cast .270 win

[zimzy]

i know this is probably in another section of this forum but for the life of me i cant seem to find all the info I'm looking for.

i have a C285-130-1R and around 1k of already cast rounds. what i don't have is a way to size them down to .270 win rounds. I have been on just about every forum google will pull up for me on this topic and everyone seems to have a different way of sizing them down. what im looking for is a way to size it down on my press i have a lee bench press...

if anyone has a way to size it down there willing to sell pm me

[waco]

Lee push through sizer dies are only about $17 plus shipping
Just look one up through Midway, or Midsouth and have it shipped to your door in less than two weeks.

[BCB]

I don't think Lee makes a push through sizer in 0.278"...

I checked years ago and I had to purchase a sizing die to fit my RCBS LAM 2...

Good-luck...BCB

[zimzy]

iv yet to see a lee push though sizer... from what iv read on most forums lee does not make a sizer in .270 ... however one of the last forums i was looking at said that Lyman makes custom sizer dies for something like $37 plus shipping anyone know if that is true and if so is it worth pursuing

[retread]

What size are they now? If they are .285 or larger, sizing down to .278 is pretty extreme I would think.

[geargnasher]

Buy a .270 mould. I suggest RCBS. Yes, you'll have to buy handles, too.

What you're asking won't work. For one thing, even if you did get that Lee boolit squoze down to .278-9" without totally wiping out the lube grooves, you won't get a .277" gas check on it and the nose will be too fat to chamber anyway. Base-first sizers won't do it: They'll rivet the nose before sizing it that much even if you get one with enough leverage to do the job.

Gear

[freebullet]

^^^yup, going more than .003 at once gets stiff.

The Lyman would be for their machines not a push through I would imagine. Member/mod on this board "buckshot" can fix you up with a custom push through in .278. You may need an additional at .281 if you want it to go through easier.

[fcvan]

I've read that Buckshot, a member here, makes custom push through dies. I would check that out.

[BCB]

What size are they now? If they are .285 or larger, sizing down to .278 is pretty extreme I would think.

I size the 287346 from ~0.285" down to 0.278" with no problem at all. I use a 7mm check when I'm sizing for my 7-30 Waters and a 270 caliber check will also fit on the shank when I am sizing down for the 270 Winchester. There are still enough lube grooves left that I seem to get enough Carnauba (sp) in them. They then shoot well from a Model 700...

Good-luck...BCB

[Jal5]

Buckshot made me a push thru lee type sizer die for my .270. Good man to do business with.

[GaryN]

Listen to what Geargnasher has to say. He is pretty sharp. I would think that sizing it down that much would effect accuracy. Buckshot does very good work. If I needed a custom sizer die he would be my first choice.

[BCB]

Listen to what Geargnasher has to say. He is pretty sharp. I would think that sizing it down that much would effect accuracy. Buckshot does very good work. If I needed a custom sizer die he would be my first choice.

Well, as is mentioned, but not necessarily the fact, that if accuracy will be affected by sizing down a caliber, then he certainly doesn’t need a custom sizing die. He needs a 270 caliber mold, maybe a 280642 (150 grains) that I use also…

But, I do it with the 287346 (135 grains) all of the time and it shoots well in my 7-30 Waters as well as my 270 Winchester…

It really is the best of both worlds—1 mold, 2 calibers to shoot the cast boolit in…

The pics show the 287346 sized to 0.284”± and also to 0.2778”±…

But, to each his/her own…

Good-luck…BCB

http://i40.tinypic.com/hun3ud.jpg


http://i40.tinypic.com/280tcaq.jpg

[geargnasher]

BCB, you might pay closer attention before espousing what can and cannot be realistically achieved. The OP has a LEE boolit, which has a longer nose and shallower lube grooves than the one you're using to attempt to discredit me.

