Lee tumble lube bullets-any good?
- Thread starter 762shooter
- Start date
I've fired at least a gazillion of tumble lube in 9mm, 38 Special, and .45 ACP. If you can get a hold of Dean Grennell's article on tumble lube bullets, it makes for a good case to use them.
Very easy to cast, even easier to lube. Others will disagree.
Very easy to cast, even easier to lube. Others will disagree.
easyrider604
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Greater Vancouver, BC
I have the Lee 6 cavity .45 acp 230 grain Round Nose and Truncated Cone molds, sized to .451.
They are both reasonably accurate and do not lead much if at all with XLox and Lee tumble lube. My guess is they are sized to .452, leading will disappear. So my next purchase will be a .452 sizing kit.
The TC bullets sometimes hung up in my Norkie 1911s, but changed to Tripp 7-rd follower and springs on my 22 yr old Shooting Star mags and so far so good. The RNs are dead reliable for feeding.
A buddy who shot Lee 200 grain SWCs had no problems with them as well.
They are both reasonably accurate and do not lead much if at all with XLox and Lee tumble lube. My guess is they are sized to .452, leading will disappear. So my next purchase will be a .452 sizing kit.
The TC bullets sometimes hung up in my Norkie 1911s, but changed to Tripp 7-rd follower and springs on my 22 yr old Shooting Star mags and so far so good. The RNs are dead reliable for feeding.
A buddy who shot Lee 200 grain SWCs had no problems with them as well.
I use the 40 s&w 175gr wc & the 45 acp 200gr swc in tumble lube cast from wheel weights. These things are awesome and it makes the cost of shooting a joke. The nice thing is you can use the tumble lube without sizing, just use the lee liquid alox and you are good to go. I use a loadmaster with the factory crimp die and I have never had feeding issues, it keeps the buldge out of the case and works every time.
I thought part of the point of tumble lube bullets was that they didn't have to be sized.
NShunter1254
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nova Scotia Canada
Some do some don't,You would need to measure your bore to be sure. I re size my 9mm to .356 because my bore slugs at .354 and my cast is .357/.358 although they will shoot as cast the case bulge turns a ten shot mag into a nine and they don't feed well.
To fix the case bulge issue just use a factory crimp die, it crimps and fully sizes the case. I have tried unsized bullets without the factory crimp die and I have noticed the buldge issue, easiest solution is to add the fourth die to your press and it fixes everything. I have never sized a tumble lube bullet and I'm a firm believer that the factory crimp is the best solution even if you don't use the crimp feature.
easyrider604
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Greater Vancouver, BC
My only concern with using an FCD to resize/crimp oversized cases/bullets is that neck tension might be reduced. I read this in another forum, so now I re-size all TL bullets to the same diameter...for the sake of crimp uniformity and possibly longer brass life. If it is worth anything, the reloaded cartridge looks so much better.
I will use the FCD for some .357 cartridges I loaded with unsized TL bullets.
Why would it reduce the neck tension? It's supposed to increase the case grip on the bullet.
I know cases where the barrel is quite large in diameter and the FCD sizes the seated bullets down some more causing leading. But that has nothing to do with neck tension.
Makes sense but given the amount of re-sizing the FCD does, the springback would be difficult to measure with common tools.
On top of that, the FCD crimps the case so the bullet grip is stronger.
