Lubesizers v.2

[Old Ironsights]

I have one caliber I need to size for - .357

I have 2 bullets I need to size: C358-180RF and a Lyman 358-156 SWCHP/GC that I bought off of someone here.

I gues that means I need 2 nose punches? Or should I be looking at a different type because I also frequently cast in pure lead?

Since I'm not doing large #s or lots of calibers, Price is less important than Durability - but I don't want junk either.

What would be my best option?

[grumpy one]

My way of looking at this focuses on how hard you have to push on the bullet, and how well the bullet will withstand the stress. So, what is your as-cast size for each bullet, and what do you want to size to? If you are only sizing down by .001, the nose punch does not need to fit the bullet as well as if you were sizing down by .004. The bullet alloy is less of an issue: while you have to push harder on a harder bullet, the nose is better-able to withstand the forces involved, so you come out fairly even on that score.

I currently size two different round-nose and one flat-nose bullet, all with the same nose punch, and none of them end up marked unless I size down by a large amount, which inevitably gives me nasty-looking lube grooves where the alloy has deformed across the groove - a much bigger deal than the minor nose marking. I have a few other nose punches but have simply found one that seems to fit all my bullets fairly well. It happened that it was recommended for both my Lyman bullets, and happened to fit the Lee largely by luck. For you, a good starting point is the Lyman recommended punch for your Lyman bullet, offer it up to the Lee bullet and see how well it fits, then size a few bullets and see if they get nose-marked.

So far as what kind of lubesizer is concerned, to me it is a question of how hard you are going to push on your bullets. If you are going to size down by large amounts, and/or use very hard alloy, you will probably want one of the higher-leverage machines rather than a Lyman 45, which has the lowest leverage of all (but to my particular tastes is rather nice to use).

[Sundogg1911]

If you buy a Star sizer, you can size/lube nose first. No need for multiple nose punches. you can also do that with the lee's very cheaply, but you can only sizer with the Lees. I really like the Stars.

[Old Ironsights]

I'm not likely to push hard, as I'm only sizing from an as-cast of .358-.360 down to .357... I think.

Up until now I've always bought my cast boolits lubed & sized &/or used unsized boolits with no checks.

But I've got 5K Gators now, so I should probably figure out how to use them.

[grumpy one]

I'm not a handgun guy and haven't been for thirty years, but to me .357 sounds smaller than usual for a .357. You may need a larger size to get the best results. You will be familiar with this from quite a few threads on this site - assuming you have a revolver, you need to measure the parallel section at the front of each chamber of your cylinder. And even then it can all go wrong if your barrel doesn't match.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Yep, step one is to measure your chamber throats. Then add about 0.0005" to 0.0010", and that will be your size diameter. You may not need to size much (maybe not at all) just lube, that's what I do. I use a 0.359" sizing die b/c a couple of of my revolvers are 0.3580 to 0.3585. My moulds/alloy generally drop around 0.358 to 0.360 depending, so some just get lubed in the 0.359 die, others, sized slightly. You will also want to know the groove diameter of your barrel. I should be no larger than your chamber throats, better if its about 0.001 smaller. Cast boolits shoot best if they start out larger than the throat, get squeezed moving out of the cylinder, and still be larger than the barrel diameter, and get squeezed again as they go into the barrel.

Lubing, I have an old, real old Lyman that sizes and lubes most of my .357s and .45s, but I also use pan lubing and dip lubing for longer boolits, which tend to tip and get off center in the lubrisizer. I also use Lee sizing dies in my reloading press to apply gas checks. The Lees do much better at that job than the lubrisizer, then I run them through the lubrisizer for lubing.

Bottom line, buy more stuff, more toys more fun. Dad always told me "Time and money don't do you any good till you spend 'em."

[Duckiller]

Since both boolits have flat points I think you would be able to use one top punch for both. A wadcutter top punch will give you a large flat area. If you can try the boolits to a top punch. a SWC punch will probably work. Don't just look at 38 top punches. If a SWC in 38 marks up a boolit go to the next size larger,ie .40/.41. While Lyman and RCBS have recommended top punches anything that matches the top of the boolit and doesn't unduely mark up the sides will work. Duckiller