homemade sizing die question

[jmsj]

Hey guys,
I've been thinking of trying to make some sizing dies for my Lyman 45. I was looking at the couple of sizing dies that I already have (RCBS .429 and .454)and noticed that the lube holes are at different heights on different dies. How do I figure out where the lube holes go? Is it necessary to put two rows of holes?
I have a 13 inch lathe and a mill drill. I want to make make a .359, .431 and .452.
Any advise woould be greatly appreciated. jmsj

[StarMetal]

Not sure about height of hole placement, but I can tell you the single row of holes like in RCBS's flavor...suck. You can't lube bullets like Loverins because you can't get them deep enough into the die. May be the reason Lyman used more rows.

[DLCTEX]

Measure the groove spacing on the boolit you want to size and space the holes accordingly. Be sure they fall within the hollow area in the sizer for the lube that surrounds the die.

[Calamity Jake]

I make my H&I dies with 4 vertical rows of 3 holes each at 90° from each other for a total of 12 holes.
The first hole from the top is .400 then .200 center to center with a .120Ø hole.
You may not need that many holes for your pistol boolits as most have only one lube groove anyway.
You will not be able to bore the exact size that you want, lapping to size is called for so drill and bore to .003-.004 under the size wanted then drill the lube holes lapping after, this remove the burrs left from drilling.

[Charlie Sometimes]

I don't think the lube holes have to be positioned exactly over the grooves- lube is under pressure, and when the boolit groove slides by, it will fill with lube (if you are doing your part right).

Lube holes should be drilled before you hone to final size, I would think. That way you polish off any edge burrs, etc. Polish CW and CCW, too.

Some sizer dies have 4 rows of holes (instead of 2 opposing rows) at 90 degrees from each other, two rows being offset lower or higher (depending on how you are looking at them) for the longer boolits to cover the differences in boolit lengths- to get all the grooves filled.

Just my observations and suggestions.

[Buckshot]

http://www.fototime.com/7B2E6BD240F197A/standard.jpg

..............I make the dies with two rows of 3 holes and two rows of 2 holes. Some of the older Lyman dies had two rows of 4 holes. The new dies they make have four rows of 2 holes. They said they'd done that in deferance to the high temp lubes being so popular.

As a boolit is pushed into the die and the ejector pin clears each hole, lube is injected into the passing lube grooves. Actually the newer Lyman 4 row, 2 hole dies do a good job. Or at least for me they do. The more lube holes you have, and the larger they are, the more apt they are to leak lube past the ejector pin.

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

[JIMinPHX]

Post #97 in this thread has a drawing with the standard dimensions that I use when making Lyman type size dies. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=48453&page=5

I sometimes change the spacing on the lube holes to line up with the lube grooves on a specific boolit that I want to make a lot of.

[jmsj]

Once again, thanks for all the replies.
As always I really appreciate all the great information.
Being on a tight budget, being able to make my own tools really helps me explore this casting hobby. I have also really enjoy making the casting tools. JIMinPHX and Buckshot thanks for the pictures and dimensional prints. jmsj