I in fact have tried to do exactly what the OP was asking about, and it's a waste of time with the LEE .285 boolit. I used both push-through and base-first sizers, and tried 7mm gas checks too. The only way it even came close to working was to size, check, and lube ALL the grooves, running it through twice to be sure no air pockets existed in the lube bands. Then cram it through a .277 push-through die, which puts a lot of lead dust into the lube but keeps them "open". Wipe them off, re-lube in a .278" die and then I found out the long bore-rider nose was too fat to chamber. Shoulda checked that first. After all that I wasn't in the least bit interested in making a nose-sizing die since good .270 moulds are widely available.

If Zimzy doesn't yet cast and is just trying to use up the 1K boolits he has (my guess), then I say it's a waste of time to buy/make/alter a bunch of tooling to make these work. We don't even know if he has any gas checks on them or if they're lubed. In fact, we know next to nothing about them. Hence my original recommendation.

Gear

While I'm certain that with the proper, custom-made swage dies and careful pre-lubing to keep the grooves from collapsing it CAN be done, but practically speaking, no. With other 7mm boolits I can see that it would work, but not so much with the Lee.

[BCB]

BCB, you might pay closer attention before espousing what can and cannot be realistically achieved. The OP has a LEE boolit, which has a longer nose and shallower lube grooves than the one you're using to attempt to discredit me.

I in fact have tried to do exactly what the OP was asking about, and it's a waste of time with the LEE .285 boolit. I used both push-through and base-first sizers, and tried 7mm gas checks too. The only way it even came close to working was to size, check, and lube ALL the grooves, running it through twice to be sure no air pockets existed in the lube bands. Then cram it through a .277 push-through die, which puts a lot of lead dust into the lube but keeps them "open". Wipe them off, re-lube in a .278" die and then I found out the long bore-rider nose was too fat to chamber. Shoulda checked that first. After all that I wasn't in the least bit interested in making a nose-sizing die since good .270 moulds are widely available.

If Zimzy doesn't yet cast and is just trying to use up the 1K boolits he has (my guess), then I say it's a waste of time to buy/make/alter a bunch of tooling to make these work. We don't even know if he has any gas checks on them or if they're lubed. In fact, we know next to nothing about them. Hence my original recommendation.

Gear

While I'm certain that with the proper, custom-made swage dies and careful pre-lubing to keep the grooves from collapsing it CAN be done, but practically speaking, no. With other 7mm boolits I can see that it would work, but not so much with the Lee.

http://i44.tinypic.com/28lweo5.jpg

Wow, I had to Google that word “espousing”. I wasn’t taught that word at my local small-town University…

But, back to the C285-130-1R. The pic I included IS a C285-130-1R…
(Excuse the pic as it is an old boolit and not one that I view as a “show piece” but it illustrates my point)

It has been sized to 0.278” and is lubed with Carnauba (sp). I don’t know if there is enough lube in the grooves to avoid leading or not. The check would help solve that problem, if it exists…

But, the boolit is seated in a 270 Winchester case and it WILL chamber in an older Model 70 and a newer Model 700. I suspect the seating depth could even be less and it would still chamber…

I really never had any luck with this boolit in either caliber, thusly the 287346 (.284) and the 280642 (.278) dies that I purchased for this reason…

And if the OP is going to try to use them, he might as well get a 0.278” sizing die—of whatever type—and attempt them. If he is going to shoot cast in the 270 Winchester, he will need the sizing die for that caliber and probably gas checks for it also…
(A push through would allow him to use his reloading press)

He could just seat the check while sizing and then use Alox. No need to purchase a LAM 2 or a Lyman…
(If he needs a container of Alox that comes with the Lee sizing dies, I will send it to him free of charge)

Either way, he wins and doesn’t have to spend much money to “test the water”…

My thoughts…

Good-luck…BCB

[geargnasher]

http://i44.tinypic.com/28lweo5.jpg

Wow, I had to Google that word “espousing”. I wasn’t taught that word at my local small-town University…They didn't focus on vocabulary too much at either of the universities I attended either.

