Bevel base bullets in a Lyman 450

[Sundogg1911]

Is there anyway to size a bevel base bullet in a Lyman 450 without taking each projectile out and wiping the lube off of the bevel base? It's driving me crazy! :( I sized/lubed about 500 plain base 44's this weekend in a little over an hour. Once I finished these I started sizing/lubing some .40's with a bevel base. After about an hour I had finished about 120! :twisted: Once I pick up my Star sizer will this issue go away? (I plan to size nose first) It's really slowing me down!

[MtGun44]

I'm having the same problem with a Lee 158 WFN type BB .38 cal
bullet in my RCBS lubrisizer, which is almost identical to your Lyman.
I first thought of cutting the mold, but what a PITA to indicate in 6
holes on the lathe! Currently, I'm thinnking of making up a custom
.358 ejector pin with a matching rim to keep the lube from filling
in the BB. Wastes time and about 50% of the lube, too.

Any other good ideas out there?

Bill

[454PB]

The Star sizer will cure the problem.

[lurch]

I tried to re-lube the remainder of a box of commercial cast bevel base 44 cal. boolits in my Saeco just to see if I could get them to shoot a little better without so much leading. Never again. No bevel bases for me. I agree - what a pain. If the star fixes that - and I assume (?) it would/could given what I've read about how it works - then I might consider that in the future if I feel a huge need to do bevel bases at some point. Inquiring minds want to know.

[Steelbanger]

I posed that same question here one time and got a few replies. What was suggested and works best with my Lee 38-55 bevel base bullet is to put a 375 gas check in the sizing die. It won't be crimped onto the bevel base, usually stays in place in the die and keeps the bullet base fairly clean.

[OLPDon]

Steelbanger:
Now I like that idea and if the gas check sides are just a bit to tall and grab onto the Boolit it won't be to hard to file it to proper lenght so it don't grab. Going to give that a try next time I cast. I haven't used a bevel base just because of the lube.
Don

[beagle]

Bill...I took a spare .358" sizer center punch and did just that and it works pretty well. Just leaves a bit of lube where the rim on the center punch and the sized part of the bullet meet.

Much better than using a flat punch. Lot's less excess lube./beagle


I'm having the same problem with a Lee 158 WFN type BB .38 cal
bullet in my RCBS lubrisizer, which is almost identical to your Lyman.
I first thought of cutting the mold, but what a PITA to indicate in 6
holes on the lathe! Currently, I'm thinnking of making up a custom
.358 ejector pin with a matching rim to keep the lube from filling
in the BB. Wastes time and about 50% of the lube, too.

Any other good ideas out there?

Bill

[BigSlick]

***Ignernt newbie alert***

How about taking the pin and adding a dab of JB Weld or other epoxy to it and pushing a BB boolit in it to form a (bottom) lower punch of sorts ?

I'm sure it would conform to the bevel profile.

Then just take a little sandpaper or hit it with a grinder and smooth it out so the OD of the pin matches the ID of the size die ? It's cheap enough and if it doesn't work perfectly, sand the epoxy off and try again.

Bad idea ?

'Slick
________
LovelyWendie (http://www.lovelywendie99.com/)

[OLPDon]

BigSlick:
Ya adding to the idea of how to do it better, great thought. It sure is something that might work well. I have not seen your post before welcome to the board. And its good to see you here. That might work well......
Don

[Forester]

BigSlick: You just might be onto something, if you size and lube a lot of one particular boolit you could make that bottom punch match the bevel with something like JB Weld. Someone much more talented than me could even machine such a thing probably fairly easily.

Sundogg1911: I just received my Star lubrisizer Monday and it is at least an order of magnitude better and faster than the RCBS/Lyman designs. To give you an idea, once the machine is warmed up, I can run through 250-300 .45ACP boolits in 15 minutes. No problems with lube on the boolit bases. I also ordered the air feed because the thing I disliked most about the RCBS was fooling with it, now I just set the pressure on the regulator and forget about it.

[Sundogg1911]

I will be getting a Star sizer as soon as I get paid for some sidework. (That will be tomorrow....Finally!) :drinks: so I dont want to modify one of my sizing die in the 450. I plan to get sizing dies for my BB boolits first in the Star. I'm hoping to only keep the Lyman for the oddball stuff that I don't cast too much of. I cast about 2000 .40's with bevel bases, and about the same in 9mm with bb's. I think i'll wait for the star to size them. I already have a few thousend of each, so I shouldnt need anymore for a few weeks [smilie=1:

[GP100man]

have yall tried to adjust the boolit up , or maybe taking shot & stopping up some holes?
on my 357 boolits i had to stop up the bottm holes so lube wouldnt be on the bottom of the boolit.
just a thought .
GP
ps . im in the market for another 450, keep me in mind when ready !!

[leftiye]

GP, I got mine on ebone. Them and the older 45s are on there a lot.

[dakotashooter2]

Just plug the bottom holes of the die with lead shot. When working with handgun bullets it seems most dies have more holes than needed any way. I usually plug about 1/2 the holes in the die and don't have any problems.



:castmine:

[OLPDon]

Dakota:
Dare it why is it that I can't start with simple idea's I always wind up doing a
Rube Goldburg thing. Great idea.
Don.

[MtGun44]

Beagle,

Thanks for the encouragement. I may try the 'igernt noobie' great
suggestion of the JB Weld just because it is easier to do and UNDO!:-D

Thank you Slick. :drinks:

If we could just get them to stop ruining perfectly good molds with
beveled bases!

Bill