Top punch help

[Hot Lead]

I purchased a Lee Mold C430-310-rf - 430 diameter - 310 grain round nose flat tip gas check mould. I also bought a top punch. The top punch does not fit and I need someone to tell me the exact top punch that will work on this 310 grain chunk of lead. I am resizing through a RCBS lubri-sizer. (The top punch I use now engraves a circular line in the lead before reaching the flat tip.) It does not quite reach the tip. Matters not whether it is an RCBS or a Lyman. Thanks for your help.

[MT Gianni]

File a flat spot on a 1/4"x1" bolt. Turn the flats off it on a grinder and reduce the entire top to less than 0.429". It works great on those fat RF bulles. Lee makes that mold and says "don't use a lubrisizer just our liquid alox". THat means no specific factory top punch. Gianni.

[44man]

Yes, a flat punch will work fine but I would use a larger size die and NOT size the boolit, just lube. I use Felix and Lar's carnauba Red only. If you are going to load for hunting, I would not use LLA.
That boolit is super accurate.

[WBH]

I'll tell you what I do to make my own "custom" bullet seaters" and top punches. On the bullet seaters, from Redding, I just fill the seater opening with epoxy, and while leaving it upside down from the way it's used, I take my bullet of choice and
place it in the epoxy (on jacketed bullets put a thin film of Imperial sizing wax or the like to prevent sticking) Lead does not seem to stick. Perfect fit foe eack specific bullet.

On the top punches, I just order the size bigger than I need off the lyman chart and do the same process. Works like a charm.

[Hot Lead]

You shared with me that you would obtain a size larger top punch than the top punch specified. What would be the top punch number (size) you would order to prevent a top punch marking on the bullet? I am lazy. Making my own top punch could be quite fun, but my laziness supercedes that practice. I want the easiest way to correctly top punch this 310 gr bullet.

[WBH]

Flat tops are easy. Just grind the edges off the top punch and leave one big flat. It's the various round nose ogives that give problems.

[Hot Lead]

That does sound easy. Thats what I will do. Grind the ogive off the one I have and it should work.
Thanks for the good advice.

[yodar]

I'll tell you what I do to make my own "custom" bullet seaters" and top punches. On the bullet seaters, from Redding, I just fill the seater opening with epoxy, and while leaving it upside down from the way it's used, I take my bullet of choice and
place it in the epoxy (on jacketed bullets put a thin film of Imperial sizing wax or the like to prevent sticking) Lead does not seem to stick. Perfect fit foe eack specific bullet.

On the top punches, I just order the size bigger than I need off the lyman chart and do the same process. Works like a charm.

I RE-USE MY FLATTIES TO FIT TO OTHER POINTS BY USING HOT MELT GLUE instead of epoxy) re-do-able, less scary, quicker cure

yodar

[WBH]

HOT GLUE....great idea. I never thought of using mine for that. That's what makes the board such a wonderful place...ALWAYS new ideas.

[Muskrat Mike]

Yes, a flat punch will work fine but I would use a larger size die and NOT size the boolit, just lube. I use Felix and Lar's carnauba Red only. If you are going to load for hunting, I would not use LLA.
That boolit is super accurate.

I'm only in my second year of casting and got a lot to learn so I got to ask, why would you not use LLA for a hunting load???
Mike