how do you just size the nose

[vixenlotus]

I have a 30 caliber rifle with a nonexistent throat and I am trying to get cast bullets to work in it. I have a large number of bore riding (RCBS 165 SIL) bullets, if there was a way to just size the nose of these down they would chamber and work great. I am new to this game and am looking for help. Is there a way to just size the nose down of these bore riders and keep the driving bands at 309? Thank you for the help.

[44man]

I use a Lee push through die to size the nose on my 45-70 boolits. I messed up and made the nose too fat in my mold.
I push the boolits in to size just the nose and push them back out with a dowel. Just adjust the die so the boolit goes in the right depth. You might need to buy a smaller die and lap it to the size you need.

[Ford SD]

I have the RCBS 165 SIL mold the the bullets i just cast up nose is 0.3005 x 0.301 across where the mold meets up ( line the mold make)
and my bullets fit nose first in 2 of my 30 cals muzzles with no pressure or little pressure

length with no GC is 0.983 (unsized)

are you shure you have a rcbs 165 sil
my cast weight with GC using range lead = 172g

or during sizing your nose was bumped up to a larger dia:cry:

[stubshaft]

Years ago I had a Lyman bore riding boolit with grease grooves on the nose. I don't remember the exact size die but I would size and loob the nose THAN change dies and loob/size the base. Needless to say I didn't shoot it too much. BUT, it was superbly accurate.

[canuck4570]

I have a bore riding saeco mold in .458
and the bore riding section like yours is to big
so I had a sizing die made to the correct size
about .002 under the diameter desired
just put this sizing die in your lube seizer push the bullet nose first push it till it its the first driving band than push it back out
work great and fast
Buch shot on this forum could make you a sizing die to correct your problem....

[Larry Gibson]

I use a Redding bushing die and size cast bullet noses, when necessary, after they are loaded. The die with an appropriate sized bushing plus one of larger size on top are used sans the decapping stem. Works well.

Larry Gibson

[vixenlotus]

The rifle I am shooting is a Swiss Martini with a very tight bore .296 the martini has no leverage to force the nose into the bore so it must be sized down. I am just looking to resize the nose of the RCBS 165 SIL. Who makes these custom sizing dies? And can they be made so they do not touch the driving bands? I do not want to leave it up to my eye to stop it. I am new to this and looking for detailed help.

[HORNET]

IIRC, smokemjoe makes bump dies to reshape the noses. He might be able to try a die to reduce them. Or you could try Buckshot, he needs to keep busy and likes a challenge.

[Maven]

Another thumbs up for smokemjoe's bump die(s). He made one for me for CB's for my K-31's and it works perfectly. By way of illustration, prior to using a bump die, I had to seat Lyman #311291 to 2.65" OAL in order to get the bolt to go into battery and allow the rifle to fire. After using Joe's bump die, I can seat them as long as 2.93" with no problems whatsoever. Btw, it works equally well with other CB designs.

[JCherry]

Vixenlotus,

I have nose sized some 30 caliber cast bullets. One mold I have casts at .302 which is just a bit large for a 30-30 I have. I have a .301 Lyman die so I put the bullet nose first into the die and using a flat top punch I made from a 1/4" bolt force the bullet into the die to just size the nose section. You do not need to force the entire bullet into the die just the ogive. You can set the adjustment on your lubrisizer to stop where you want it. I use some sizing lube on the nose of the bullet when I nose size. The amount of sizing I do to my bullet nose only amounts to .001 at the most. It looks like you may need to size the nose down as much as .006, I'm not sure how well that much sizing would be on only the nose.

Have you done a throat casting of your rifle?

What diameter is the nose of your finished bullet now?

It appears you need a .296 or a .295 sizer die to size the nose of your bullet, Such a die would be a custom die. The only person I know of who could make such a die is Buckshot who is active on this forum, send him a PM or an e-mail.

You did not indicate what type of lubrisizing equipment you have. I use a Lyman 450. If you are using the RCBS 165 SIL bullet with a small flat on the nose you may get some distortion of the nose or you may not see any distortion at all depending on the hardness of your alloy.

Another thought is that you should get a custom mold for that specific rifle. Veral Smith makes molds fitted to your rifle.

Have Fun,

JCherry

[vixenlotus]

JCherry
Thank you for the info, i do not cast myself but buy in bulk from Vern Anderson in WI (great prices and good guy to deal with). What i am looking to do is just buy the press and dye that would work best with what i am trying to do. Any thoughts as to what would work the best?? take a look at this link, i think this is what i want to do. i just need to know the best equipment for the job. thank you very much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egRwuMGgdwc

[JCherry]

vixenlotus,

The video appears to match what I have done. The lubrisizer appears to be an RCBS Lubrisizer. His first pass is to size the driving bands and the second pass is into the same machine but apparently a different sizing die with the express purpose of sizing down the nose.

The bullet he is using appears to be a Lyman 311332 or perhaps a 311334. I'm doubtful he is doing any major sizing of the nose of the bullet as there does not appear to be any distortion of the bullet nose on his second pass. I'll bet he's sizing down about the amount I described above (.001).

You could use some of the same equipment but your second die (nose sizer) would have to be, from your description down at around .296, which would require a custom sizing die.

As noted above by Maven and Hornet a "bump" die might be what you are looking for.

You need to be certain of your barrels dimensions before you order any custom dies. If you get your nose sizer / bump die too small your bore riding bullet won't have any support as it goes down the barrel and you will not have any accuracy.

Please let me add, respectfully, that you may be barking up the wrong tree as the amount you apparently need to size your nose down is alot to do with a normal sizing die. I expect you may get a lot of distortion on the point of your bullet when you expell it out of your "nose" die. I have never used a bump die so I can not comment on just how much nose sizing you could do with one.

If you have a lathe available you might turn the nose down on several bullets (try .295, .296, .297 etc) and experiment to determine what diameter nose works in your rifle. It could be a bit tedious but then you would know for sure what nose size would be best.

Have Fun,

JCherry

[Von Gruff]

I had a similar problem with a bore riding bullet that would also push back into the case on chambering which I used as guide to measure how much of the nose needed sizing down. I had an unused sizing die turned out to except the Wilson - Redding bushes and shortened the die by the thickness of a washer to sit on top to hold the bush in the die. Adjusted the depth thread on the 450 lubrisize and size with a top punch that is cupped to fit the base properly. Has made this my primary bullet now. Stem was turned down to fit this bush as it is the smallest I am likely to use and allows the changing of the bush for any size that may be required.
You can see the depth of sizing on the nose ( small pointer indicates )and this allows the bullet to be seasted to the base of the neck and full engagement of the nose in the lands with the remaining nose length slightly engraved but centered for accuracy.

http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv39/VonGruff/002-1.jpg

http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv39/VonGruff/006.jpg

Von Gruff.

[vixenlotus]

Thank you very much JCherry and Von Gruff - you have helped me a great deal.