Re-size a bullet

[abunaitoo]

How much have you re-sized a bullet????
I have a .314 and re-sized it to .311. Used a Lee sizer. It didn't take much force and lube grooves it looks fine to me.
I was wondering if I could smash these down to .309?????
Reason I'm doing this is I have a few rifles that like the Lee .309 bullet. I normally just shoot them un-sized. I have a 6 cavity .314 mould but only a 1 cavity .309 mould. I know it comes out between .309 and .310.

[jhalcott]

I personally do NOT like to size them more than a couple thousandths. I have "squashed" them about 10 thou for testing on occasion. I had a die made up to squeeze .310 to about .300 for a 7.35 Italian rifle. I never could get that rifle to shoot where I was looking!

[swheeler]

8mm Maximum drops @.327, checked, lubed and sized to .325 in Lyman 4500, then pushed thru Lee .313 sizer, tumble lubed and loaded. They shoot just as good in the 91/30MN as the 185 gr Lee. That's .014 reduction, so you should be fine going from .314 to .309, you'll never know until you try.

[beagle]

Shouldn't be a probelm going to .309". I'd do it in several passes and always in a nose first sizing die like the Lee or one of our home made rigs that uses adapters that hold sizing dies.

Use lubed bullets. The lube tends to supprt the rings during sizing and also the lube tends to make sizing much easier.

Expect the bullets to "grow" in length slightly as that lead has to go somewhere./beagle

[Jon K]

abunaitoo,

I don't know which boolit you're sizing, but I have done the same with a Saeco 118 gr .314.
I have done it in steps, as well as tried it in different sizes in the gun. For the Saeco boolit, it didn't seem to matter as it stil shot good, and was easy to size down, took little or no effort. the alloy was various mixes ww+10-15% lino & 1:20 & 1:30. I think the reason it sizes so easy is that very little surface area is being sized down, i.e. as compared to sizing .005 from a .459 boolit. Also the Saeco has a generous GG, which may help.

Have Fun Shooting,
Jon

[NVcurmudgeon]

My Lyman 314299 casts .314". I size them .314"+ for my .303 British. I size them down to .312" for the 1891 Argentine Mauser, and .310" for the .30/06 and .30/40 Krag. Another mould of mine is a Lyman 311466, which casts .313". I size boolits from this one to .309" for a .30 Remington. No accuracy problems, leading, or collapsed lube grooves, just good to excellent accuracy. That's only .004" reduction. Years ago, when gun writers experimented, a writer named Bob Milek sized .430" cast boolits to .410" for a .41 Magnum, and .410" boolits to .357 for a .357 Magnum. They shot with normal accuracy!

[Pepe Ray]

A number of years ago, a friend was drawn for a moose hunt. He was using a Marlin .44mag. Wanted an appropriate boolet.
I took boolets from the RCBS 300 gr..45 RFN/PB and in several steps shaped them to .44. I still have samples in stages of sizeing to show the progress.
you must have all grooves filled w/lube or you will loose them.
Used a Lyman 450 and the came out beautifully. very semetrical.
Some day soon I hope to have a dig. cam. and try to post pics.
Pepe Ray

[bishopgrandpa]

Does such reworking do anything to the hardness of the metal? Seems I read that somewhere.

[beagle]

Never measured the before and after hardness but I don't see that it can help but soften it some as all we're doing here is swaging or basically cold extruding. Has to soften it some.

But, when you do this downsizing process, normally, its a temproary procedure to make something work that's not designed that way so you have to live with the results. Casters tend to want their bullets too hard anyway IMO./beagle

[Newtire]

I sized the RCBS 32-98 from .315 down to .309" in one shot thru a Lee sizer. Like someone said already, the secret is in the lubing first to support the grooves. With no lube, I get smearing but with lube (Liquid Alox) they seem to come out fine. I used these in .30-30 with 8.0 gr. Unique and a light M1 carbine load. Lubed them after sizing. Great little bullet.

[Leftoverdj]

Abunitto,

Have you tried shooting them at .311? Normally, .311 cast bullets work fine in .308 bores. I'd certainly try them at that size. If you are dissatisfied at .311, then run the bullets you have already sized to that diameter to .309.

