Resizing cast from .358 to .356 without a press, just the die?

[6bg6ga]

A lot of us try hard to point people in the right direction including not recommending practices that will not provide consistent results, possibly cause injuries, and in short are possibly plain stupid. I'm being blunt here. I've been accused of growing up with money which is totally false. I've been reloading since the 70's and I believe I have learned how to reload properly and safely and I learned with cheap used equipment.

I've had a lot of questions from people over the years and not from this forum. Most questions deal with the cost of reloading and the possible cost savings. I've told people when you consider the cost involved in reloading its simpler to simply buy the ammunition. Take a box of 9mm for instance. A box of cheap 9mm is about $9.00 give or take. What can you reload a box for? It varies.... type of bullet, factory type bullet or cast. Is it worth it ..probably not.

Sure, you can do some things on the cheap. Does it however make sense to spend a great amount of time to process a round of ammunition when you have to do everything with technology that is behind the times? Like I mentioned if you have a bullet sizing die it doesn't make sense to try to pound a bullet thru with a hammer(plastic) when you can simply purchase a used reloading press or something along this line.

At some point logic has to come into play here. You wouldn't change your own car tires with a pry bar would you? The correct proper tools are needed to insure that whatever operation is being done is done correctly and safely.

My personal thought here.... If you cannot afford the equipment then get out of the game.

[35remington]

The fact remains that he proposed using the sizing die alone off any press to size the bullet. This is entirely safe, gives excellent results, and is entirely consistent with how it was intended to be used and such use is recommended by its manufacturer.

This IS the correct tool being used correctly. It is NOT stupid.....it is a very good idea.

And someone who is completely unaware of all this recommended against it.

The correct answer to his question is the overriding concern. Suggesting that doing sizing off the press is inconsistent, undesirable and will produce subpar results is as incorrect as any statement can possibly be. Given his current setup it was an extremely smart idea to pursue.

It still is.

Doubling down on bad advice does not turn it into good advice, nor does making false claims about actual results (from someone who has never done it) change the results obtained.

[Soundguy]

This is what I started with The lee C press. Had the local gun shop order it for me for $28.99 saved shipping too. Still the only press I have. It is not glamorous by any stretch of the imagination but, does everything I need it to including sizing boolits. For the OP check out the lee reloading and cast Facebook page. Sometimes people sell things cheap on there.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I still have 2 myself, and a Lee C press was also my first. Mine was a new, open box at a pawn shop. 20$

I still use those 2 , one with a universal deprime die in it, and the other I usually stick lee sizers in for lead boolits.

My second one was bought used at a show for 15$. both are still in good operating shape.

[Bent Ramrod]

Actually, there is a very big advantage in starting out with tools that produce ammo at a painfully slow rate. They force the fledgling reloader to concentrate on each step of the process, including the muscle memory part.

There is nothing so innocuous yet instructive as popping a primer or crunching a case mouth on a Lee Loader or cocking a boolit in the Lee Sizer. You're startled, or out a case or boolit, (not to mention a certain amount of "precious time") but you've learned that gentle and precise, rather than ham-handed, is the way to go when producing ammunition. Eventually, those lessons go from intellectual information to instinctive operation.

I've seen people mangle the first four cases in ten, resizing for the first time on a single stage press. They associate that big lever with the one used to switch points on railroad tracks and mash stuff up before they know it.

And the Cowboy Action Shooting site used to be replete with advice to the newbie who had just discovered that ammo in the quantities he needed to shoot was expensive: "Git you a Progressive Press, Pilgrim!" The threads on "Hey, m'gun blew up last Sattiday at th'big Shoot; wot happind?" followed quickly.

A lot of technical discussion on alleged SEE phenomenon caused by 3.8 gr of Bullseye, overrotation of cylinders in rapid fire, etc., etc., ensued. Anything to avoid the possibility that the newbie reloader was mindlessly pulling the lever on that progressive press, hypnotized by the stream of finished rounds dropping out the end, and daydreaming about the purdy Senorita he was going to impress next Sattiday. And "something happened;" too bad he wasn't paying attention to whatever it was so it could be analyzed and avoided the next time.

Knock on wood, I have never had a stack of primers go off, or a gun come apart, and the only poof of gas from a bad shell I've had was a factory load. For that, I give full credit to the "slow, tedious, timewasting" reloading techniques I developed with the simple hand tools and adapted later to the faster presses.

[35remington]

Well said, and a good point. Understanding the process helps one to do good work.

[BrassMagnet]

Regardless of how fast a machine works, it is critical to focus on what is happening now and developing a process which catches all errors before they become a problem.

