Cast boolit sizing questions

[bigarm]

Yesterday I was sizing my powder coated boolits to .358. I had sized them before coating with no problems. I then was trying to size them again after coating. After a short time the boolits became more difficult to push through. I took out the die and cleaned it with (I think it is called) Powder Blast or something like that. This did not improve the feeding. I then took the die out and tried honing it a little by wrapping a pencil in wet/dry sand paper and then cleaning it again. This seemed to help for a short time, then a boolit got stuck in the die. It seemed that the die was scraping off part of the coating which has never happened before. What would cause this and how do I prevent it? I have never lubed the powder coated boolits because I assumed the powder coating was the lube and then I would have another step of cleaning them. Do I need to lube them and then clean them? If so, what do I use? How can I make sure I get the lube off after sizing as I want just the powder coating? Am I doing something else wrong? I have been sizing them this way, but have gotten a couple of boolits stuck and both times it was on a custom sizing die, not a production Lee sizing die. Also, just to see, I put in a .356 sizing die and the boolits sized easily. I only did a few as I did not want to push my luck and really didn't want them undersized anyway.

[jcren]

You may not be getting the powder cured completely. Check manufacturer specs for cook time and temp, and check the actual temp of your oven if you haven't. For giggles, try throwing a few back in for 10 minutes or so and test sizing them.

[Yodogsandman]

Try giving your Lee push-though type die a spritz of water now and then for a lubricant.

[bigarm]

You may not be getting the powder cured completely. Check manufacturer specs for cook time and temp, and check the actual temp of your oven if you haven't. For giggles, try throwing a few back in for 10 minutes or so and test sizing them.

I can try putting them back in for a few minutes, but I did 3 different calibers (30-30, 45 acp and .357) and only had problems with the .357. I used John Deere green from Smoke on them and he said 16 minutes at 400. I have been doing 20 minutes at 400 (if my oven thermometer is correct).

[bigarm]

Try giving your Lee push-though type die a spritz of water now and then for a lubricant.

I can try water. It would dry and leave no residue.

[Yodogsandman]

If it makes a difference, I used Smoke's yellow/green this weekend, too. I started the cure at 35*F (ambient) in the convection oven and waited for the oven to reach 400*F and like you cooked them for 15 minutes. I then quenched them in about 45*F water. The quench was just to cool them faster so I could size them quicker. I then dried them off with paper towels. I sized them about 1 1/2 hours later and also had some of the paint scraped off on the driving band on half of the boolits. I used a Lee 312-155-2R that drops just shy of .313" and PC'd them cold. I sized to .314" in an RCBS sizer die in an RCBS LAMII, dry with no lube. The sizer die was new and had a little residue of some type of oil. I've also read that Pam works.

[bedbugbilly]

I don't PC and haven't read a lot on the "dos an don'ts" so am just curious. If you are sizing after PC'ing them, is the PC flexible enough that it doesn't crack if you are sizing the boolit down? Also, what would happen if you TL them in a little paste wax prior to sizing - just to give them a little lube to go through the die? Or is that defeating what you are ultimately using the PC for?

[Yodogsandman]

I can only speak for my own needs but, I was trying to increase my boolit diameter for better accuracy. A little paste wax or maybe even Ben's Liquid Lube might have helped. I'm thinking that I probably over-cured the PC, making the coating a bit more brittle. PC normally doesn't crack or flake off during sizing. Or it could have been that the boolits had some lube residue from rolling around in contact the container. The container had stored lubed boolits prior to this use.

I was excited to try them and shot 10 rounds in my SKS at 50 yards on Sunday. The group was a little larger than just lubed boolits. No leading found. I'll try some more once they've age hardened.

[captaint]

I don't powder coat either, but I thought you guys that do, size the bare lead, then powder coat and load them ?? If I did coat mine, I wouldn't want to size after coating ??? Like I said, I don't do the process - just thinking out loud......

[cs86]

Try a smash test. The last time I remember that happening to me is I overcooked the PC and it was more brittle leaving pieces behind in the die. My smash test failed. Pieces came off when smashed. luckily it was my first few attempts and I didn't do many so I just melted them back down. This may not be the problem but something to try.