Sizing Question

[dsh1106]

How much reduction in size per session is too much? .005, .010 ?

Thx
Scott

[bedbugbilly]

What are you trying to size down (boolit size) and what are you trying to size it down to?

I size with Lee push through sizers . . . I can't imagine sizing down .005 let alone .010. The most I've ever had to resize down is .002 on one particular boolit that I was taking down from .360 to .358 for a particular project. And, I tumbled them in paste wax for a lube before sizing. If you are having to size down .005 or .010 . . . will you not be loosing most of your lube grooves?

The hardness of your boolit is also going to affect how much you can size. It's a whole lot easier to size a soft lead boolit down .002 than one that is hard. I did have a boolit that fell .326 from my mold that I sized down in a push through sizer to .323 to use in my 8mm - a 130is grain boolit - and it was a hard push on my arm and my little single stage to get it done - plus I lost a bit of the shallow lube groove.

[dsh1106]

I want to size a 7mm to .280 diameter.

As cast the bullet is .290/.291.

[bangerjim]

I never do more than 2-3 thou. Anything else is swaging.........not sizing!

tough on your arm and your press. You will loose some groove size, even with grease in them. I PC so I do not care about lube grooves anymore.

You can probably do it with soft boolits, but it will be very tough on all involved, especially with shooting hardness slugs.

Just buy a mold that drops the size you are after.

[williamwaco]

I have one mold that drops .361. I size them to .357 with no problem using the Lee sizing dies. I got a spec of lead on the face of another mold and cast some .362 bullets. They stuck in the die.

[ukrifleman]

I use the 175gn Lee 8mm bullet sized down to .314 for my .303 Lithgow.

I take the .323 bullets already gas checked and lubed for my K98 and size them down in one pass through my .314 Lee push- through bullet sizer with no issues, then re-lube.

If you tumble lube with Alox, partial loss of the lube grooves by sizing down is not an issue.

ukrifleman.

[dsh1106]

Just buy a mold that drops the size you are after.

I have ...sort of.

I've become a huge fan of the Loverin boolit design, I have both that were made for the 270. (lyman 280468s & 280468l)

I wanted something heavier than 115-117 grain boolit, so I purchased a 7mm mold (Lyman 287405) and want to size the boolit down to .280 diameter for my rifle.

So, I need to get a .284/.285 sizing die and then use my .280 die.


Thx
Scott

[rintinglen]

It is easier to do it in two steps, but I have done several hundred 358-429's that are about .3585 down to .350 in one fell swoop. Tumble Lube before sizing, and the boolits should squeeze right through, without to much excessive force required. Were it I, i'd buy a Lee 285 sizer die just to split the middle. (And to have if an interesting 7 millimeter should land in my lap.)

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

How much reduction in size per session is too much? .005, .010 ?

Thx
Scott
I'm not gonna answer your question, as the answer depends on the alloy hardness and your Press.
But instead, I pose a question to provoke some thought. Ideally you don't want to size a boolit, you want the mold to cast the precise size.
Here is a conversation I started back when I was a casting newbie.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?137277-Sizing-a-Boolit-makes-it-less-accurate&highlight=

[dsh1106]

Well I picked up a second die to do an extra sizing step on this project.


RECAP - I purchased a 7mm mold (Lyman 287405), it dropped a bullet .291-.292 diameter

I purchased the correct nose punch and a .284 sizing die. No luck, the .284 sheared the edges of the bullet off and the deformation to the nose was really bad after running it through the .280 sizer.

I then purchased a .287 sizer and tried again ....

Somewhat of a success, not perfect but still usable.

Thoughts ????