How far can you size down? Mak to 357?

[pastorcurtis]

How far can you reasonably size down a bullet cast from wheel weights? For example, would it even be possible to size down Lee's 9mm Mak bullet to 357 (in a Lee push through sizer) for shooting in a 380? That would be a .008 change. Seems like a lot, but while I didn't find a thread about this in the search feature, there are plenty of guys who put plain base gas checks on with the Lee sizer. . .

[MT Gianni]

I am not familiar with that boolit. It would depend on the depths of your lube grooves. if you were OK with LLA only it certainly would be possible. Press strength varies a lot. It should be easier in a Rockchucker than a hand press.

[45-70 Chevroner]

The 380 caliber pistol probably has an actual bullet diameter of .355 and most molds for that caliber will probably drop a boolit at about .357 and sizing them down to .355 according to Lymans specs won't be a problem. If you have a mold that drops a boolit large enough to need to be sized down .008" that is way too much. You would wind up with very little lube grove left. I think your measurements are off a little.

[pastorcurtis]

Chevroner,

Yes, I was worried about sizing down that much as well. My 380s and 9mm will tolerate a 357 cast boolit. The question stems from a desire to kill two birds with one stone: buy a Mak mold dropping .365 and size it down to .357 for a 380 or 9mm. As Gianni noted, I do use alox for lube, so the groove depth doesn't bother me. If that's not an issue, do you still see a problem sizing from .365 to .357?

[45-70 Chevroner]

Deffinatly!!!!!! Get a Lee 100 gr. or less, Lee 9mm mold from Midway or who ever, and give it a try for $20 + shipping you can't go wrong. If you don't have any problems you can upgrade to a better mold. I personally have no problems with Lee molds.

[runfiverun]

the mak boolits are more like 365.
by the time you size them down to 358 you'll lose a lot of the lube groove [even lubing first]
the boolit is also gonna get longer and the nose shape will change.

[TJD]

I reload for four Makrovs and I like to experiment. I tried this by sizing them to .358 for use in a 357 wheel gun and was not pleased with out come. I have loaded Speer's 88 grain 380 JHPs in 357 cases and killed several ground hogs with this load & gun. It shoots cast boolits very well also. It did not like the resized Makarov slugs. Other guns might.

[odfairfaxsub]

i tried it and it made the lube grove completely disapear so i would say negatory

[canyon-ghost]

Yep, until it smears the bands. Then it's going to deform your bullet anyway.