Lee Sizer

[Uncle Chan]

All,

I'm accumulating the equipment necessary to start casting. There is little chance that I'll have the $$ necessary to get a Star or Lyman sizer. I see that Lee has a sizer/lubricator.

Do any of you folks have one and if so, what is your opinion of it? Is it a good economical start?

Thanks for the assist!

Uncle Chan

[timkelley]

Super way to start, some folks never go any further. I'm just a few months ahead of you and Lee sizers are all I have. I will wait a while to see if I need more.

[Dale53]

Lee sizers are a push through die. This is potentially the least damaging way of sizing a bullet. It IS important to lube the bullets before using (they are designed to use Lee liquid alox). I pan lube my big BPCR bullets, then size in the Lee push through. For the record, I have a Star sizer (do nearly all of my pistol bullets with this) and a RCBS and a Lyman sizer/luber (use two different types of lube and lube most of my rifle bullets in these - with the exception of the BPCR bullets noted above).

The reason that I use my Lee push through sizing die for BPCR bullets - they are really too big (too long) for the Star machine and the Lyman and RCBS machines can bend the long soft bullets severely reducing accuracy.

Dale53

[Down South]

I have four of the Lee Sizers. They work great for the price. I've just invested in a Star which I haven't got yet so I really can't comment on the Star. I just sized a couple hundred rounds today with one of my Lee Sizers.
The Lee Sizers are a little more time consuming. I pan lube so I have to (cook) my boolits first then run them through the sizer. If you are using LLA it's still going to take some time because you still have to lube the boolits then let them dry, size then lube again or at least that's the way I'd think LLA needs to be applied. Never used LLA yet either and I have a bunch of it.
Like Dale said, The Lee Push Through Dies work great. They size nose first causing less distortion to the boolit. Sizing nose first supposedly helps with alignment too.
For the money I don’t think you will go wrong with the Lee Sizing Kit.

Oops, I just reread your post again. Lee doesn’t make a sizer lubricator. They make a push through sizer kit and send you a bottle of LLA with it. So the sizing and lubing are done in separate steps. Still a great deal though.
http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1215222541.1690=/html/catalog/lubesize.html

[Tom W.]

For some reason the Lee sizer I have for my .30 cal. bullets won't put a gas check on properly unless I put the boolit in upside down. It's not that much of a problem, just a bit weird....

[EMC45]

I started with all Lee push through sizers. They work great! I do have a Lyman 4500 now though. I used them and pan lubed for a good long time. Worked fine.

[Down South]

For some reason the Lee sizer I have for my .30 cal. bullets won't put a gas check on properly unless I put the boolit in upside down. It's not that much of a problem, just a bit weird....
Tom, I have two GC moulds for my 45-70. My Lee does a good job of putting the GC’s on. You must be using a FN boolit to push it through backwards. If not I would think the bullet nose would wind up with a flat spot on it if it were a RN.

[Tom W.]

Yes, just a tiny one. It's a Lee C309-160R. It doesn't seem to hurt anything though, and I've used it in both my 30/30 and 30-06. Works very good on turtles......And early in my career one of my sons used them successfully for deer.

[TexasJeff]

I love 'em.

I mix the LLA with some Johnson's Paste Wax that I've "cooked" in a pan on the hot plate. I make up about a 50/50 mixture of LLA and JPW, then just a smidgin of odorless mineral spirits, and shake well.

I do two tumble lubes with this mix. The first one is a light one, and I let the boolits sit for an hour or two, then run them through the sizer. Then I do a second tumble lube in which I put a bit more of the concoction in.

Then I spread the freshly lubed boolits out on a slick teflon coated cookie sheet (I buy them for a dollar apiece at the Dollar Store), and sit them outside to set up and dry.

With the JPW added to the LLA, I get several things--One is that the boolits dry and set up faster. Two, I get hardly any smoke or soot when firing the rounds. And third, I get a much cleaner, shinier bore after firing.

It's all a win-win for me.

Jeff

[shotman]

tom call Lee and have them send you a punch that is hollowed out to push the boolet through backards. i got a 338 mold from them and the sizing die and it would damage the check i called and they sent a punch that matched the mold. Dont know but they didnt charge for mine. If you have any Lee dies take the seater punch out and try it , their 30-06 dies the punch works good on a 311413 shotman/rick

[copdills]

I tried my Lee sizer for the first time last night and it works great

good luck copdills

[trickg]

I think that this is the thread I was looking for. I have a birthday coming up next month and I have asked for gun stuff. Among the things I want to acquire is the ability to cast my own bullets, and I was in a bit of a quandary about what to do regarding sizing/lubing. The Lee setup is undoubtedly the most economical way to go, but I keep thinking back to what my Dad's setup was and I'm not sure which way to go.

