two cavity Lymans that they won't fit on Lyman handles. Well, after converting the old Lachmiller moulds to fit the old Lyman small handles, dealing with these new moulds was without much hand wringing. Should have a fairly universal fit set of handles and moulds finished this morning. Slots have been enlarged and the pin hole drilling is underway. The old Lyman single cavity moulds won't work, but there's handles enough already for them.

Can't think of a good reason for all of the attachment variations for moulds of basically the same size except as a money making annoyance. Oddly, the Lyman and RCBS bullet sizing dies are acknowledged by at least Lyman as being interchangable in their respective presses.

[villiers]

Would it be that difficult to make wooden handles (maybe out of a piece of old broom handle? ... or just use a length of plastic hose?)

[jmoore]

Would it be that difficult to make wooden handles (maybe out of a piece of old broom handle? ... or just use a length of plastic hose?)

"Handles" referring to the whole scissors-like assembly in this case. The wooden gripping area isn't a drama.

Did have a self-induced defugalty drilling the attaching holes for the four cavity mould. The Lyman sprue cutting plate has a secondary lock at the opposite end which can bind the blocks if not out of the way altogether when closing. So when holding the handles shut on the blocks with shims at the bottom of the grooves during the drilling operation, the holes were generated at a slight angle. After pins were installed the mould would tend to remain slightly open at the top! Took a while to figure out the cause, but it was not to hard to correct the problem after much head scratching. "Murphy" must like bullet casters...