Does .001 make a difference????

[abunaitoo]

So I have a .358 and a .361 sizer.
I would like to go a little bigger than .358, but the .361 will not chamber.
So I'm looking to get a .359 sizer.
Worth it, or .001 would make little difference?????

[tazman]

What gun/cartridge are we talking about?

[6bg6ga]

What gun/cartridge are we talking about?

Kind of hard to read between the lines here with no information other than he is thinking about another sizer.

[Petander]

Yes,even .0005 can make a difference.

My 45-70 Marlin has a sweet spot at .4595. One 9mm pistol shoots .356 all over the place while .357 is better but .358 gives the best accuracy. The barrel is 356 so 357 should work but I'll eventually try .3575.

Then there's the other important task finding the appropriate expander size/setting.

Anyway .001 is a lot and often makes a difference.

[6bg6ga]

I draw the line at .001 I'm not going to worry about a 1/2 a thousandth.

[GhostHawk]

I have "flat nosed" .30 caliber 160 gr gas checked cast for a lever action Win 94.

I drilled a hole in a plastic block just a smidge bigger than the .30 cal bullet so it would drop in freely. Then reversed the drill so the flat end is down. Set the whole assembly on a thin piece of steel and used the drill press (motor off) to flatten the point.

Compressed those bullets from .310ish out to .318 or .320.
Lubed, ran them through a Lee sizer in .311 and I had good flat nosed bullets to load.

The bullets do have to be pushed out of the load block. And I added a 3' chunk of 3/4 pvc to one of the arms of the press to give me more leverage with less work.

BTW none of the above even touched the lube grooves or gas checks.

Some of those got run through a .314 sizer for the mosin. 185 gr, large meplat, fills the chamber, hits with the wrath of god. Whats not to like.

Just sit down and figure it out. You can do this stuff. Lead is essentially like putty. Apply pressure and it will shift.-

[kungfustyle]

If you powder coat the smaller boolit, it will add .001 to .002 to the diameter. You could also get a Lee sizer die and hone it out to whatever dimension you need. As for the original question, if your bbl is .358, you will need to get your boolits to .359. Powder coat is an easy way to do that.

[lotech]

It can make a measureable difference. I used to run all .38 Special bullets (H&G #51 160 gr. SWC) through a .358" die. I don't do powder coating, just conventional lubing with a SAECO sizer / lubricator. I started using a .357" die and have seen a slight increase in accuracy in S&W revolvers and a greater accuracy increase with Colts, but they often have very tight barrels anyway. It's necessary to experiment with this.

[RED BEAR]

In a nut shell heck yes it can my 444 accuracy goes to heck with just .001 . Like i used to say when working you can drive a truck through .001 of an inch.

[Bigslug]

Yes .001" can make the difference between a happy and sad firearm.

.35 and .45 caliber. . .when you consider the sheer volume of firearms out there in those general caliber ranges, there's solid logic to just biting the weenie and laying in the entire range of sizing dies that are even in the parking lot of the ballpark. By the time you consider the nominal handgun diameters, the nominal rifle diameters, the range of variation, oddities of chamber and throat, and what a given alloy might want, you wake up one morning and realize that you can open your die box go from .448 to .462 without skipping a thousandth.

I'd certainly want to cover from .354 to .360 in that manner. Maybe even to .364 if the .38 S&W is a possibility.

Sizing dies are kind of like a wrench set - if the set is missing the correct wrench for the job, you end up doing all kinds of stupid, ill-advised things to turn the bolt.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I have used a vise (smooth jaws) to compress a few bullets to try a fatter bullet. After a few you can get a uniform result. After size is determined, the 'right' sizer or a fatter mold can be acquired.

[Larry Gibson]

What gun/cartridge are we talking about?

Need this info to answer the question. Otherwise it's just speculation........

[Wayne Smith]

In my S&W 27 and 28 I tried .359 and it took a hard push to get them to chamber. .358 it is and they shoot fine.

[mdi]

One thousandth can make a difference, depending on whether it is plus .001" or minus .001" and where the .001" is. If I'm guessing correctly the OP is talking about 38 Special or 357 Magnum bullets and depending on the cylinder throats' diameter, prolly no difference on the target...

[sureYnot]

Just came back from the range. Tested the first rounds in my rifle after having sanded out my sizing die another .001. Group size was cut in half.
Had the same experience with a 9mm going from .357 to .358.
YMMV.

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[gnostic]

I'd take some emery cloth and polish away if I was convinced a larger bullet would be a benefit. None of my .357's will chamber a .361 bullet and unfortunately that's the size my bullets fall from the mold at....

[abunaitoo]

If you powder coat the smaller boolit, it will add .001 to .002 to the diameter. You could also get a Lee sizer die and hone it out to whatever dimension you need. As for the original question, if your bbl is .358, you will need to get your boolits to .359. Powder coat is an easy way to do that.

Now why didn't I think of that.
Getting old.
Thanks

[abunaitoo]

This is for the Destroyer rifle I'm playing with.
.358 is working, but I'm thinking it's a little small.
Bore slugged at .357.

[Conditor22]

You can either cast the chamber or try it to see if it fits.

Your PC may add more than .001. Choose the thinnest coating PC you have

[Tom_in_AZ]

Short asnwer: .358 vs .359 can make a big difference in accuracy and leading/no leading. But it’s heavily dependent on the individual gun. Slug the bore and go .001 over to start.


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