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I'm up the creek with no paddle... No sizer at the moment..

I picked up 3 molds so far.. Limited availability! Have a .45 plain base for the 45-70.. Then a .30/170 and a .375/235 NOE.. Both GC designs.

Right now the .375 is the one I'm most interested in, The mold casts fine looking bullets at around .380.. Was going to just get a Lee push through sizer, can't find one.

So the big issues are:

How to lube them and with what? Alox, some method of PC ??

The other problem is seating the GC and sizing..

Wanted to get some bullets with acceptable hunting accuracy at maybe 16-1700 fps ?? As I'm just starting in this was going into it gently, cheap. Don't know how deep I'll go down this rabbit hole.
But I want to have useable bullets so guess I'm willing to do and spend what's needed..

Any help would sure be appreciated!

Try the 45 plain base "as cast"., might work just fine. Lube with standard 50/50 alox/ beeswax lube. Search "pan lube". basically use a small steel baking pan ( ie 9x9, 7x7, Dollar store or thrift store. Melt lube. Place bullets base down. Let lube harden. Use a fired 45-70 case (with head drilled out), and "cookie cutter out bullets when lube is hard. Viola. Done.

Many recipes on line for homemade bullet lubes. Most are part oil/grease and part wax ( of some sort).

You can check with Lee Precision for their push thru sizing dies. Look for the 0.311", maybe the have a .380 or 381". Pan lube, then place gas check on push through.

castboolits.com a good source of info and lube (White Label lube is an advertiser. many lube options. All work)..

NOE ( Night Owl Enterprises has a push thru size die insert system. Maybe that is an option.
https://noebulletmolds.com/site/product-category/sizing-tools/

bushings:
https://noebulletmolds.com/site/product-category/sizing-tools/bushings/375cal-bushings/

Maker your own sizing die. McMaster -Car (or similar source) for supply. Get a 0.311" drill ($6) Drill through a piece of steel or brass. taper one end with a tapered counter sink. It will work. Tap a lubed bullet through it. Taper it enough and you can seat a gas check.

www.mcmaster.com/drill-bits/decimal-size-equivalent~0-311/https://www.mcmaster.com/drill-bits/decimal-size-equivalent~0-311/


Find the diameter of your chamber throat ( search " pound cast" to determine). Match your sizing diameter to throat diameter.


Look for a .380 , or 381, 382" drill bit for the other bullet, match to throat diameter.

Bullet lube and sizing does not have to be expensive.

Buttstock, really appreciate your detailed reply!

I've been to castboolits, loaded with information.. Almost overwhelming as to where to start!

Don't be overwhelmed, lead bullets have been used for 150 years! You can shoot gas check bullets without gas checks as long as they don't lead. You didn't say how hard you bullets were. I cast a 1-10 mix and can get 1400fps without gc. Rub your finger over the end of the muzzle after 10 or so shots, it should be greasy if you have the proper amount and type of lube, you may even be able to see a star shape deposit of lube on the muzzle. For best accuracy you want a bullet with a nose that is a snug-not tight- fit in the muzzle. Good Luck.

As mentioned NOE! I recently bought all of the sizing dies that I use! You can use them in loading press similar to the Lee, and as a plus......you can use them to size your bullets base first or nose first! memtb

Quite a few cast bullets shoot very well unsized--partly because sizing can actually slightly upset the "balance" of the bullet. If they don't shoot well unsized, the diameter can be adjusted somewhat by modifying the alloy.

Have used the Lee sizers on various caliber bullets for many years. They work very well, though the bullets obviously need to be lubed before being sized.

It's probably not useful at this point to tell you what you should have done. But, anyway, you should have done the reading and questioning before you started buying molds etc.
The easiest and cheapest entry would have been to get your throat sizes, then using that data buy your molds to fit your guns. 1600-1700 is a little optimistic without gas checks, but it has been done. But, unless Digital Dan or Gnoaah say different, I'd say shoot your bullets as dropped from the properly sized mold with a minimum of sizing, or my preference, a Lee sizer that just applies the gas check without deforming the as dropped cast bullet. But, my cast shooting is mostly confined to rifles made from 1867 to 1910 and the do their best at the old black powder velocities even though I use smokeless. Accurate Molds will build a mold to your specs, to your door for under a hundred bucks, and Lee will make a sizer die to your diameter for about 32 bucks to your door. A few bottles of Lee Liquid Alox, a bucket of wheelweights, a little tin and you will have success without buying a bunch of stuff. Trying to make your gun shoot to your mass produced mold is ass backwards to me. Make the mold fit the gun. That's my 5 centavos.

