Sizing

[brad925]

If my rifle slugs at .457 what should i size my boolits too? The lee mold throws the 405 HB at anywhere from .460 to .463 at the biggest. I need to know what to modify my lee push through to.

[geargnasher]

The HB Lee will seal very well even at groove size or smaller with 20:1 and BP, but conventional wisdom says to go at least .001" over groove size with smokeless and wheel-weight or similar alloys that we commonly use. In the end your gun and load will tell you, but I'd start in the .458-9" range, might even go .460 and be ok. My experience here is second-hand and from memory, had a friend that shot that boolit in his trapdoor with every kind of powder/filler/alloy/case anneal combo you could think of, wish he was still here to share the info but I'm not quite ready to go visit him yet.

Gear

[Larry Gibson]

I shoot .463 "as cast" Lee 405HBs all the time in my .458 H&R TDs with excellent accuracy. I also shoot them at .4615 and .459 with equal accuracy. I push them through the sizer base first. This keeps the bases square and also flattens the sprue cutoff into a nicer meplat.

I wouldn't size them less than .459 for a .457 barrel. Mostly I size them .4615 which is the size of the H die in my 450.

Larry Gibson

[peerlesscowboy]

If my rifle slugs at .457 what should i size my boolits too? The lee mold throws the 405 HB at anywhere from .460 to .463 at the biggest. I need to know what to modify my lee push through to.
Size 'em as big as the chamber will allow, as long as the loaded round still chambers freely the bigger the better.

John C. Saubak