This thread has me convinced that if nothing else, the Lee setup is a great way to get started, and I can even use it with Lyman bullets.

If anyone else has anything to add, fee free! :)

[exile]

DownSouth, could you elaborate on "pan lubing" bullets when using a Lee sizer? I assume you are talking about using conventional lube with a Lee sizer. I would like to get the lee 310 .44 mag. bullet and try and lube it with conventional lube and use a Lee sizer. Have not cast any bullets yet, am still gathering information. Thanks.

[Buckshot]

..............I have proved to myself that the BEST way to size (if you have to at all) is to basically lube only and start the GC, in a die in the lube-size press that's a bit too large. THEN you run the slug up through a push through die to do any actual sizing.

However, for general shooting the Lyman, RCBS, Saeco and Star presses have served well for a LONG time.

...............Buckshot

[DLCTEX]

Exile: As you have not received a response to your question, I will attempt to give an answer. Pan lubing is done by standing boolits on their bases in a shallow pan with a small space between them. It helps to use a pan just large enough to give room for the number of boolits you are working with so as to reduce the amount of lube necessary. Melt the lube in a double boiler or a microwave and pour enough into the pan to cover the boolits to the point you want lubed. Some do not lube the top groove on multigroove boolits for instance. Let the lube cool to form a cake, then cut the boolits out with a "cookie cutter" which can be bought or fashioneod from a cartridge case that just slips over the boolit freely, or possibly something like a handle from an old golf club cut at the step that fits the boolit. Kake Kutter is a commercial brand. Some avoid the cutter by pressing the boolits out from the bottom while the cake is still warm. This may take some experimenting to find a lube that will stay in the grooves and will work better on some boolit groove designs than others. The boolits may be sized before lubing or after. That is the basics and others on this site are far more knowledgeable than I and will help you with any questions. It is usually better to ask the question in a new thread, so as to not highjack someone's thread, and it stands out more as to being unanswered. Due to the elapsed time maybe we aren't highjacking, and we aren't totally off topic. DALE

[exile]

Thanks, Buckshot and Dale for the information. My apologies to Uncle Chan for hijacking your thread. Sorry. Basically, I was trying to figure out how to use conventional lube and a conventional bullet with the Lee sizer and not have to go to the expense of a regular luber /sizer, at least not right off the bat. And you gave me the information I needed. I am still taking notes, and as always am thankful for your time.

[DLCTEX]

Oh yeah, if you want to try pushing the boolits out from the bottom you'd better spray the pan with Pam cooking spray or something. Of course I've only heard that can be a problem. DALE

[jonk]

Great sizing dies. Much more concentric than lubesizers. I find myself spraying some bullets with case lube, sizing and installing the gas check on the Lee equipment, then lubing in the lubesizer.

That said for 1600 fps or less the Lee Liquid Alox does as well as anything, even in rifle barrels, so I often skip the lube sizer and just tumble lube.

[Dale53]

To all interested parties:
Here is an excellent treatise on "Pan Lubing":

http://goatlipstips.cas-town.com/panlubing.html

Dale53

[Wayne Smith]

When I pan lube I cover the pan with plastic wrap. It doesn't melt, getting the cake and boolits out of the pan is easy, and pushing the bullet first up a little when the lube is hard and then down through the wrap makes it easy to get the boolits out of the lube cake. I do this with boolits I'm not sizing, at least until I have proved to myself that that's how they shoot best.

[bcp477]

I use a Lee sizer, as well. As for lubrication, I simply spray the bullets with a light lube, such as Hornady One-Shot, or even WD40... and let this, as well as the bullet lube already in the grooves (I BUY my bullets already lubed)....do the job. Works nicely.

[tomf52]

Honady's One Shot Case Lube sprayed on a small batch of bullets in a margarine tub will lube them adequately to be pushed through a Lee sizer and then they can be tumble lubed in the conventional manner. No waiting for the spray lube to dry. It takes seconds and then on with the process. I've been doing it this way for a long time with good results.

[Ben]

If you want to see how pan lubing is done , take a look at this :

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=34058