Lube sizing 22 cal. bullets

I am having a hard time getting the bullet into the sizing hole on the die in my RCBS lube sizer. I shave the nose with the top punch or get the base of the bullet hung up on the edge of the hole in the die.

I have tried putting the bullet into the hole and lowering the top punch and about one in ten I don’t have the top punch lined up right, probably because the bullet with or without gas check is slightly cocked in the die hole. I have both plain base (flat) and gas check bullets from NOE.

I have tried inserting the nose into the top punch first and then using the lube sizer handle to lower the bullet to the hole. It gets hung up on the die edge quite often and probably bends the bullet.

LLA works fine for my light loads but does not shoot as well as lubed bullets at about 1400 fps which is reasonably accurate out to 200 yards. I do not want to powder coat.

Does anyone have any trick to getting a plain base of gas checked 22 cal. bullet sized without messing up about one in ten.

I think my main problem is that I can’t really see because my fat fingers are in the way.

If you have not tried leaving the I part of the die a little recessed in the H part so that you can get everything lined up that might help. I have to do that to keep from messing up my small caliber bullets.

Maybe??? your fingers are just too large?

Here are some observations I have from my experience with 22 boolits and lubesizing.
I've never used a RCBS, but I have used a Lyman 450, which is similar. Unless you're sitting or standing in a position, so your eye's are near the level of you top punch and Die, it's difficult to see the boolit to align it. The Lyman 45 is a little better, but I have found that the very old Ideal #1 lubesizer works much better for 22 boolits. It has great finger clearance as well as, a good visual picture of the top punch and die area, even if you don't have your eyeballs right down there. Now, I don't know if that helps you much, because it's about procuring more equipment, which may or may not be an option, but the following might help.

If the "I" portion of the die isn't left in a recess position in the die body, you need to do whatever it takes to do so. Next if the boolit is to have a GC applied, it must be seated square before inserting the GC'd boolit into the die.
Lastly, NOE's aluminum Top Punch's are NOT polished. During boolit sizing, when the ram/top punch is lowered onto the boolit, if the boolit is the slightest bit misaligned to the top punch, a smooth and/or polished Top punch will allow the boolit to 'slip' into alignment assuming you are moving the ram slowly...BUT, a new unpolished NOE Top Punch will NOT allow a boolit to 'slip' into alignment due to the nearly invisible machining lines, that are left during the machining process, those machining lines tend to grip a misaligned boolit and actually hold it in a misaligned position and damaging the boolit during the sizing process.

Before I ever use a NOE top punch, I polish them. I insert the Top punch in a battery drill. I roll up a shop towel and put a dab of Flitz metal polish on it, then insert it into the top punch cavity...and spin it til it's hot and smooth.
that's my 2¢

I love the Lyman 450, but for my 22 cal bullets I use the Lee push through sizer and Bens Liquid Lube. This includes putting on the gas checks. The Lee just seems to work a little better for those little guys.

JonB in Glencoe-If the "I" portion of the die isn't left in a recess position in the die body, you need to do whatever it takes to do so. Next if the boolit is to have a GC applied, it must be seated square before inserting the GC'd boolit into the die.

Reading this has given me an idea that may or may not work. I am going to make a longer I portion of the die (I think this is the rod that goes up and down in the die) so that it sticks out of the die about a quarter to a half inch. Put the bullet nose in the top punch and by feel with my fingers align the bullet base to the exposed rod and hope it stays aligned when pushed down into the die body.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fa38

JonB in Glencoe-If the "I" portion of the die isn't left in a recess position in the die body, you need to do whatever it takes to do so. Next if the boolit is to have a GC applied, it must be seated square before inserting the GC'd boolit into the die.

Reading this has given me an idea that may or may not work. I am going to make a longer I portion of the die (I think this is the rod that goes up and down in the die) so that it sticks out of the die about a quarter to a half inch. Put the bullet nose in the top punch and by feel with my fingers align the bullet base to the exposed rod and hope it stays aligned when pushed down into the die body.

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That could very well work.
add to that...most Dies have a slightly flared entrance, I would think that flare would be advantageous to that technique.

