A push thru sizer question

[Johnch]

I just snagged several short sections of 7/8 14 threaded rod yesterday , plain carbon steel .
Not galvinized or stainless , several pieces are rusting .

Since I am starting to dabble with a lathe and mill .
Could ( TRY) use the rod to make a few push thru sizers , would the steel be suitable ?

I looked at the post on how to make them .
I thought I could just skip the threading hassel ( for me )

Would I want to heat treat it ?

Thanks for letting me pick your brains

Johnch

[Dale53]

You could do a lot of sizing without hardening but eventually, the hole will enlarge.

Mild cold rolled steel will not ordinarily harden through heat treating. However, you CAN case harden with casenite and a propane torch. Have had a few dies worked this way with satisfaction.

Dale53

[dragonrider]

That rod will probably be sloppy fit in your press, which will mean your punch will not line up correctly and likely will be rubbing on the sides causing wear.

[Buckshot]

................As Dragonrider mentioned, sometimes that all thread stuff can be casual for fit. Try it in your press and see. The die doesn't HAVE to be hardened. You'll size several sh*tpot fulls before you can tell anything with a mike. Most likely culprit would be the pushrod touching that would cause the problem before anything else.

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

[Johnch]

I just checked the fit in a press .
Not great , but when I added a lock nut , it seemed to get rid of the play .

For what I have in the threaded rod ( $0.00) I can mess around and try to make a sizer ,

Hmmmm I need a .460 or .461 for the old 45/70 .
I will see how I do

Thanks for the input

Johnch

[Buckshot]

................Good luck! Don't forget the tapered leade or the slugs won't survive!

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

[dragonrider]

If you use that stock, insert the punch into the die each time before you lock it up. That will help with alignment.

[utk]

And make the punch out of brass. Drilled out a bit in the center in case you've got "dimples" on your boolit (made me a brass punch when the bottom of the boolit wasn't perfectly flat. For use with my Lee pusthrough sizer).

Urban

[HotGuns]

You may be in luck if you are using all threaded rod as much of it is heat treated 4140...also known a B-7 rod.

If you are, you'll know it when you turn it. Its very tough and the chips will be blue as soon as they hit the pan. It can get a great finish if you take it easy and keep it cool.

If it machines and is gummy and hard to get finish with, its soft rod that hasnt been heat treated and wont last near as long.

If you want to know for sure, go to the hardware store and buy a couple of Grade 8 bolts, preferably in the 3/4 or one inch range and use them for your die. Grade 8 bolts are heat treated and have a high tensile strength. They will work for years and gazillions of bullets.

[gzig5]

If the all-thread is a loose fit in your press, the lock nut may be taking out the play, but it isn't doing anything to center the die. I would suggest either using the punch to line up the die each time it is installed (as someone else suggested), or use teflon tape on the die threads. The tape should get it pretty well centered every time.
Greg

[georgeld]

Sure glad you asked this question!!

Just been looking in the MSC book and saw some listed 6ft $9.57 and 3' $about 4. Plus shipping of course.

Fellow out in Reno says Lee will sell collet die bodies without the inserts for $11 or 12 each. Then just turn the bushings you desire as I just finished doing for a neck sizing die set. Turned 5 double ended bushings .700"x 1.5" that'll make ten different steps from half inch down to .205", the OD of a .17 cal neck. Am now waiting on die bodies to get here. Suppose I should order them before long to reduce the wait. Thought I had, but, the one I ordered was that .500" dia case mouth belling die with two pointed tapered inserts. Wish I'd known, would have made the smaller bushings to fit this one. I did make an insert for the powder thru die to drop the powder into a .17 cal case without spilling all over the place.

Am finding this is a good place to share idea's and find other's having the same idea's.

George

[454PB]

I have mild steel home made sizing dies that have sized many thousands of boolits with no changes in diameter. Seems to me it's easier to make a new die every 10K boolits or so than to harden the die or use hardened steel as stock.

[R.M.]

Just an idea that I haven't seen mentioned, how about using a high grade 7/8" bolt to start with. You might be able to get a couple out of one bolt.

[Buckshot]

...............A grade 8 hez head bolt only runs about $2.50 or so for a 3 incher IIRC. I used 2.5" ones for the bases of the lead hardness testers I made.

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

[redneckdan]

I made a sizer and punch from a piece of 440C I fished out of the scrap barrel when I was a work/study at the COE machine shop. I had a lee mold at the time that was droping bullets at .461 instead of .453 I intended to use it in my press but thats a lot of force for a lee challenger. so I put the die on a steel plate, inserted a boolit into the leade, lined up the pin and gave her a wack with the engineers hammer. Works like a charm.

[Johnch]

Well I got the first one done ( 3 that ended in the scrap bin ) .
I made it .460
Took longer to polish than I thought , live and learn

I am going to use a Lee push rod from a .451 sizer .

The threaded rod cut for &%(&^)*
Guess not high grade steel


Didn't cut the end for a Lee plastic box
For now I will use a plastic butter tub with a hole in it .
Held on by a top and bottom lock nut

NO where near Buckshot's level of workman ship .
But it should work , HOPE :roll: :roll:

Johnch

[Bigjohn]

A keen shooter and myself recently discussed methods of sizing cast bullets, when the topic of push-through sizers came up.

He proposed a theory of pushing the projectile through base first using a nose punch to align the projectile. Is there anyone out there using this method who could answer and put two casters who have not tried it out of their misery?

John.

[Buckshot]

A keen shooter and myself recently discussed methods of sizing cast bullets, when the topic of push-through sizers came up.

He proposed a theory of pushing the projectile through base first using a nose punch to align the projectile. Is there anyone out there using this method who could answer and put two casters who have not tried it out of their misery?

John.

The secret to the nose first die is that nothing is really being held. This way the boolit may straighten itself as it passes up through the leade and on through the die. The base is free to move on the pushrod.

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

[Char-Gar]

I used a gizmo Buckshot made a couple of years ago that fits in the top of the press and hold a Lyman or RCBS size die upside down the the ejector rod removed. I coat the die with bullet lube, set it on top of the push rod and raise the press ram/push rod to center the die in the gizmo. The lube holds the die in the gizmo and everythig is centered and works like a champ.

On the big RCBS A2 I can size and seat the gas checks almost without effort. I then remove the die, place it in the Lyman 450 and lube the bullets. Works for me.

[BPCS]

Since Saeco does not make 50 caliber sizing dies, I made a .510 sizer using my bench top lathe. It was a tedious process to drill out the 7/8x14" threaded rod and make the push through punch. As stated by another poster, polishing the die
is also labor intensive. After pan lubing the bullets, they were sized in the die and fired in a 50-70 RB. Accuracy was outstanding, however, Lee offers this service for special size dies. BPCS

[Four Fingers of Death]

Just an idea that I haven't seen mentioned, how about using a high grade 7/8" bolt to start with. You might be able to get a couple out of one bolt.

Did you guys et Father Ted on TV over there? The younger priest was as dumb as dog s&%t and that was what he said all the time.

I bought a 7/8 x 14 big black bolt from the fastener shop which services the mines where I was living. I was going to make a crusher thingo using the press. I screwed it in and it was a bit resistant, didn't take much effort, but resisted slightly. It must have been hard because I gave up and took it out and the press chattered when I went to fit dies. Lots of lube using dies I don't use much and it seems ok, but occasionally I get a bit of drag. Time to convert to Lock n Load?

The bolt probably should have been oiled and wire brushed before I fitted it.
Mick.

[HTRN]

You may be interested to know that the actor that played "Father Ted" died hours after they finished the last episode.


HTRN