Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Best velocity for a 1/20..

I use a tuft of dacron in all of my cast bullet rifle loads. Never had a problem (yet) with ringing any chambers.

Thanks for the advice,but I learned a long time not to EVER put anything into a rifle case but powder and bullet...if a filler would be required I will load something else.
I load a cast bullet in my .404 Jeffery and never had a problem.I just never loaded a bullet this soft,so maybe it's not the way to go in this case..............rifle

When you REALLY lean on stuff, a filler can be magic. Or when you can't get a gas check in the cartridge you are using.

gnoah has some good advice up there.

And you don't have to use them either.

I believe at this point I will try the seating length and adjust accordingly.I am using the 45-100 data.I'm really looking for plinking load for the big rifle,since these are the bullets on hand,I thought I'd use them up.

You might also try a wax wad under the bullet base. There used to be a company peddling the stuff but I haven't seen their ads lately. You can make your own by melting a bit of bullet lube and then pour it out on a chilled flat surface (I used a piece of plate glass) so you end up with a flat puddle about 1/16" thick. After it hardens,peel it off the plate. Experimenting with temperatures is needed 'til you hit on the right combo. I also found that adding a bit of extra wax to the mix was beneficial in creating a thin sheet of lube.

After re-charging the case, place the lube sheet over the case mouth and thumb-press it down over. Think upside-down cookie cutter. Then with the wad in the case mouth, seat the bullet- being careful not to seat the base below the neck. Good trick for reducing leading a bit with soft plain base bullet. But, like everything else, it's an added step and more work for maybe an improvement. You never know!

Don't just use any bullet lube for the "waxchecks" it'll make a mess out of the bore, and if the cases get hot from something like being in the sun, the lube can melt and cake up on top of the powder or contaminate the powder.
Dental wax is a good thing to mix with lube to make "waxchecks" but here again it takes a good bit of fooling to get the mixture just right.

IF you're casting those you may want to try running some #2 alloy, if not check with Montana Bullet works they cast them from wheelweights with tin added, might help wit the leading thing a bit.

I am pulling out some of my old paper-patching equipment and I'm going to paper-patch them and see what happens next.I can squeeze this bullet down to .450-.452 and roll it up.........stay tuned.

Now you're talking!

That might work,but what some are finding out is that when you swage down a cast bullet the center of gravity on the thing gets thrown out of whack and accuracy takes a big hit.
Would probably be better to get one of the paper patch molds from Buffalo Arms and use these bullets to cast some of the slicks.
Or just buy a lyman postell mold, and cast you some up from #2 alloy, or you can get prerolled paper patch bullets from Montana Bullet works.

Yes ,you are right,I have and do cast on a regular basis.However,these bullets came to me free and since there are 300 of them,I thought I'd use them up....I've paper-patch a number of .303 British using cast .30 bullets.I'm working on a PP bullet for my .450/400 right now.

How fast is the twist in that rifle? I'm thinking they put a 14 or 16 twist in those lotts, and with that fast of twist you may have to drive those postells at a good bit more velocity than what the 20-1 will accept. Thinking best to melt them down, adjust the alloy and pour them again, either in one of the postell/creedmore bullets , or maybe even go for the big Zeplin or Nasa bullets.

One other thing you might try is liquid alox a few, and see if its the borerider portion of the nose that's causing the problem , if it is the lla ought to take care of that problem.

If you are sizing and expanding with dies for jacketed bullets and starting out with .459" soft lead, how do you know they have not been sized to .456" or smaller when seating? Then the crimp will also reduce the boolit diameter as it is forced to open it. If there is any crimp left on a fired case, the boolit has also been sized by it.
Dead soft lead works fine in rifles but should only be shot single shot, not loaded in tubes or magazines that require neck tension and crimps to hold them in place.
Dead soft works better with BP or BP and wads so the boolit has a stop on the powder. Smokeless leaves air space and with a boolit that has a slip fit in the neck, the boolit can move into the case, increasing pressure. You need a balance point so the brass holds the boolit without making it smaller.
I have a hunch you are ruining boolit fit by using jacketed bullet loading practices.

You may be right.I also load for a .450/400 and .404 Jeffrey with much harder bullets and they shoot very well and make good practice loads ,which is what I after.
I'll look at loosening them up......
rifle

Here's the latest to my project.the 1/20 bullets are now Patched and lubed and ready to load.I resized then to .452,rolled two wraps of .0035 paper,resized in a .460 die,after sitting 48 hours,they are now .461...

Dude, PM me your addy and I'll send you some .459 500gr. HTWW gas checked LBT's....

Thanks for the offer,but I already have some.
This is an experiment with ready-made soft and paper-patching in the .458..Do you foresee something wrong in my technique?

Experiment? I understand, totally....

If you want to load like jacketed, the offer stands.

I've never patched anything, so I can't comment.