Opening up a .457" Lee bullet sizer to .459" the Buckshot way ...

[rfd]

Using Buckshot's good info on opening up bullet sizing dies, I reworked my Lee .457" to .459" for use with my .45-70 cast boolits. I used three Klingspor wet/dry abrasive papers in 320, 500 and 600 grits, and some honing oil. Te mandril is a piece of .375" steel tubing. The rolling mat is a piece of 1/8" sticky rubber. Though the video shows a few seconds of using the 320 grit, i actuality it took closer to 15 minutes to get the die down to about .4585" and the polishing grits took it to a final .459" throat size. i had worked on this particular Lee boolit sizing die before and so far, as you can see at the end of the video, it was opened up from .457" to .458" with perhaps another 10 minutes or so of honing left to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEa2jeV-BKs

[MT Marlin Shooter]

Bob,
Good video, reminds me of sharpening hand plane blades! With only removing .002", I guess there is no real worry about the die going non-concentric? Still kind of new to all of this cast stuff, so sorry if this is a retarded question. I have an 1895 45-70 that slugs .458 and want to load up some GC 500's for Griz (protection, not hunting), so I may try this technique on my Lee sizer.

Thanks,

Greg

[rfd]

an excellent question that had me concerned as well about losing concentricity. but the mandril rod is a large enuf diameter, and the abrasive fills up most of the remaining space, so it's just a matter of holding the rod ends firmly and then push-pull over something flat that'll make the die body spin easily (rubber, leather, cloth, etc). took some time, but fixed that die perfectly. i've got another .457 lee boolit sizing die that i'm gonna open to .460 for another 45-70 rifle that prefers that cast boolit diameter. go for it, it's an easy job that just takes some time.