[Dale53]

If you'll read between the lines in this thread, it is apparent that it is not so much "how much" the bullet is sized but "how" it is sized that is the secret. The push through dies by Lee and Star just do not damage a bullet nearly as much as the Lyman or RCBS sizer. Understand, I use my RCBS sizer as well as the Star AND Lee push throughs. This is not condemnation of anyone's equipment. It is just a statement that bullets sized with a push thru die, especially ones sized more than normal, will do better than bullets sized with Lyman and RCBS machines. I also second the vote to lube the bullets before sizing in a dry push through die.

FWIW
Dale53

[Nrut]

If you'll read between the lines in this thread, it is apparent that it is not so much "how much" the bullet is sized but "how" it is sized that is the secret. The push through dies by Lee and Star just do not damage a bullet nearly as much as the Lyman or RCBS sizer. Understand, I use my RCBS sizer as well as the Star AND Lee push throughs. This is not condemnation of anyone's equipment. It is just a statement that bullets sized with a push thru die, especially ones sized more than normal, will do better than bullets sized with Lyman and RCBS machines. I also second the vote to lube the bullets before sizing in a dry push through die.

FWIW
Dale53

That about sums it up....and using the above methods I can easily size a .377 or .385 bullet down to .368 using one of BuckShots .368 push thru sizers........I have'nt shot one of the .385 GB boolits yet but the .377 RCBS sized down to .368 is very accurate in my CZ 9.3X62 over 35grs. of H4895....:-D

[mag_01]

I read somewhere to size down in .002 increments such as .002--.002--.002= .006 and that sizing down dose soften the boolit---Thats the (book)----I sometimes size down .003 or .004 in one step its up to the individual. And as far as softening the lead---maybe thats what the rifles likes as I usually make booolits that are too hard. Just my 2 cents FWIW-------Mag.

I also find that the lead may rebound if sized .004 or.005 for about .0005

[j. clark]

I have sized bullets from .317 to .309. If done in one step the bases were distorted. If sized an lubed in a .314 die then sized to .309 the distortion was much less and the bullets shot great!!

[Buckshot]

..............I have a M1909 Argie cav carbine with a barrel of .303"x .314". While finding a slug to go the .314" isn't TOO hard (if you're happy with the Lyman 314299) getting one big enough on the nose is the chore. Sometimes you can but usually not.

I decided to try the Lyman 323470 boolit (165grs) designed for the 8mm. I lube-sized it .323" then ran it up through the Lee .314" die and voila', no bore rider nose to contend with. Gotta love those Loverins :-). Anyway, it shot just fine out of the Argentine, which was what I was after.

................Buckshot

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive sized down .460 bullets to 454 to use in the .45 colt before and they shot just fine.

[nelsonted1]

I've sized the .323 8mm Maximum to 315 for my Enfield #4 to good effect but sizing bullets from my 375 six-banger from .385 to .375 is the most difficult crushing I've ever attempted- I've even thought I'd have to put a pipe extension on the handle! I'm almost to the point of selling the mold. Either that or ask intellegent questions here on how to do it.

[IcerUSA]

I've sized the .323 8mm Maximum to 315 for my Enfield #4 to good effect but sizing bullets from my 375 six-banger from .385 to .375 is the most difficult crushing I've ever attempted- I've even thought I'd have to put a pipe extension on the handle! I'm almost to the point of selling the mold. Either that or ask intellegent questions here on how to do it.

I think I would try the latter :) Good bunch here to help ya out ya know :)

[Bass Ackward]

I've sized the .323 8mm Maximum to 315 for my Enfield #4 to good effect but sizing bullets from my 375 six-banger from .385 to .375 is the most difficult crushing I've ever attempted- I've even thought I'd have to put a pipe extension on the handle! I'm almost to the point of selling the mold. Either that or ask intellegent questions here on how to do it.


When you size down, your bullet elongates. The elongation follows the path of least resistance, so from the midway point it extends forward and then to the back behind that point.

It's best to use a nose through sizer to maintain control of the base as the sizing movement will fill any voids and the bullet shorten in that area as the rest of the metal keeps flowing back.

So it would then be obvious that a softer bullet will size easier, as will a smaller diameter one. So if you are having trouble, you can either size immediately after molding just a few or soften your mix. Both methods will require you to HT after you get to where you want to go if you prefer a harder bullet.

One interesting thing to realize is that your bore does this same function from what ever point you finish sizing. So if you ever want to experience what it sees when you pull the triggger, try sizing to .001 smaller than your bore at the hardness you shoot. The .001 less about compensates for the rifling engrave that also must take place. Of coarse this also depends on the slope of the taper, but it will give you a fair idea. In some cases, it's fairly nothing and in some cases ........