Removing crud after sizing

[roscoe]

After I size my .257 rounds, they all have this crud, slag, or whatever you want to call it around the base. What is the best way to remove this. It doesn't peel off easily by a fingernail. My sizing dies are Lee and they're new.

Thanks for the help.

155596

[fa38]

Looks like you are sizing to much. Never had any bullet look like that after sizing 2 or 3 thou.
Also looks like they went into the sizer slightly crooked. Maybe the die is mismarked. Did you check the diameter with a mike.

Is the debth of the grease grooves the same on all sides?

If they were mine I would run them over a file.

When the bullet comes out of the mould is there a ring of greater diameter than the base band.?

[flyingmonkey35]

I've only seen that when there is a bad spru cut. Large Finger nail clippers work great

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

You may want to figure out why your getting that, maybe the die's needs polishing ?
But, when that type of stuff needs to be removed, a tool like what NOE offers would work good.

>>>> Bullet Base Chamfer Tool
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=28&osCsid=8dlde2qnm22pgqbc71kn4bskb5

[chutesnreloads]

+1 on the polishing.......You ARE applying lube BEFORE sizing,right?

[country gent]

There are things t check besides removal of this lip. That can be done easily with an exacto knife and straight blade. But this metal has to come from somewheres and unless evenly scraped from the side bullets will be distorted and out of balance. Measure the bullets as cast and after passing thru sizing die to see how much is being sized, .001-.003 is about the norm. Examine the lead into the die and the sizing area itself to see if lead is gaulded to the surface or surface is rough. We now know finished size and what is there and if dimensions are with in specs then you might try increasing the lead angle into the die and polishing it smoother. This can be done with a dowel and fine sand paper. Work the lead angle a few passes with 220 not entering the sizer area as little as possible working thru 800 grit if size area appears rough lightly polish it and the lead with 600-800 grit working thru so finish lines appear as a figure 8 this is done low rpms high feed back and forth. Working the lead and size area together removes and blends the sharp edges formed. Last is a piece of cotton flannel and flitz, shimichrome, or auto rubbing compound and work thru to provide final finish or polish to surface and blend all sharpe edges to flowing radiouses. Lead bullets need to be sized ( almost swaged down to be accurate and maintain consistancy, not scraped with metal removed.

[roscoe]

Looks like you are sizing to much. Never had any bullet look like that after sizing 2 or 3 thou.
Also looks like they went into the sizer slightly crooked. Maybe the die is mismarked. Did you check the diameter with a mike.

Is the debth of the grease grooves the same on all sides?

If they were mine I would run them over a file.

When the bullet comes out of the mould is there a ring of greater diameter than the base band.?

1. Before the bullet goes in the sizer, i used a Starret mike on about a third of them and they checked out at .260. After running thru the sizer they miked at .257015

2. Grease groove is the same all the way around.

3. On the very edge of the base, there is a small ring barely noticeable on some of them, not all.

[roscoe]

+1 on the polishing.......You ARE applying lube BEFORE sizing,right?

What is the best method of polishing the die?

I'm using Ballistol as my lube. Since these are for an air rifle, I don't need the traditional lube that a powder burner would use. When they pass through the sizer, they go very smoothly without too much resistance.

[chutesnreloads]

They don't LOOK like they went through smooth without much resistance.I got a .309 die that did that but not as bad....really felt the boolit scraping through the die.What I did was use a bore lapping kit I've had laying around and used it same way instructions said for bore lapping.Then cleaned the die real good.Its still my roughest die but at least they come out like I want them

[dudel]

I had that happen with a Lee sizer where the pusher was too small. Also had a Lee sizer there the pusher was trimmed at an angle; it would leave flash on one side of the boolit base.

[Motard]

Lee sizer and and boolits larger more than three thou: I had exactly the same resoult. I have then enlarged a little the sizer as per instrutions read on forum here and finally lapped it the easy way: a whet cotton cloth wrapped around my hand drill with some polishing compound on. Never happened again.

[Skipper]

After I size my .257 rounds, they all have this crud, slag, or whatever you want to call it around the base. What is the best way to remove this. It doesn't peel off easily by a fingernail. My sizing dies are Lee and they're new.

Thanks for the help.

155596

Use the inside of a Lee case chamfer tool.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

I've had this happen with Lee and Star push-thru dies. I lay a sheet of sandpaper on a flat surface, and then carefully sand the base of the bullet, rotating the bullet for every stroke. Take care to keep the bullet base square with the bullet axis, and have a close-as-possible perfect base.

[dondiego]

What is the diameter of the boolit before sizing? Are they from a 7mm or 6.5 mm mold?

[robg]

you could push those boolets base first ,make sure there well lubed

[PoisonIvyMagnet]

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=28
NOE sells a nice little tool to clean up the base of cast boolits. Useful for chamfering the base to make seating gas checks easier too.

[roscoe]

What is the diameter of the boolit before sizing? Are they from a 7mm or 6.5 mm mold?

Before sizing: .260

[roscoe]

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=28
NOE sells a nice little tool to clean up the base of cast boolits. Useful for chamfering the base to make seating gas checks easier too.

The .90 gr bullets may not work very well on this chamfering tool. They are short and when they go into the tool, there is nothing to hold onto when trying to use the tool. The .104 gr bullets might work with the tool since they are a little longer.

[dondiego]

Before sizing: .260


OOPS! Sorry, missed your post #7.

[243winxb]

Try RCBS Water Soluble lube. After sizing, wash bullets.

[jonp]

Ive tried several types of lube including ballistol. I settled on hornady one shot for most brass. You might try that and as an experiment some BLL.

[country gent]

Your start and finished sizes seem compatable and in the norm. May just be a rough surface. Find a wood dowel or aluminum rod 6" long, 3/16" should work. Cut a piece of soft cotton flannel 3" long and wide enough to wrap around the rod to a snug fit. Use flitz, Shimichrome, auto rubbing compound, or red jewlers rouge. Work the compound into the surface of the wrapped cloth Nad with a drill motor running slow 50-75 rpms or less stroke die over the wrapped cloth not coming off the cloth front or back but moving quickly front to back. A few minutes of this and the die should appear much brighter insideand almost chrome like looking. A little water added will help keep the compounds cutting and breaking down finer and finer. These compounds will remove very little material but a rough surface may change due to its smoothing out.