Bullet Bumping Lubes and Problems

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  • Last Post 23 October 2019
Slug Gun posted this 17 October 2019

Recently I tried my first attempt at bullet bumping. This was with a .30 cal. , 230 gr. Egan style bullet. I tried several lubes and lanolin worked best but even with that, bullets would stick in the bump die to the point where I had to tap on the ejection punch with a brass hammer to eject the bullet from the die. This of course ruins the point even though the point of the bullet is flat. This mushrooms the nose of the bulle

Have any of you experienced this “sticking problem” when bumping bullets. The die has a 1 and 3/4 degree per side angle in it to match the throat area of the barrel. This bullet has a very long nose. I tried bumping the bullet in very small amounts and reversing the press handle to eject it and doing this repeatedly which worked but it would take forever to bump a batch of bullets at this rate. 

Any suggestions for this problem ?

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 17 October 2019

i suspect it is your long groove dia. part of the bullet that is sticking, if you are bumping most of the bullet.

if the bullet was short, a harder alloy and/or polishing it to 2000,4000, then 6000/rouge would probably work.

with that very long bullet, i am GUESSING that you need some taper in the groove dia. length of the die.   i use reamers made for " taper pins " for that as the easiest way to get there. the trade-off for simplicity is that you get taper from the opening dia. of the bump die.  Harry Pope thought that was ok, though.

just some thoughts, hope you get it working ok ...       ken

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OU812 posted this 19 October 2019

You need a removal punch machined to match the shape of bullet tip so it does not distort nose.

When bullet is pressed into die and ram is @ top dead center I would smack the nose forming punch with soft dead blow hammer. Then I would lower ram then smack top punch again to remove bullet from die. This method forms nose perfectly.

Fit is most important. Ok

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OU812 posted this 19 October 2019

BTW is it better to squeeze down a fat bullet or fatten an undersized bullet?

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Paul Pollard posted this 19 October 2019

Bump Press

My .30 caliber bullets were hard to eject. They are tapered in a 3/4 degree die and some pressure is added to flatten the gas check. After struggling and a sore arm, I added this "ejector" to it. It's really easy now. The bullets are just lubed with regular bullet lube and then tapered and bumped in this press.

My 6mm bump press has a linkage to eject on the downstroke. It's pretty easy with that setup.

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Slug Gun posted this 21 October 2019

What lube do you use when bumping bullets and thanks for all the help from everyone so far.

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Paul Pollard posted this 21 October 2019

Voodoo or Blue Angel. Or any of the White Label lubes. My press was built with an RCBS Partner press upside down for the ejector. It was really hard to eject the bullets. The arbor press is effortless. The Partner press is still in the system, but the handle has been removed now.

If you are using Linotype, try something softer until the die gets more use. Use plenty of lube to start. Excess lube WILL size the bullet smaller than you would expect. Try it without a gas check; sometimes the gas check is the sticking point. PM me if you want to get together and look at it. I can bring a 10 pound sledge hammer, that's the biggest I have.

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Slug Gun posted this 21 October 2019

I’m using a mix of Lanolin, Neatsfoot oil and JoJoba oil for bumping bullets. Does anyone have something that may work better ?  I’ll try bumping some WW lead bullets to see if they stick less than the Linotype which I see from the equipment lists is what most use (Linotype). I’ll also try bumping minus the gas check just to see if there is a difference. THANKS for the info.

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Squid Boy posted this 22 October 2019

I use Corbin Swage lube in my old Walnut Hill press and never had a stuck bullet. I don't know what the stuff is but it works. As far as bumping up or down it is my opinion that bumping up is better for jacketed bullets. The jacket expands with the core and stays tight. Swaging down, I believe that the jacket springs back slightly unless it is bonded and leaves it very slightly loose to the core. Thanks, Squid Boy

"Squid Pro Quo"

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Paul Pollard posted this 22 October 2019

Get rid of the oil. Clean the oil out of the die. Use beeswax, candle wax or Imperial sizing die wax. You should feel the difference right away. I tried oils and they don’t work.

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OU812 posted this 22 October 2019

Very thin coat of Impereal wax will help . I also size, install gas check and fill the lube groove of bullet with lbt soft blue before bumping.

Bumping does work, but requires lots of thought, measuring and machining. Good luck.

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Slug Gun posted this 23 October 2019

My current procedure (right or wrong) is to install the gas check on a lubed bullet (lubed with lanolin mix and no red lube yet), bump the bullet to size, clean the lanolin lube off the bullet, and then run it thru my Star lubricator to lube it with White Label lube. Not having the groove filled with White Label lube before bumping may change the groove dimensions some, I don’t know, but I would think that using the Lanolin lube over the White Label lube to bump the bullet would not be a good idea and would probably effect accuracy. 

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