But, back to the C285-130-1R. The pic I included IS a C285-130-1R…This is your first mention of the Lee boolit, or your experience with it.......You went to a lot of trouble to explain that my answer wasn't necessarily correct and used a different boolit as an example with zero reference to the Lee. What am I supposed to think?
(Excuse the pic as it is an old boolit and not one that I view as a “show piece” but it illustrates my point) Looks like the ones I made except I had to seat them to the crimp groove to get them to chamber in my Winchester. I could swear it looks like you nose-sized those due to the taper between ogive and the front band, which isn't a feature of the as-cast boolit from the mould I have. Good idea if you did but way too much trouble IMO for little gain.

\

It has been sized to 0.278” and is lubed with Carnauba (sp). I don’t know if there is enough lube in the grooves to avoid leading or not. The check would help solve that problem, if it exists…Plenty of lube if you swage them down with the grooves filled. I used Felix lube and shot maybe ten-fifteen of them. Leading wasn't the issue.

But, the boolit is seated in a 270 Winchester case and it WILL chamber in an older Model 70 and a newer Model 700. I suspect the seating depth could even be less and it would still chamber…Are you SURE you didn't size the bore-riding section of the nose separately? My Model 70 has a very long, gentle taper to the throat, I would say it's only "broken in", but the break in the second nose radius jammed up too early even when I managed to not "bump" the nose in the sizing operations. Still, they chambered fine when seated much more deeply.

I really never had any luck with this boolit in either caliber, thusly the 287346 (.284) and the 280642 (.278) dies that I purchased for this reason…That is exactly the point I was trying to make in the first place. Just about anything can be accomplished if you're ornery enough and have the money to throw at it, but is it worth it? The OP will have to decide now that he has a pretty good, experienced discussion to read.

And if the OP is going to try to use them, he might as well get a 0.278” sizing die—of whatever type—and attempt them. If he is going to shoot cast in the 270 Winchester, he will need the sizing die for that caliber and probably gas checks for it also…
(A push through would allow him to use his reloading press).....and not bump the nose any more than it already is. I suspect he doesn't own a lube-sizer. There is that base-first lube-sizer option, though, going without the ejector pin. Works ok if you can get them through there straight.

He could just seat the check while sizing and then use Alox. No need to purchase a LAM 2 or a Lyman…I didn't think of that, good idea!

Either way, he wins and doesn’t have to spend much money to “test the water”…

My thoughts…

Good-luck…BCB

Buckshot or Lathesmith could make him a die for his press, sure enough. Roll 'em in LLA and call it good. That long .270 neck and throat will swallow enough boolit that they will chamber after a fashion. They might shoot, might pattern, who knows. It sounds like a really good excuse to purchase a 7mm-08 to me....Those Lee boolits shot like a laser out of mine....but never did well enough in my .270 for me to recommend anyone else spend any money on such a project unless they already had the sizing tools for it on hand.

Gear

[zimzy]

If Zimzy doesn't yet cast and is just trying to use up the 1K boolits he has (my guess), then I say it's a waste of time to buy/make/alter a bunch of tooling to make these work. We don't even know if he has any gas checks on them or if they're lubed. In fact, we know next to nothing about them. Hence my original recommendation.


thanks for all the ideas and help. i think i will defiantly contact "Buckshot" and get a die from him. as-for the cast rounds i have they are un-lubed and un-gas checked. i think for now ill put those in the back of my storage unit and eventually get a 7mm to shoot them from. does anyone have a .270 mold they would be willing to sell if so pm me

[BCB]

Boolits were not nose-sized…

They were pushed into an H&I sizing die using a 346 top punch which fits the 287346 Lyman Mold…

A 413 top punch would fit the Lee 285-130-1R, but I don’t own one…

I think the “look of taper” is a product of the Kodak camera…

The lube grooves were filled as they were sized in the 0.278” sizing die. The check was seated during the same process…

Indeed, he could have one of the member lathe operators make him a push through die. I don’t know the price, but I would be LESS EXPENSIVE than a new 7mm-08!!!...

I think that would be a worthwhile investment…

As you said—who knows what type of accuracy he may get…

But, many times I attempt something again and again. I did the 285-130-1R about a dozen years ago. And as I look at it, I just might try it again. I have learned much from this site and maybe what I have learned will help with the second attempt…

And so it goes…

Good-luck…BCB