Modifying a die

[Harv33]

Maybe some of you learned gents have an angle on this..
I'm shooting a Martini Henry with a slugged .468 bore and useing the LEE dies for that rifle. A fired case neck mikes .480. I run it thru the LEE sizer, it comes out .464 , way too small to fit my .468 cast bullet (RCBS .460-480 gr.). I have a .468 stem to bring the neck size back to .468 . This is a lot of stress on the brass even anealed. Start out at .480, then down to .464 then up to .468 . I contacted LEE to see if they could modify my sizer to .467 . Wow,, $100.00.. I've considered dowels and emery cloth ??.. So I'm trying to find another method.. I'd appreciate any ideas on this one..
Thanks,,, Harv..

[para45lda]

Do you have to resize them?

[Harv33]

No, they work fine as is.. Thanks

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Harv, You're on the right track with the emery cloth. Get a piece of brass rod, 1/4" dia. or so, and cut a slit about 1-1/8" long, down the front end, with a hack saw. Widen it a bit with a knife, so it will hold a strip of emery cloth, wet or dry paper, or better yet, aluminum oxide or silicon carbide abrasive strip, (they come in rolls, and are used for polishing on a lathe). Chuck the rod in a hand drill, and, going slowly, polish the die to size, using increasingly finer grits. Don't worry about maintaining uniform diameter longitudinally, or out of round, the only important thing is the final diameter the case neck is brought down to. The expanding plug will take out any out-of-roundness.

Morgan

[Harv33]

Thank you very much Morgan !!!. Just what I wanted to hear.. Never having done it before but it sounded reasonable to me.. Certainly an important problem solver..

[Harv33]

I just finish opening up the neck area of the LEE sizing die and it worked out fine and I saved $100.00 minus $8.00 worth of aluminum oxide strips. I started out with 120 grit to 180 then polished the neck area with my dremel and polishing compound.
I have so it will size down about .467 ID then size up to .468 ID. The .468 stem straightens out my few out of round spots. That makes a nice snug fit for the .468 bullet. It took a lot of time and patience to get it done but I'm satisfied with it.. Thanks for the extra boost Morgan !!!

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Great! I'm glad it worked for you.

Morgan