Wrinkled bullets, or bullets with dull edges on the base or lube grooves is usually caused by the mold blocks not being hot enough or that oil or a lubricant has gotten into the bullet cavity. Fill your melting pot right to the top with lead, when the lead is molten, dip the corner of the mold (the aluminum part) into the lead for at least 30 seconds.

A good indicator of mold temperature is the puddle that forms on top of the sprue cutter as the mold fills. If this puddle solidifies as you fill the mold, the lead inside is doing the same thing, resulting in wrinkled bullets. It should stay molten for 3 to 5 seconds after the mold fills and you stop pouring. Also make sure that the mold cavities are clean (we use Coleman lantern fuel as a solvent), and smoked.

The post Wrinkled Bullets appeared first on Titan Reloading.

The first thing to confirm is that the lead alloy is hot enough to achieve complete mold fill out. If the lead is not hot enough you can get undersize bullets. You need to increase the alloy temperature until you get frosty bullets and then decrease the temp to just below where the frosty bullets occur. Then check the diameter of the bullets cast.

If the mold is definitely casting under the specified diameter return the mold to Lee Precision along with a note explaining the problem and one or two undersized bullets cast by the mold. The mold will be inspected and replaced if it is not casting to spec which is +.003 -.000. This means the mold will cast a bullet no smaller than .452" and no larger than .455" if the mold is designed for a .452" bullet diameter.

The post Undersize Cast Bullets appeared first on Titan Reloading.

Make sure you use pure lead for slug molds. Lee dimensionalized the slug mold to take the shrink rate of pure lead into account to arrive at the correct diameter. If you use alloyed lead (like wheel weights), the shrink rate will not be the same and the bullet diameter will be too large. Also, check to make sure the mold is closing all the way. If not lubricated as per the instructions, it will be difficult to close all the way, and this will result in out of round, over sized bullets.

The post Use Pure Lead with Slug Molds appeared first on Titan Reloading.

A good rule of thumb for maximum velocities when using liquid alox is 1400 feet per second for plain base bullets and 2200 feet per second when using gas check bullets. Bore conditions will require you increase or decrease this velocity slightly to prevent leading.

The post Velocity Of Lead Bullets appeared first on Titan Reloading.

Lee Precision does not keep a list of top punches suitable for our bullet molds. Our Lube and Size Kit pushes bullets through the sizing die nose first, so a separate nose punch is not necessary. If you must use our competitors sizing dies with our bullet molds, your best bet for finding a suitable nose punch would be to look through our competitions catalog and find a bullet with a similar nose profile and use the top punch recommended for it.

The post Top Punches appeared first on Titan Reloading.

When sizing jacketed bullets, the Lube and Size kit must be used in the Turret press or similar large press. Adjust the die into the press so that the punch just barely pushes the bullet through the sizing portion of the die. This will utilize the maximum leverage available in the press lever linkage. Bullets must also be lubricated with a quality case sizing lube like Lee 90006 or something similar.

The post Sizing Jacketed Bullets appeared first on Titan Reloading.

Stripped sprue plate screws are usually the result of no lube or lack of lubricant on the sprue pivot. A lack of lube on the sprue pivot causes the sprue bushing to rotate with the sprue plate, rather than remain fixed to the mold block as intended. This in turn causes the sprue plate retaining screw to loosen, so the operator must continually re-tighten it into the hot aluminum mold block, which is softer when heated to around 500 degrees.

The post Stripped Sprue Pivot appeared first on Titan Reloading.

The base driving band of the R.E.A.L bullets is designed to be small enough to start into the barrel with just thumb pressure. This is so the center line of the bullet stays aligned with the center line of the barrel. The top driving band of the R.E.A.L bullets is large enough to engrave into the rifling, and the tight fit ensures that the bullet stays seated down against the powder charge.

R.E.A.L bullet driving band dimensions are as follows:

.45 caliber – top .467 – bottom .452

.50 caliber – top .517 – bottom .502

.54 caliber – top .557 – bottom .542

.58 caliber – top .592 – bottom .577

The post R.E.A.L Bullet Diameters appeared first on Titan Reloading.

Pewter is many times a corrosive material. A stainless steel pot liner is necessary to prevent it from being ruined. Currently, none of the Lee melting pots have stainless steel liners.

The post Pewter Melting appeared first on Titan Reloading.

Maximum bullet mold dimensions for standard mold blocks;

(all dimensions in inches)
diameter / length

Double cavity .685 * / .900
Six cavity .520 / 1.000

*for single cavity mold in double cavity blocks, like our slug mold.
For two cavities in the double cavity blocks, max. diameter is .600;

The post Mold Blank Chart appeared first on Titan Reloading.