Troubles with .40 S&W and some questions

[LittleBill]

I have a .40 S&W semi auto and I want to cast for it. I am running into some problems which I hope someone here may have answers for.

First, the barrel slugs right at .401. I slugged it twice just to make sure. After doing some looking around, I do not see any sizing dies for either my Lyman or from Lee that go above .401, preferably to .402. But then, I encountered problem number two, which is my Lee six cavity mold. This was a gift, and I had some trouble getting it running right, but after reading through some of the stickies, got it casting some really nice looking boolits. However, they are dropping at .402/.401/.400, depending on where I put my micrometer on the driving bands. I am not confident that they will end up at .402 all the way around even if I find a die.

I am wondering what might be my next step here. I bought some stuff to try powder coating for a different reason, but I am wondering if the extra bulk from the baked on PC will do the job of sealing the barrel properly? Should I sell the Lee mold and buy one from NOE or Accurate that throws bigger boolits? Has anyone here run into a similar problem in the past, and if so, how did you solve it?

[SSGOldfart]

Yep same problem,I just got a accurate mold for trying to cast a 402 bullets,I'm planning to open up a 401 Lee sizing die to a 402 die,with a little fine grinding compound.

[tazman]

The extra girth from the PC will enable you to use them at 1-2 thousandths larger than cast size. They may work fine without sizing since they are within the spec you want even if not perfectly round.
Personally, I would tumble lube some of them and see how they shot.
I have one barrel that slugs at .400 and another that slugs a tight .402. Both shoot well with tumble lubed .401 boolits at least so far.

You can make the Lee mold drop boolits larger by either lementing the mold(search the site) or by beagling (putting a thin shim in between the mold halves at the bottom).
You can also get a sizing die the correct size by polishing out a Lee sizer as the previous poster suggested.

[Garyshome]

Open up a 401 Lee sizing die to a 402 die.

[harley45]

I've been powder coatung my 10mms from that same Lee mold and sizing to 401 and so far it works just dandy! If that's not an option for you I'd use the aluminum tape idea to enlarge the Boolits and order a 402 sizer from Buffalo Arms

[Shiloh]

Yep same problem,I just got a accurate mold for trying to cast a 402 bullets,I'm planning to open up a 401 Lee sizing die to a 402 die,with a little fine grinding compound.

I opened up a LEE .401 die to just under .402 Thats as far as I needed to go. I did mine with 400 emery paper followed by 600, then mirrored with either FLITZ or Simichrome polish.

Shiloh

[bstone5]

I have shot thousands of .401 bullets that were powdered coated and then sized with a Lee die that was polished just enough to make the bore a polished surface. The bore might be a few parts of thousands large than .401. The powder coating keeps all of the lead out of the barrel.

[LittleBill]

Thanks for the replies. It looks like the way to start might be PC or tumble lubed and unsized, and going from there. I appreciate the other options suggested and may end up going that route.