Top Punch ... another use

[nighthunter]

While GC'ing bullets from the recent 22 caliber group buy I found that a lot of my bullet bases had a very small amount of flashing or over fill. This prevented the GC from easily starting onto the bullet base. I began by useing the blade of my pocket knife to lightly scrape the bullet base to remove this little lip. After doing several hundred bullets I knew that I had to find a better way to do this task. My cordless drill was sitting in front of me and I started thinking about how to incorporate its use. It was a major brain fart when I thought to place a top punch with a tapered profile into the drill and briefly spin the top punch against the bullet base. It worked perfectly. GC's snap right on with no effort. Spinning the top punch on the bullet base does no damage to the bullet. It takes about 1 second of spinning to accomplish. I've had this problem with larger calibers and usually just remove the lip with my thumb nail. The tolerances on the 22 caliber bullet base and the gas check didn't allow the thumb nail method to work. I hope this helps a fellow caster.

Nighthunter

[hornsurgeon]

i gotta try that one.

[montana_charlie]

The flash which troubles you should not exist.

Sounds like there is something screwy about your sprue cutting.
- Sprue plate not flat.
- Sprue plate not in firm contact with the mould top when the metal solidifies.
- Sprue cut too early.
- Sprue plate too far off of mould when cutting.

CM

[geargnasher]

MC is right, the challenge is not to find a way to remove the flashing, but to prevent it in the first place. You likely have a bit of weight difference between boolits if you have flashing due to a loose sprue plate screw or warped plate.

Gear