Too big?

[Taylor]

Can we/I make a bullet too big?

My Savage in .223 for instance. Using NOE 224-70,Pat Marlins 22T gas check smokes jet black pc. Sized to .225.

Measuring the boolit w/o pc I am getting .220. With pc - .224 at the ogive.

Checking for oal they will not chamber (pc),pushes the bullet into the case. I have not done a chamber cast. Not pc'd they chamber just fine.

These are some fine looking bullets too,shame they don't seem to work.

Am I tracking on my thought process? Remedy? ---only 1 coat if I remember correctly.

Is sizing just the ogive a doable thing?

[jcren]

Have you tried gently blowing off the excess powder? I have a couple molds that are problematic if I Just tumble and bake, but gently blowing off the excess after standing yields only about .001 total gain.

[Taylor]

Well,one thing I did find,is that "they" don't make a sizer die that small.Unless a special order from Lee.

And no I have not,I just usually tap them for that reason.I just had never had this happen before. It is obvious they are too thick. Back to the drawing board.And make SURE I only use 1 coat and measure those.

[Bama]

Taylor, in sizing you will size the neck or bore rider portion so it will fit bore not the shape of the ogive. If you could change this it would be called swaging. I had similar problem with some 30 cal when I started casting 308W. I had one mold that was problematic in that when PCed some would work and some tried to stick. I believe it would have been better if all had stuck rather than just random. I ended up making a die holder which would use the 1/2" od Redding neck sizing bushings. Not hard to make if you have access to a lathe or have a machinist friend. after sizing the forward portion the problem was resolved. Good luck, don't give up and be safe.

[Tom Myers]

Can we/I make a bullet too big?

Is sizing just the ogive a doable thing?

Check out N.O.E.'s body and nose sizing die/bushing setup.

Use the body sizing insert,

Then the nose sizing insert to custom size your coated bullets.

Hope this helps.

[Grmps]

some PC goes on thicker than others, .001 to .005. if you are DTing BB's will help keep the coating thinner.
223's are a little problematic I can't use a colander with holes big enough for the BB's to fall through because the boolits fall through.
try using a regular colander and shake/swirl/toss until all the excess PC is off the boolits.
or grab with tweezers and tap against a hard surface until the excess PC comes off.
You might need to try another color PC that goes on thinner.
You can ask smoke which one of his colors go on thinnest.

I've had good luck with 2 thin coats of Hi-Tek also.

Thanks Tom, those links are good to know

[Taylor]

Tom, I'm not sure I undersand how these work. I understand what they do,just not how to use them.

[runfiverun]

they are in/out dies for a lube sizer.
you just push them in nose first then the I die pushes them back out.

it should only take a week or so to make 50 bullets at that rate, but they'll chamber, if they fit the magazine after making them longer from all the sizing.

[Tom Myers]

Tom, I'm not sure I undersand how these work. I understand what they do,just not how to use them.

Taylor, I just finished powder coating, nose sizing and body sizing some bullets from my new N.O.E. HTC310-173-FP GC BR5 mold.
The coating brought the body diameter up to 0.313" and the base of the ogive also measures 0.313". Too fat to allow the bullet to seat out to where I want it to be.

I coated the bullets with the gas check shank setting in fitted holes in an aluminum plate so there would be no problem with oversize shanks.

After coating, the check were crimped on with my old Lyman Lubrisizer by just running them down into a 0.312" sizing die enough to crimp them on.

I have found that seating and crimping the gas check before final sizing insures that the check base remains fully seated and square after the final sizing.

The bullet noses were run up into the nose sizing insert to form a short bore riding section that measures 0.303" in diameter and then each bullet was pushed up and through a 0.312 body sizing insert.

I now have, for my purposes, 50 match grade cast bullets to work up a load for.

I understand what they do,just not how to use them.

The N.O.E. sizing die body screws up into the threads on the press from the bottom side and the lower portion of the die body accepts either the body sizing insert or the nose sizing insert.
The top of the sizing die is configured to accept a Lee sizing die bullet catching container.

Order the sizing die body that accommodate all the ranges of calibers.
Shipped with the die body is a nose size push out ram and three sizes of bullet guide inserts.

Caliber specific push rod and body and nose sizing inserts in increments of 0.001" diameter are ordered separately for the desired caliber.

