Lee push through sizer problem?

[bgokk]

6056860569I have a Lee push through sizer .358” and when I ran NOE .35 Keith boolits (as cast diameter .361”) through it I got a partial skirt on the base. I know that the extra lead must go somewhere. My question is should I be concerned by the amount. The pic is of several of the boolits. The boolit on the left is as cast the others (sized) show varying amounts of the skirt. The ram (?) measured .353” in diameter before use. It now is showing wear on one side and now measures .351” x .353”. There is a pic of the ram incl.
What do you gents think should I just load and shoot??:-?

[44man]

That is quite a reduction. I don't think the skirt will hurt a thing anyway.

[KCSO]

Try them lubed before sizing and the skirt may go away. It looks like you are getting too much resistance at the start of the sizing.

[bgokk]

That is quite a reduction. I don't think the skirt will hurt a thing anyway.
My thought was that the skirt being so thin that it might cause leading.

KCSO
Try them lubed before sizing and the skirt may go away. It looks like you are getting too much resistance at the start of the sizing.
I used Ranchdog's method of spraying with WD-40 and then sizing. I may give them a light coat of Alox next time then size.

Thanks for the input.

[ukrifleman]

You need to lube cast bullets BEFORE you pass them through the Lee bullet sizing die to prevent leading and again after they have been sized to prevent the bore leading up.
I use Lee Liquid Alox lube before and after sizing and have no problems sizing .323 bullets down to .314.
ukrifleman.

[Blammer]

use SOME sort of slippery stuff, dawn hand soap then you can wash your boolits and have them clean before you lube them.

Your sizer is "gripping" the boolit and making it really hard to push through. .003 sizing should NOT be that bad.

[Boyscout]

I have used Hornandy's One Shot and that seems to work well too. I do a light tumble lube for resizing everything else and the areosol for show and tell pieces I don't want Alox all over.

[runfiverun]

from the looks of the front drive band and that trailing edge.
i wouldn't even try to shoot them.
i would definatly try some of the suggested above, and i'd also look at making the sizing stem larger.
jb-weld,or a welder... something and then file it back down to a better fit.

sometimes just waiting a week or two to let the alloy harden up will help.
but yeah lube some of them at least.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

If you want to get rid of that skirt, push them through upside down. (base first). I had the same problem and if I sized the upside down with alox or any of the above, they push through easily and look great.

[joesig]

I bet you are using a soft alloy and the die is rough. I would suggest polishing the sizing portion of the die with some 320 / 400 grit paper wrapped on a dowel. Six hundred grit is overkill but is nice if you are bored. Polishing will help a lot and is my standard preparation procedure on new Lee push-through dies. If you compare the internals of a RCBS/Lyman H&I die and that of a Lee, you will see a night and day difference.

If there is still a bit of a skirt after the polishing, try pushing the boolits through base first.

The last option, depending on your load, throat fit and purpose, you can harden your boolits a little via alloy change or water dropping from the mold into water.

[trixter]

It says right in the Lee instructions to NOT size boolits without lubing them first, and I lube them after also with Lee Liquid Alox. I am not sure why everyone seems to be afraid of LLA, but it has worked fine for me for many years. Just don't get carried away with it, 'A Little Dab'll Do Ya'.

[Smitty's Retired]

It says right in the Lee instructions to NOT size boolits without lubing them first, and I lube them after also with Lee Liquid Alox. I am not sure why everyone seems to be afraid of LLA, but it has worked fine for me for many years. Just don't get carried away with it, 'A Little Dab'll Do Ya'.

I either do this or pan lube.

[williamwaco]

In my experience a perfect base is absolutely critical to accuracy.
I would be surprised if those will group in 3" at 25 yards.

I have all the lee 35 dies. .356, .357, and .358. All the sizer punches are .351.
I think that is too small for a .358 die but Richard didn't ask me.

I don't know if lubing the bullets before sizing will help or not. I don't do it but most of my bullets are sized only 1 to 2 thousands and I have not had a problem.

I agree the first thing you should do is try lubing them. I would first try something like WD-40 or even soapy water. Interestingly ( to me ) Sierra uses water and dish detergent for a swagging lube in swagging their jacketed bullets.

If that fails, Lee would probably make you a custom sizer punch, and if not there are at least half dozen members here who would be happy to make you one. (but not me, I am not handy. )

[plainsman456]

I have had a few like those and have found the hand tool that NOE sells for chamfering the base of a boolit for the gas check did a good job removing it.

But in your case i believe you need to try some lube on them when sizing.

[bgokk]

In post #4 I noted that I sprayed with WD-40 (as Ranchdog did in his pictorial on dip lubing). The post is, however, not clear, as it appears that the statement is made by KCSO. My bad!

Why did I not think to push through base first? Doh, beats me.

The die is rough I will get to polishing.

Thanks to all for your advice.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Don't feel bad. I had that problem for a very long time. I used to have a very fine, flat file that I would slide the base of the boolit across to get rid of that skirt. One day, I watched a video of a guy using a regular lube and size die and saw that it was pushed down base first into the die.................... takes me awhile at times to get something figured out.

[44man]

I hand lube with Felix before sizing. I use the die to remove excess lube mostly, it is messy.
All GC boolits go through base first.

[Larry Gibson]

Lube before sizing and push base first through the sizer. As williamwaco says; perfect base is absolutely critical to accuracy.

Larry Gibson

[grouch]

I've had that problem with rifle bullets. Lubing first may help. A new push rod .001 under size helps. So does adjusting the height above the mold you pour from to give you a SLIGHT round corner on your bullet bases.
Grouch

[runfiverun]

another thing that might help is where you put the sizer in your press.
sometimes screwing it in further or out a little will make things go a lot smoother.

i was de-rimming 22 cases and was having a heck of a time getting them through,two turns of the die later i could push them through with one hand.

[trixter]

My experience with this has been to age the boolits longer after casting, at least 2 to 3 weeks. that seemed to clear it up for me.