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Thread: Open Up Lee Bullet Size Die....Troubles

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
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    Open Up Lee Bullet Size Die....Troubles

    I have a Lee size die .339 that I am trying to open up to .351. Using a dowel rod plus both wet/dry paper & emery cloth, it is taking forever! I have been using 220 paper and coarse emery cloth chucked up in my drill for four hours plus and have only opened it up .003 at the most. I am on my second 20v battery charge too. Reading previous posts about this sounds like a piece of cake but its slow going for me. All I can think of to speed things up would be to heat up the die cherry red and let cool, to take out the hardness. I have the die chucked up in a Lee turret and mounted in a vise to handle the heat from grinding. After all of this, I ran a bullet through the die and it measures .341 at this point. I guess I need some coaching. /Chris

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    Too much for that method. Switch to NOE sizer dies would be the best bet, or get a machinist to ream it for you just under then finish it with the split dowel.
    http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.p...e5m60660gcg5n5

  3. #3
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    .012 is a lot to try to lap out of a die, it can be done but as you have found out, it takes a lot of time and effort.

    Annealing will help but will still take a lot of time to take out that much. After anneal you can use a drill press and drill out the hole
    a little using a drill bit at least .003 smaller than the required size them go back to lapping.
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  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master OS OK's Avatar
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    Lapping the die was intended to open our dies only .001~.003" to adjust a proper sized die for the caliber. Not really for changing calibers.
    Also you will want to determine what type of Pb blend you want results from...soft Pb to Linotype will come out of your die @ different diameters.

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  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
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    My .356 is standard Lee die and both my .354 & .352 are custom made dies that I bought from a fellow member. He is no longer making dies though. I guess my next step would be to order a Lee custom die $38 and wait 8 weeks for it, which I didnt want to have to wait for. At the rate my lapping is going, it may take me 8 weeks to finish anyway. The bore in Lee die is tapered, so I figured drilling was not a very good option. /Chris

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by OS OK View Post
    Lapping the die was intended to open our dies only .001~.003" to adjust a proper sized die for the caliber. Not really for changing calibers.
    Also you will want to determine what type of Pb blend you want results from...soft Pb to Linotype will come out of your die @ different diameters.

    You bit off too big-O-bite to chew!
    I am set for sizing my cast bullets to .352". What I am doing is sizing .357 jacketed to .351. This is necessary not only for bore fit but for chamber throat fit. /Chris

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    even if you get .012 from hand lapping I would doubt it will be round ..
    I would suggest you look at NOE's solution .. Yes its a little costly at first .. but oh so easy as you add calibers and sizes later
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  8. #8
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    Yep, .012" is too much to lap out of a sizing die. Depending on how hard the ID is, the best method would either be reaming or grinding. As a life long machinist mechanic I could prolly come up with a method to do it at home without a lathe, but it would be quite a job (and I might screw up one or two along the way! )...
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  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    NOE makes a .351 bushing for there sizer die.

  10. #10
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    Going coarser on the sand paper will speed things up a little. Maybe 120grit to start with. Use a long rod so you can have a piece of sandpaper 3-4" long and wide enough to be a tight fit in the die. (as it opens up use printer paper under the sand paper to keep it tight) a light oil helps keep the paper cutting clean and from loading up. Use slow to medium rpms on the drill and a fast feed in and out not coming off the sand paper. Work the 120 grit to around .005 - .006 thousandths then switch to 220 for a few passes then 320 and last 600 grit to size. You want to see the poish lines crossover looking like a figure 8 in the die. Last is a piece of flannel and semichhrome or flitz polish to give the smoothest finish.

    Removing this much material is going to be a long process with this method and may cause several other problems. the leade into the die may be removed along with the kleade out, the sizing ring in the lee die is narrow. Another is if the dies are case or surface hardened you may remove this layer and have a soft die. Another is the pusher will be much smaller possibly allowing for some flow down the base edge leaving a raised edge on the base of the bullet.