Thanks for all the additional input!

Flintlocke, information like yours is always useful! The 1600 fps hoped for pertained to the .375 bullet which is a gc'd bullet. It may not be necessary.. The bullets are cast from straight wheelweights that I've had for years..

Goal for all these cast bullets is decent enough accuracy to slip around in the river bottom and killing pigs.. Thus far all my lever rifles wear a peep sight and a bead up front.. Doubt I can see well enough to shoot better than about 2'' at 50 and that's plenty good to hunt pigs..

I can't stress enough the importance of determining throat diameter, either by doing a chamber cast with Cerrosafe or by the pound cast method. The body of the bullet must match throat diameter if best accuracy is desired, and the nose needs to be lightly engraved by the tops of the lands. Groove diameter is virtually unimportant. Of course if afternoon plinking in the backyard at tin cans is the goal, you don't have to be that fussy.

As far as lube is concerned there are a myriad of them out there. For your best chance of success right out of the gate you can't hardly beat a lube that is 50/50 beeswax/alox. Several vendors sell it. As others have said, pan lubing (google it) is the simplest/cheapest way to get started.

Sizing: again as others have said, the very best approach is to have a mold that casts the bullet dimensionally correct out of the desired alloy. I have started going to Accurate Molds for that purpose as the dimensions are dead-nuts exactly as I've ordered. If you must size, and can't find commercially made sizers, as the gentleman above mentioned McMaster-Carr is your friend. They sell every drill bit size and chucking reamer size known to mankind with decent prices and ultra fast delivery. (I know there are others but McM-C has saved my bacon often enough that I have brand loyalty now.)

One anecdotal example: way back in the Ice Ages when I started out casting on a shoestring as a teenager, my first bullets were made with a Lyman mold filled by melting wheel weights in an empty soup can heated with a propane torch. I pan lubed them with 50/50 lube, and sized them with a push through die my Gramps made for me in his lathe (they had to be sized- the as-cast bullets were grossly oversize). Gramps bored/reamed a piece of cold rolled steel to .310" ID and threaded the outside for 7/8-14 threads to screw into my Herter's reloading press. A pusher rod shaped to fit the .30-40 shell holder completed the setup. It worked so well that I kept it in service long after I had gotten my first lube/sizer machine. If I were doing that trick today I would start with a 7/8" bolt and simply drill/ream it.

Fancy-schmancy equipment is awfully nice to have, but great results can be had with the simplest of tools also.

Thanks gnoahhh!

I've already started thinking in that direction.. I have a pretty decent 13x40 lathe and have been building bolt rifles for some time.. Making dies as you describe should be very easy..

I'll look for the 50/50 lube.. Any particular vendors cater to this kind of thing ??

White Label lubes come to mind. I have enough old Javelina 50/50 to last me the rest of my life, I don't shop around much anymore.

Thank you! Looks like they have it and others.. Perfect.

I'm also anxious to check out accurate molds.. I didn't know about them until you and flintlock mentioned them..

Arsenal molds will custom make bullet diameter in a mold for a very reasonable price (~$75), plus, you can have mixed cavities of gas check and plain base versions ( in the same mold).

https://arsenalmolds.com/products

Pat, You are in the catbird seat... you got a lathe and are no pilgrim obviously. If your throat size comes out a little larger than the molds you bought, don't be afraid to put those molds in the 4 jaw, grind a tool, and open them up to fit your rifle throat. If I can do it on a clapped out 90 year old South Bend...anybody can do it. If you are a little nervous about starting with an expensive mold, do what I did, buy a cheap used Lee at a gun show, and learn on it. Eventually I was confident enough to 'go deep' and make a couple bore riding nose molds. Working pretty much blind, with my antique machine, but it would be pretty easy if you have a DRO on your machine. Have fun.