A pusher rod, specific to the bullet size, is inserted into the shell holder of the press ram and the bullet is placed on top of the pusher rod and is either pushed up through the body sizing insert or the bullet nose is pushed up into the nose sizing insert and then pushed back out with a plunger fitted with a nose punch matching the meplate design of the bullet.

Hope this helps.

[Taylor]

I crimp using the same method.I think I'll give him a call this morning.I like this idea. But if change the diameter of the body,does it not also change the diameter of the ogive and nose? I do think I understand though.Yeah...I got this Thanks a bunch Tom.

[Taylor]

they are in/out dies for a lube sizer.
you just push them in nose first then the I die pushes them back out.

it should only take a week or so to make 50 bullets at that rate, but they'll chamber, if they fit the magazine after making them longer from all the sizing.

Well 5R5. It's a single shot bolt gun. I'm retired and have all winter.You did point out--- when sized, the lead has to go somewhere,so I guess it does make a longer bullet.I can work with that,I hope.

[runfiverun]

it's just something to be aware of.
there are a lot of surprises, when we don't know.
heck even when we do know.

[Taylor]

You are right,just when I think I know something and making progress,I find I don't have a clue.

I called Swede,placed an order.We talked a few minutes,he got to hear my retriever carrying around his duck and making squeeky noises.He had an idea that I thought was good.Size the body down before pc.Maybe that will help with the bullet being too thick. I'm gonna play with this new gizmo and see what happens.

[runfiverun]

it's worth the time to try a couple of different things to get down a process.
my problem is that by the time I get it down pat I have made so many that I don't have to do it again for 2 years then I forget what the hell I done last time.

[Mr_Sheesh]

runfiverun - I keep a "Handloading Notes" file on the PC, and print it out for the notebook and back it up to some USB thumb drives for WHEN the PC's hard drive self-destructs.

That helps a LOT, especially when you are loading say 3000 rounds for a varminting rifle, and then only have to reload about 5 years later; Feel free to use a notebook without a PC if you want Some way of memory assistance helps, a lot. (Friend printed out "reloading notes" and put that sheet, folded up in a ziplock, in each 50-cal ammo can he had of that ammo; That works well too.) Lots of ways to save info out there

[Traffer]

If you want a thinner coat of PC, some brands will do that better than others. The better stuff usually goes on thicker. I have found that for thin coats HF Powder Coat is the ticket. It puts on a very thin coat if you want. I used to do two coats of the thin stuff and it worked out well. But for me one coat of thicker stuff is easier. I make my own swaging dies so I can make them as small as I want to accommodate for the thickness of the PC.

[sawinredneck]

it's worth the time to try a couple of different things to get down a process.
my problem is that by the time I get it down pat I have made so many that I don't have to do it again for 2 years then I forget what the hell I done last time.

Welcome to my world! A week is iffy, tomorrow I’ve got a chance, then....
I’ll sugest getting the NOE sizer body, what ever size inserts to get you started. Then, buy the cheapest Lee mountable press and figure out how to change the linkage so the boolits drop out the bottom. Meaning the press is mounted upside down. But you can change the linkage, easily enough to get it to work dropping boolits rather quickly for you.

[Taylor]

It's weird,sometimes I can tell you what 30 years ago to the minute,but can't tell you what I had for breakfast.

[Traffer]

Don't get me going. In the past couple of months I found myself in the bathroom, scratching my head thinking "what did I come in here for?" Not looking forward to forgetting my wife's name. I wish they would hurry up with that cure for alzheimers.

[gpidaho]

Taylor; It takes a little practice to get the NOE nose sizing down and I would suggest that you size the nose down to -.001 or - .002 before you coat the bullets. Although PC is tough as nails it scrapes easily so best to only size .001 or so after coating. One thing I've found very helpful is , I cut some lengths of copper tubing (water pipe) that sits on the press ram and bottoms out on the sizing die above. This gives you a positive stop so that each bullet is sized the same. I cut a Lee push ram down to just about 3/8" as there is limited room the way the NOE die mounts from below. Adjusting the length of the stop was easy. I cut the pipe to approx. length with a chop saw and did the fine tuning with a disc sander. Also, I've found that using a very small amount of STP to lube the powder coated noses cuts down on the number of noses that get scraped. Good luck. Gp