Help - Recommended Top Punch Marks Bullet

[Ozark Shiner]

Hi everyone. New to the website and relatively new to casting. Great community and great resource so thanks to all for sharing your knowledge.

OK - here is my problem. I have a RCBS mold # 82042 .44 Mag 240 gr SWC. The recommended top punch is #421. I cast a couple hundred bullets last night and went to size them and I am getting a very prominent ring around the top of the bullet. It is enough that you can hang your thumbnail on it. There are no burrs on the inside of the top punch that I can feel.

I am casting Lyman #2 (Wheel weights and 63Sn.37Pb solder mix). The bullets came out at about 231 gr. I do not have a hardness tester but I can not scratch them with my thumbnail.

Ideas ?

Thanks in advance. Ozark Shiner

[philthephlier]

Scroll down a little and look for a thread re: making your own top punches

[dubber123]

A punch I use alot is just a bolt with the proper sized shank, (1/4")?, with the head turned round and the marking on the face ground off. It works slick for anything with a flat point. You can use a drill to spin the bolt, and hold it against a file if you don't have a lathe. You could prolly just use a file by hand for that matter. Good luck.

[Ozark Shiner]

Phil - Thanks. I saw the post but thought there must be a simpler solution.

Dubber - That is a great suggestion. I'm going to make one and see how it works. If nothing else, I'll have an extra punch in my tool box.

I do have a lathe. I was thinking about chucking the offending top punch in and use a bullet coated with valve grinding grease and see if I could open it up a little bit.

[high standard 40]

I had the same problem. I reshaped my top punch to fit the bullet.

I chucked the top punch in a drill and spun it. Using a Dremel tool with a stone point I carefully removed a small amount of metal along the inside edge of the top punch. Now it works great and leaves no marks. Just go slow and try for fit often.

[dubber123]

I had the same problem. I reshaped my top punch to fit the bullet.

I chucked the top punch in a drill and spun it. Using a Dremel tool with a stone point I carefully removed a small amount of metal along the inside edge of the top punch. Now it works great and leaves no marks. Just go slow and try for fit often.

That certainly works. I had to stuff a RCBS seating punch in the lathe and do that the other day. The nose on WFN boolits got mangled a bit. All better now.

[winelover]

Since the nose of the boollet doesn't come in contact with the rifling, just shoot the darn thing!:bigsmyl2:

Winelover

[joesig]

Coat a bullet with a thin layer of Lee Liquid Alox, fill the cavity of the top punch with JB Weld or some epoxy. Use the sizer to hold the punch and bullet concentric until the epoxy cures.

The LLA will prevent the bullet from being glued to the top punch and the JB Weld will distribute the sizing force across the entire bullet. No more marks.

I've heard others use beeswax. You just need an incompressible solid to take the force.

[Ozark Shiner]

Great ideas.. All of them !

I did what High Standard suggested and it worked great. I really like the idea of making a flat punch out of a bolt. Going to do that next. Also will keep in mind making one out of JB Weld. That is pretty slick way of making one.

Thank you to everyone.

Have a Happy (and safe) New Year

[Tom W.]

A little late, but I filled a top punch with hot glue and use it for one of my Lee bullets, it does just fine, and I can easily remove it if needed.

[45-70 Chevroner]

I'm with winelover on this one. I have several top punches that do the same thing and the the little wring around the nose will not affect accuracy at all. Matter of fact I think they look kind of neat. You would have to damage the nose of the boolit quite a bit before it would effect accuracy, as the base of the boolit is the steering end.

[largom]

I fit all of my top punches to MY boolits with the epoxy method. I make most of my own punches and drill a small hole thru the stem to allow air to escape as the epoxy forms around the boolit.

Larry