    A reamer might work for opening it up depending on how hard the die surfaces are. Better would be a lathe and boring bar taking small cuts and working carefully. In the first set up the dia can be opened up and the new leade into the die recut, then the die flipped and the relief recut. In reality with the lather making from a allen head bolt from scratch would be about as easy since it would save a lot of set up and finer work.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    Too much to take out. There is a lead taper and a land sizer ring. As you open the land it gets longer and more area to try lapping out.

  12. #12
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    As stated above .012" is way too much for the split rod and drill method. You need to spin the die in a lathe or similar and sand it with your sanding media (cloth or paper) applying the pressure with a solid rod. The rod could be steel, brass or even wood. You could use steel you just have to be careful.

    Even then .012" is a bit much. One thing you have going for you is the length of material you need to remove is not very long. I just polished a Lee bullet sizing die the actual length of the tightest part of the bore is only about 1/4 inch or less. The bore tapers down to "size" then opens up.

    Motor

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    I do stuff like this with a lathe and or a Sunnen hone and .012" is a LOT to try and remove. I wouldn't even want to do it with the Sunnen hone, that's not lapping, that's reboring. It would wear out a few stones, which at $5 a pop, you'd go in the hole as much as a new die. You would be much better served getting a NOE die or having Lathesmith custom make you a die.
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  14. #14
    Boolit Master
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    Don't be a cheapskate, buy a new sizer, even if you open it by .012" it will end up out of round.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master BigEyeBob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 10gaOkie View Post
    My .356 is standard Lee die and both my .354 & .352 are custom made dies that I bought from a fellow member. He is no longer making dies though. I guess my next step would be to order a Lee custom die $38 and wait 8 weeks for it, which I didnt want to have to wait for. At the rate my lapping is going, it may take me 8 weeks to finish anyway. The bore in Lee die is tapered, so I figured drilling was not a very good option. /Chris
    Normalise by heating cherry red , get a adjustable reamer with the size range to cover the size you want to achieve ,take small cuts until you get to .002-.003" under the finished size ,you can run cast projectiles through the die until you get the size close to what you want . ,the keep reaming by opening up the reamer and ream only a short way in to get a slightly larger diameter for a feed in . Reharden and polish the die so its nice and slick .

  16. #16
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    I opened up a .284 die to .301 using a different method before there was the NOE option. I cast a bunch of the bullets I wanted to size and started sizing them coated in grinding compound in lots of 10. I had to change out to a new set of 10 after 3-4 trips through the die as it opened up. It took about 30 minutes.
    Back in the land of boolits.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by BigEyeBob View Post
    Normalise by heating cherry red , get a adjustable reamer with the size range to cover the size you want to achieve ,take small cuts until you get to .002-.003" under the finished size ,you can run cast projectiles through the die until you get the size close to what you want . ,the keep reaming by opening up the reamer and ream only a short way in to get a slightly larger diameter for a feed in . Reharden and polish the die so its nice and slick .
    Getting that much equipment/tools together would cost the same as 3 custom sizing dies...
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  18. #18
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    If you have the means to hold the die .You can open the die up to .348 in a single pass with a Letter S drill. They are .348 dia. The Lee dies are not supposed to be very hard and should drill easily. Only a very few hardware stores carry Lettered drills. Most of the people there don't know about letter drills. Could be ebay may be a scource for them cheaply. If you have the time I could drill it out here at home for you. I have some experience in sizing down jacketed bullets. With the right lube and strong press it can work well. I have sized down 270cal bullets down to .271 for my way oversized carcano in 6.5mm. They shot well.
    n.h.schmidt

  19. #19
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    Or ..... you could always buy a custom die from Lee if that would meet your needs: https://leeprecision.com/custom-lube-and-size-kit/
    Mustang

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  20. #20
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    NOE makes just about any size you want. They are very nice and dimensions are spot on. Ordering some from them will be a lot easier.
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