[Lloyd Smale]

I too think your going to small. 357 or 358 depend on if your gun will run 358s. If you insist what I would try is to clamp a sizing die in your vise. Spray some hornady one shot lightly on your bullets and find a brass rod just a smidge smaller then your die and tap the bullets through. Lee alox might work well for it too if you don't have any one shot. Tumble lube them size them and tumble lube them again.

[MT Chambers]

Don't be pounding on things you're gonna shoot, don't buy some flimsy equip. that only sizes, save some cash and buy a used Lyman or RCBS lubricator sizer.

[Soundguy]

Don't be pounding on things you're gonna shoot, don't buy some flimsy equip. that only sizes, save some cash and buy a used Lyman or RCBS lubricator sizer.

If you are insinuating that a lee push thru size die is flimsy, you obviously have never held or used one...

[MT Chambers]

If you are insinuating that a lee push thru size die is flimsy, you obviously have never held or used one...

I never said the die was flimsy, maybe the press or plastic container but the idea was to get equip. that lubes as well as sizes, although I realize that you are the only one that has ever seen or used a Lee die.

[Soundguy]

I never said the die was flimsy, maybe the press or plastic container but the idea was to get equip. that lubes as well as sizes, although I realize that you are the only one that has ever seen or used a Lee die.

Look..its EXACTLY what you said.

don't buy some flimsy equip. that only sizes

Flimsy equipment that only sizes. Dont try to backpeddle and change what you said.

The equipment that only sizes is the lee push thru die ( as compared to a lubri-sizer setup that sizes and lubes).

And the push thru sizer simply is not flimsy.

You said it, man up and own it.

[BrassMagnet]

Let's quit the arguing and finger pointing.

[KCSO]

Gee looks lie I stumbled into the snake pit???? I have sizer lubers and push through and once in a while I have a few bullets I need to size and I don't feel like re setting a luber. I may not have a push through in the right soze so I turned an adaptor that lets me use lyman dies as push through on top of the loading press. Not perfect but adequate for a few bullets or expiriments.

[Soundguy]

Let's quit the arguing and finger pointing.

The people commenting on things they don't know about are the problem. Not calling them on it is a dis-service to others.

[toallmy]

How about we really help the fellow out , sorta like this . You might want to try just one at a time to keep it simple . The 38 special is the simplest of the two ( if you want to know why I will go into detail this is my opinion not a fact )so if you get a lee loader , some primers , and powder ( this is a good question to discuss also a lot of different powders on the market ) I will send you a few cast boolits sized and lubed to try out . But consider your safety first then - things to consider , powder scale , single stage press and loading information . Have fun and be safe .

[mdi]

The fact remains that he proposed using the sizing die alone off any press to size the bullet. This is entirely safe, gives excellent results, and is entirely consistent with how it was intended to be used and such use is recommended by its manufacturer.

This IS the correct tool being used correctly. It is NOT stupid.....it is a very good idea.

And someone who is completely unaware of all this recommended against it.

The correct answer to his question is the overriding concern. Suggesting that doing sizing off the press is inconsistent, undesirable and will produce subpar results is as incorrect as any statement can possibly be. Given his current setup it was an extremely smart idea to pursue.

It still is.

Doubling down on bad advice does not turn it into good advice, nor does making false claims about actual results (from someone who has never done it) change the results obtained.

Thank you for this excellent post. I participated in this thread when it first started, but dropped out when the $$$ vs. common sense arguments started. I got curious and went to page 4 and read a bit. SOS...

My first sizing kit was an old Lee kit consisting of a 4" pan, a die, a punch and a stick of red lube. As a lifelong machinist/mechanic I was curious as to the accuracy/consistency of this tool so I measured the diameter of maybe 50 in a row. Less than .001" variation in diameter and prolly more like .0005". I don't think there is a more simple way to size bullets (or as some say more crude) and I can't complain about .0005" accuracy...

[Soundguy]

Agreed, simple, repeatable, economical, and works. Not flimsy.

[PerpetualStudent]

Hmm.

Re-reading this thread I realize I missed his first question "If I bought cast bullets for the 38 at .358 is it possible to resize to .356?" While he also notes that he's not casting himself. So if you're buying commercially cast bullets, the question is would it really be economical? Is the savings of buying 1000 rounds of light .358 bullets compared to buying a batch of 500 bullets for your 9mm and 500 for your 38 special going to break even with the cost of the sizer?

If you're buying commercially, I think you'd be several years into reloading at the rate you're speaking of before you'd break even there. If you were talking about buying one mold to feed both that might be worth it but if your buying your bullets, just buy for each gun.

And I say this after just coming to the conclusion that I might just do what you suggest and size without a press and just the lee push through sizer with the cookie cutter method.