Tumble Lubing Rifle Bullets?

[steve4102]

I'm casting my own 45 ACP, 40 S&W and 10MM bullet and I am tumble lubing them with 45/45/10. Seems to work OK with little to no leading

Now I want to try my hand at rifle bullets. I would like to start off with bullets for my 7.62 x 39. My rifle is a Ruger Mini-30 with an after market barrel of true .308 bore diameter.

I plan to get a mold that takes Gas Checks, good idea or no?

I am also planning on lubing with 45/45/10, if that will work? 18 inches of barrel is a long way and I am wondering if tumble lube is sufficient?

I am looking at these mold for now, comments.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/305...oint-gas-check

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/752...dius-gas-check

OH, and what is ment by "one ogive radius" and "two ogive radius"?

[armoredman]

Remember you need the .308 molds, not the 7.62x39mm molds. Sizing that 155 down from .312, (Lee molds tend to drop fat, in my experience), to .309 will be quite the shove. I use that particular bullet myself, and it works very well, sized to .311 in my 7.62x39mm CZ 527CSR.
Since you are using a .308 diameter barrel, I'd stay with .309 sized slugs.
I have to say i'm not really sure what the ogive thing is all about, perhaps driving bands being same diameter as the max spread on the bullet ogive.

Sure you can tumble lube - I did for quite a while with my 160gr Lee and 129 grain NOE bullets, but when I got a pan lubing setup from LAGS, I never looked back. Only thing I still tumble lube is 9mm.

[45long]

one thing you might want to consider is the fact that in semi-autos lead can gum up the action at the barrel tap in rifles. This can be a real booger to get cleaned out . Just food for thought.

As far as ogive goes it usually(not always) pertains to round nose pistol bullets..The higher the number the more sharper the angle of the round nose.

[armoredman]

True, which is why I use a hard alloy given to me by a benchrest shooter years ago, that works well in my vz-58 with no leading whatsoever. With wheel weight lead I had lead splashed all over the piston and gas tube, bad juju.

[Mike / Tx]

One thing you can do to minimize the chance or leading from the get go is to pre condition your bore.

I do it every time I clean my 454 out. All it entails is warming up the barrel a little with a hair drier, then running a patch soaked with the 45-45-10 through the bore before you go shoot. This simply lays down a light layer of the lube in the bore prior to firing the first round through a dry barrel.

I can add that I have done it both ways and it might just be my brain playing tricks but it does seem to give me a better first round shot, as well as less fouling afterwords.

Anyway you slice it, it isn't going to hurt anything to start off that way.

(Side Note) When I started off my homemade batch of 45-45-10 was somewhat tacky. I put some in a smaller bottles and stuck one in my cleaning box and another in my range bag. After a while the mineral spirits has evaporated so now it is more like a thick paste. Rather than warm up the whole container I use a small flat bladed screw driver to pull out enough to smear over a patch. Then I either warm up the barrel if at home or hold the slathered down patch over a lighter just enough to warm it to a liquid state.

It works wel for me but if yours is still wet enough to smear by finger you could probably simply run it through as is. I'm waiting to use up this batch and will be ordering my next from White Label.

[armoredman]

That is the most interesting warm up I have ever heard of. Might try that with LLA sometime.

[m&p45acp10+1]

I tumble lube my .45-70 bullets that I shoot out my Marlin. It works great, though I shoot low end cowboy loads. I loaded up some standard pressure loads with IMR 4198 and had no leading at all using clamp on wheel weight alloy. I sue straight Lee Liquid Allox. I put in a glass of hot water for a few minutes to thin it out real good. I use it sparingly, and let it dry for at least 3 days before loading them up.

[45long]

Hard lead ,gas check,lubrasizer,tumble lube, powder mica and send em down the tube as fast as you want.

[PawPaw]

I tumble lube everything, but I lube my .30-30 bullets twice. Once before I size them, then push them through the sizer when I add the gas check. Then I tumble lube them again before I load them into cartridges.