Time to make the donuts....

[JoeDuke]

When using Lacquer Thinner, is there any concentration?

You submerge the bullets in it or just passa a rag with thinner?

submerge. Put the bullets in a jar. Pour in some thinner. Slosh around a bit and pour off the thinner. Put bullets out in sunlight and let dry.
Shoot em!

 

[jackieschmidt]

The only thing I do to the finished bullets is wash them in lacquer thinner to remove the lube from the bullet making process.

I just dump them in a pie pan, spray them down with CRC Electric Cleaner, wipe them with paper towel.

It removes the lube.

For what’s it’s worth, mint top custom bullet makers leave the lube on.

 

[JoeDuke]

submerge. Put the bullets in a jar. Pour in some thinner. Slosh around a bit and pour off the thinner. Put bullets out in sunlight and let dry.
Shoot em!

Maybe I should clarify just a little. I make .30 cal bullets in a set of steel dies which take more lube than carbide dies. My .30’s come out feeling a bit greasy. So i degrease them. I make 6mm bullets in a set of carbide dies which take much less lube. They feel dry and i shoot them just as they come out of the die.

 

[20PPC]

Mine shine like chrome !

 

[AlNyhus]

Maybe I should clarify just a little. I make .30 cal bullets in a set of steel dies which take more lube than carbide dies. My .30’s come out feeling a bit greasy. So i degrease them. I make 6mm bullets in a set of carbide dies which take much less lube.

To Joe's point, there can be more lube remaining on the inside of the jacket (directly behind the metplat) than we'd think.

With tumbling to lube the jackets, it's inevitable that some lube will migrate into the jackets. Some could get there during core seating. With a core seat operation where the cored jacket is placed on the seating punch and the die is then advanced over the jacket (like a Blackmon setup), the forward edge of the jacket can't pick up any lube off the die. With a conventional setup, I can see where that could happen.

There's also more clearance between the non-core seated jacket and the die before the core is seated and the jacket expands up. Maybe that bit of clearance lets the jacket 'scoop' a little lube on it's way up the die until it stops at the core seat punch?

When pointing, there's less clearance between the jacket and die. Maybe that either helps...or adds to... any possible forward edge 'scooping'?

When the point is formed, there's a helluva lot of pressure in play. There's certainly lube that lives in that area of the die and around the ejector pin that can be forced into the developing metplat as the point is formed.

I stumbled on this quite by accident. I was looking at the metplats with a loupe and for some reason, I just tapped the point end of a bullet into the palm of my hand. There was a little grease spot on the skin. After soaking the bullets in acetone, I did it again. The spot was still there. But it seemed a bit 'diluted'...for lack of a better term.

Tumbling the bullets in acetone was the next step. No more grease spot. And the acetone was dirtier than I would have imagined. Remember, these bullets had previously been soaked in acetone once.

I'd never say this is a real deal with every set up. Lube, dies, lube amount and all the other vagaries and subtleties are certainly involved. At the very least, it's something interesting that can be checked.

Heck...even it there is a bit of residual lube inside, it could be flashed off instantly by the heat when it's on the way up the barrel.

Thoughts????

Good shootin' -Al

 

[JoeDuke]

Al, concerning lube inside the meplat, you certainly could be right. As that point forms in the point up die, it most certainly is “scraping” the inside of the die, for lack of a better description. I know that after doing a batch of bullets there is a visible amount of lube gathered in the very tip around the knockout pin. Whether enough gathers in the meplat to affect flight or not, I do not know. The only real reason i have washed them was to eliminate the slightly “greasy” look and feel. As long as they shoot well, I am satisfied.
I am convinced that making a good bullet is all in the core seat operation. If that is done correctly, every thing else is along for the ride. If core seating is not done correctly, you cannot correct the error in any later operation. Do it all correctly and the bullets shoot dots. Over pressure the core seat until you damage the jacket and the bullets shoot big blobs. I do not know of anything you can do later to fix this.

 

[AlNyhus]

If core seating is not done correctly, you cannot correct the error in any later operation. Do it all correctly and the bullets shoot dots. Over pressure the core seat until you damage the jacket and the bullets shoot big blobs. I do not know of anything you can do later to fix this.

Yep. "...no direction home" -Bob Dylan

 

[JoeDuke]

Preach on!

brother loves traveling band - Search Videos

Watch videos instantly on Bing—enjoy direct playback, discover related clips, and dive into trending content all in one place.

www.bing.com

 

[geo.ulrich]

I am convinced that making a good bullet is all in the core seat operation. If that is done correctly, every thing else is along for the ride. If core seating is not done correctly, you cannot correct the error in any later operation. Do it all correctly and the bullets shoot dots. Over pressure the core seat until you damage the jacket and the bullets shoot big blobs. I do not know of anything you can do later to fix this.

Joe, This is the best post in this thread