PS, If the RCBS LAM has a similar push rod as the Lyman (the part that pushes the I portion of the die)...You could just invert the Push Rod, so the end without the 'head' pushed the I portion of the die back into position. This will allow you to push the I portion Higher...accomplishing the same thing as making a longer I portion.

I use the top punch to push the I pin down in the H die as far as it will go then insert the boolit and push it in the H die as far as you can with your fingers. Normally they will go in far enough to align properly.

By far the best method is to use a nose first sizer rig. The Perfesser made a bunch some time back. Crazy Mark and I pioneered them years ago and the Perfesser made a follow on limited production run. We used an aluminum RCBS die body adapted to take a Lyman or RCBS sizer die and held it in place with a 4-40 set screw. A Lee shell holder was modified to use modified 5/16" machine bolts as the "pusher". About 4 or 5 sizes covered the whole spectrum of calibers from .224" through .458". All work on mine was done with an electric drill and a flat file for a cutting tool with a hack saw for cutting bolts and of course tapping dies. Mark had a lathe on his end.
You get perfect alignment as the nose centers the bullet and the base slides on the pusher.
The drawback is that you have to come back and lube in a separate pass.
I was having trouble bending long .22 and .25 bullets during sizing and this cured the problem. Think I put an article on castpics./beagle

Could not reverse the push rod as it’s diameter is greater that the hole in the die.

The gas check prevents me from inserting the bullet with gas check into the sizing die. On the plain base bullets I am still having an alignment problem and shave the nose a bit and maybe bending the bullet.

Now the cure.

I made a rod out of brass for my sizing die that sticks up out of the die not quite a half inch. It is very easy to see the alignment of the bullet base with the rod and I have not buggered up a bullet since using it. It is still a slower process.
Attachment 231032





A bit out of focus.

I have purchased a Ruger 22-77 Hornet and bought a 225438 Lyman mould from a friend. He also had a bunch of bullets cast with it and these are even more of a challenge that the NOE 225-55 GR-FN -MX3 bullet I have been using in my Model 70 223 but it works with that stubby little bullet also.

Also going to buy a Lee push thru die.

Lee push through sizer works for me

I have never had any trouble with the RCBS or Lyman lube sizers with bullets from 25 cal. or larger.

Just received a Lee push thru .225 sizer and it works just great.

I had some Lyman 22 cal. gas checks that did not want to go onto the base of any of my bullets and by putting them onto the base of the bullets cocked and sitting them onto the punch they seem to be seated square with the base of the bullet. Maybe they are shaving the bullet base a bit but they look the same as the Hornady checks when either are seated and run thru the die. I have no idea where I got the Lymans but being able to use the 900 plus checks is like getting the Lee push thru die for free.

So to all who said use a Lee push thru die Thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fa38

I have never had any trouble with the RCBS or Lyman lube sizers with bullets from 25 cal. or larger.

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Did you try adjusting the ejection bar on your RCBS press? The rectangular bar at the bottom, two rods with jam nuts hold it on. Adjust that rectangular bar down so the ejection pin in your die stays recessed 3/32" or so. The recess allows the base of the bullet to sit in the die and greatly aids in alignment.

Seating the gas check before sizing is paramount for accuracy with 22 cal. Even using lino it is easy to (bend) the boolit even trying to seat gas checks. If you are having trouble getting those little pills to size in your lubesizer you will never get acceptable accuracy. Have you tried coating with BLL and running through a push through sizer and then running through your lubesizer ? Just a thought

Slughammer ---- The recessed ejection was part of my original problem solved with the long ejection pin allowing me to align the base of the bullet with the pin by feel with my fingers.

Oily -----The gas checks from Lyman that were slightly cocked before I ran them thru the Lee push thru sizer look the same as the Hornady gas checks that were fully seated before running thru the Lee die. If the bases were damaged in any I could not see it with a 5x magnifying glass.

I will be using the Lee Push Thru die for all my 22 cal. bullets with LLA.

I always start the boolit in the h die by pushing the I die down just a bit with the top punch. If the boolit won't start in the H die I fix that with a tapered reamer so it will start. Most of my factory H dies have already been tapered slightly but the ones I make I have to taper. I taper the dies for my Star sizers as well. It makes life easier and size/lubing even faster especially those dinky 22s.