bullet deformation while sizing

[rick/pa]

I am casting for a Parker Hale Volunteer rifle using the Lyman 451114 mold. I think the bullet is to be used as cast but it drops from the mold at .452 with WW and .451 with Pb. I checked the bore with a pin gauge and it rejected a .451 pin and took the .450 so I wanted to size my boolits .449 using a Star sizer. I cast 50 in WW and 50 in pure lead. When I went to size the lead boolits, they only got halfway into the die before the exposed part started to deform, swelling the body of the boolit and jamming it in the die. I used a wipe of JPW before running it through the die but the increased pressure from the bullet punch caused the deformation. I am just sizing for right now with no lube, I am going to be mixing my own using beeswax, crisco, and canola oil and will hand lube it while shooting (if the dad blamed weather ever gets warmer!) I am using a flat faced punch also. The WW's were better and went through without a hitch. Has anyone else had this happen to them and what do you do to fix it? I would think that some of the .45-70 boolits such as the Postell type would be long enough to have the same problem. Can anybody steer me in the right direction? Should I give up the idea of using pure lead , I really wanted to compare WW vs. Pb. I should add that I've been casting for 30 some years but only for pistol and round ball muzzleloaders. This is my first venture into casting for a rifle, and a ML to boot.

[Dale53]

The bullets DO need to be lubed before sizing. Just pan lube the bullets as cast, THEN size them. It is important to size them nose first (the flat faced bullet punch should be nearly as large as the base of the bullet).

These should size perfectly using this method. The pre-lubed bullets will reduce the sizing effort and you shouldn't get any meaningful distortion.

Dale53

[Bullshop]

If lube dont solve the problem you may have to size in steps with those pure lead boolits.

[HeavyMetal]

Your attempting to knock .003 of a pure lead boolit thats quite long.

With no lube yet. I like's a man thats not afraid of a challange!

Seriously: even with lube on these boolits I think .003 is a lot of sizing on pure lead!

To do this right go .451 then .450 and then .449. I bet you'll even find the WW boolits shoot better after this style of sizing.

Basically your reducing a lot of stress that's "bending" boolit's even if you can't "see" it!

[44man]

All I can find about the volunteer is that a .451 round ball was recommended. I would try a .450 boolit and see if you can load it all right. That would reduce the amount of sizing.
Heavymetal has some good ideas.

[rick/pa]

Thanks for the replies. I never thought of this as a challenge, just a case of fools rush in where angels fear to go!! I thought that .003 was a lot to take off at one time. I really don't like the thought of changing dies 3 times to size the bullet, maybe I can find a mold that drops them closer in size, but as I said, the bullets from this mold are supposed to be shot as cast and with a .450 bore that ain't gonna happen unless I pound them in there which is not an option.

The Volunteer has a 1-20" twist so its not a good round ball rifle although I have considered them for plinking once I find the right load with the slugs. Another thought I had was to use a .45 Minie with a smaller powder charge to keep from blowing off the skirt. I have a mold, Lyman .454613, which drops them from the mold at .450 from pure lead. But I still want to find the correct load for the boolit its supposed to use.

How about the PH 451121, which is listed for the Whitworth and Volunteer rifles? Anyone use it?

Thanks again for your suggestions. This place has a wealth of information and good people on it.