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Randall Kepley
05-26-2009, 12:18 AM
Hey guys, I have already got my first smelting under my belt and Im gearing up to cast my first boolits 8-). My question is, I keep getting conflicting anwsers on resizing, Is resizing realy nescessary or not? My first attempt will be 200grn SWC for .45 acp. Thanks guys. R.K.

shotman
05-26-2009, 12:28 AM
Well you are not "resizing" boolits. you size one time. It depends on the mold drop. check a few if they are near {.oo1or.002} it may not need done. If you tumble lube. If you use the hard lub you are sizing anyway. A Lee mold is good to go most of the time. Some others you need to check. Alloy also changes size too.

Buckshot
05-26-2009, 02:26 AM
.............You do not HAVE to size boolits. The only time you HAVE to is if a case loaded with an 'as cast' slug won't chamber, or chambers so tightly there is no room for the case to expand slightly to easily release the boolit. Should your boolits drop the correct size and there is no reason to size them, why would you? Now as to lubing, even boolits not requiring sizing are lubed and have their GC's (if required) applied in a Lyman lube-sizer press. I just use a size die a thousandth OVER the as cast OD. It's nice to have the press in case you do have to size some slugs, and for those not needing sizing, it is a neat clean and fast way to get the chore done.

I'm one of those who can't seem to change the oil in my cars without getting oiled myself, regardless how user friendly the placement of the filter and drain plug is. If I had to hand or pan lube boolits I'd be a grease ball.

Sizing if required isn't an evil. How it's done and the care used will determine if you actually create a useable boolit or destroy a fine specimen's accuracy potential. I shoot way more rifle boolits then pistol by a wide margin. While pistol slugs can commonly be almost as wide as they are long, rifle slugs almost always are at least twice their OD long, and usually for me, 3 times as long.

For me using these long(ish) slugs the hot setup is to first send them up though a Lee type push through die. This is the least traumatic and most accurate means of sizing available, by far. I also seat the GC in this step. However no lube fills the groove(s). After this they then get run down into the Lyman lube-sizer press and a die of the correct size is used. If I ran them up through a .310" push through die, they get put into a .310" lube die for lubing only. If using this method, be sure the die sizes to what's stamped on'em, as sometimes they ain't what they say they are!

Sizing can be a GOOD thing, too!

I have a couple M1909 Argentine cavalry short rifles and one had a groove of .314" which I can handle. But it also was fully equipped with a .303" bore. I had nothing that would drop with a nose that large nor did I have a Loverin (at the time) that would go the .314" groove. I was truly screwed for accuracy with cast. I tried bumping the noses but they'd usually just bend to one degree or another.

In desperation I used a Lyman 323470 Loverin which is an 8mm (.326") boolit. I lube-sized some in a .325" die then turned around and squirted them up through a .314" push through die. Not much effort was required and that was a .011" OD reduction! Loaded up in 7.65x53 Argentine cases they shot very well, and turned a nice but useless to me rifle into a cast boolit shooter. Since then Nu Judge came up with a custom Lee 6 banger dropping a 190gr bore rider of .304" x .316" dimentions so I don't have to go to the trouble double sizing 8mm boolits anymore, but it was a good example of fairly extreme sizing done right, that worked out well.

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

Bret4207
05-26-2009, 06:50 AM
As Rick and Rick ( the curse of the common name) both said, you only NEED to size boolits if they won't chamber as cast. Make up some dummy rounds and see if the chamber fully. If so, lube, load, shoot!

mtgrs737
05-26-2009, 09:22 AM
Buckshot, It's good to know that I'm not the only one who "wears" their change oil! LOL!! The older I get the more I hate that job mostly because of the filter placement and the Kansas wind (I've cussed a few engine designers for their filter placement)! Now I know why my dad quit doing his own oil changes when he got older. I also know not to install the lube plunger on a Star lubesizer until the lube is cooled and solidified! LOL! Good advice on the sizing, I couldn't resist commenting on the Oil mess!

Randall Kepley
05-26-2009, 08:27 PM
Good info guys , Im hopeing after I cast that I can pan lube and start loading. We'll see, still havent got all of my casting equiptment yet but should be here in the next week or so. Thanks. R.K.

Buckshot
05-27-2009, 02:17 AM
Buckshot, It's good to know that I'm not the only one who "wears" their change oil! LOL!! The older I get the more I hate that job mostly because of the filter placement and the Kansas wind (I've cussed a few engine designers for their filter placement)! Now I know why my dad quit doing his own oil changes when he got older. I also know not to install the lube plunger on a Star lubesizer until the lube is cooled and solidified! LOL! Good advice on the sizing, I couldn't resist commenting on the Oil mess!

Not to hijack the thread, but my worst experience was with a friend's Ford F250 Diesel 4x4. He had cancer in his spine and the operation paralyzed him from the waist down (a discussed possibility, and not a surgeon's mistake). When they decided on the chemo treatment schedule there was no way he or his wife could get him up into the pickup, so we swapped vehicles for a month. He took my Taurus, I drove the pickup.

After a couple weeks he called and asked if I'd take the pickup in to get it serviced and to send him the bill. With what he was going through and out of work, there was no way I was going to send him a bill. So there I was on the creeper in the driveway getting ready to change this big honkin' filter and then dump in (IIRC) something like 3-1/2 gallons of Rotella. Didn't need ramps or anything as there was pleanty of room under it as it sat. The filter hangs straight down between the oil pan and the left front leaf spring.

Now I KNEW the filter was going to be heavy so I was prepared. When it spun off the threads and I took the weight I instinctively pushed back up. The edge of the filter hit the edge of the filter bracket, tipped over the leaf spring and came down (open end downward) pouring out hot oil and hit me on the forehead and glasses over my left eye. Then flopped onto my chest pouring oil so I batted it off and there it went, merrily rolling down the driveway leaving a big trail of black oil (as only a Diesel engine can turn lube oil black) behind it.

Luckily my glasses kept most of it out of my eyes, but I was otherwise pretty well covered with it. I staggered around behind the garage, stripped off my clothes and used 4-5 shop towels to wipe of enough so I didn't drip oil as I headed for the shower. I tried mightily with the bar of soap in the shower but it just wasn't doing it. I went and got the bottle of dish detergent and used about half of it. After that I got to clean up the shower. I just threw the clothes away as I knew better having once tried to wash my shop towels in the washer. Left a grease ring that was an inch thick, and I counted myself very lucky to have spotted it. Just the thought of the wife washing some of her stuff in it afterwards still makes me weak in the knees :-)

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

Bret4207
05-27-2009, 07:08 AM
I just threw the clothes away as I knew better having once tried to wash my shop towels in the washer. Left a grease ring that was an inch thick, and I counted myself very lucky to have spotted it. Just the thought of the wife washing some of her stuff in it afterwards still makes me weak in the knees :-)

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

I never understood that. Why do I have to wash the washer after cleaning my clothes? Women just aren't right in the head sometimes.:confused: