help with 22 cal bullet

[44wcf]

I have the Lee bator mold. I cast a couple hundred the other day. I bought a .225 sizing die from Midway. I tried to size and lube this morning. No luck. I don't have a top punch small enough to push the bullets down far enough to get lubed. What are you guys using for a top punch? I guess I can make one. I don't have a lathe just a drill press. Can anyone help?
44wcf

[Echo]

The folks @ Midway might have suggested a top punch to go along with the H&I set.

I guess it is possible to make a top punch with just a drill press, and a file, but that sounds like a frustrating effort. If you have a spare top punch, you might chuck it in the drill press and file down the punch part until its small enough to go into the H&I die.

Or there are other solutions...

[DLCTEX]

Should be fairly easy to make one, especially if you have a grinder. You can drill a countersink in the end of a rod, then use JB weld or epoxy to shape it to the boolit nose. Or just a square end if you don't mind flattening the nose a little. WDWW won't flatten much. The top punch I have doesn't fit the bator, but I use a small bit of aluminum foil in the nose portion and it conforms to the shape of the boolit (picked up this trick from the board here).

[MT Gianni]

1/4" bolt cut the head off and grind the threads off. Keep the flat front of the bolt and it should not deform the Bator.

[2Tite]

44, You have a PM

[Buckshot]

............The stem of the NP that goes in the lubsizer's ram is .264" (max). Any tolerance would be on the minus side. The 2 closest sizes (why they didn't make the stem 1/4" is beyond me) is 6.7mm @ .2638" (ideal) or 17/64ths @ .2656". If you have a tool supply place around you might find the metric bit. If all you have around is a Lowes or Home Depot, good luck! You could use a piece of 1/4" stock and tightly wrap some aluminum foil around it. With that small 22 cal slug the NP and die needs to be as co-axial as humanly possible.

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

[dudel]

One trick I learned from Dean Grennel, was to take a punch with the wrong top profile, and pack it with a bit of lube and paper towel. That would form to the boolit profile and not damage it through the die.

[44wcf]

Thanks for the replies.
2Tite has taken care of me.
44wcf