Cast boolits won't size

[David2011]

Surprisingly enough, i tried my case lube (lanolin and alcohol), and they sized easier. Not great still, but manageable. I will also polish the die and see how that goes. I'll probably need to size and the PC from now on...

No surprise. Lanolin is an excellent high pressure lube. Still, something is not as it appears to be. Either the measurements are off or the hardness is greater than estimated. Do you know anyone that has a hardness tester? If not you could probably send some sized and unsized boolits to a fellow member. I would offer but I just moved and all of my reloading gear is boxed up.

[megasupermagnum]

I know it was mentioned, but I would definately try polishing the die with something like 600 grit sandpaper. I'm a NOE fan myself, but if their sizing dies are anything like their expander plugs, they are as rough as rough gets. Their plugs are unusable unless you lube them heavily, or do as I do, and polish them. I've never had a NOE product that didn't come spot on for the measurement, but it is worth checking. You never know if a smaller sizer accidentally got put in the wrong bag. I find lube usually makes life easier for sizing bullets, but it should definitely not be a struggle without it. I've sized 30 BHN bullets down .003" and while hard, it wasn't like I was about the break the press either. 15 BHN is a good hardness for 44 magnum, you can do with less, but there is no problems with running them that hard.

1. check the sized bullet diameter
2. polish the die
3. contact NOE

P.S. Here is another thought. If your first few bullets galled in the die, that increases the force to size exponentially. Often the force causes the push rod into the base so hard as to expand and fin the bullet. Those fins then jam between the push rod and the die causing a real problem. The fix is to polish the die and use some lube. I don't mean you have to lube all bullets, just the first few, and then maybe one every 50 bullets will suffice. Just about anything works for bullet sizing lube.

[Conditor22]

finished size through the sizing die .4315 is not bad.

Next step is to polish the **** out of the die. start with 600 (wrap it around a dowel and roll in the die 20-30 seconds fashion a cone shape out of the sandpaper and sand the entry for 1 min then move up to 1,000 and repeat. IF you have a Dremel with a cone-shaped polishing attachment and some metal polish, slick up the entry to the die.

[IF you sand the inside of the die too much with course sandpaper you will open up the die )

[KVO]

I have had the same experience as megasupermagnum with the NOE push thru sizers and expander plugs. Both needed polishing to be usable. Their push thru sizer bushings have less taper than the Lee and as previously stated do not take advantage of press leverage. If you flip the sizer die body and use it upside down with the bushings held in place with a dab of bullet lube they can be adjusted in your press so you can size at the top stroke and cam over. I ended up drilling and tapping the die body on mine on the opposite side for an additional small set screw to hold the bushings in place.

[KVO]

I also was fairly aggressive with polishing a taper into the bushings leaving just a small sizing ring on top. I really like the concept and still buy the sizing bushings as needed but the execution leaves some to be desired.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Hi all,

I made bhn 15 based off reloading data in my Lyman book. They suggest lyman #2 all the way up to linotype for 44 mag. I have tried sizing as soon as possible, no luck. I also made some boolits from my 11-12 bhn WW, they went through slightly easier, but not easy at all. I'm using NOE sizing dies, boolits are casting at .433 (sometimes .4335), and upwards of .436 after PC. I've used lube ranging from royal purple oil, various gun lubes. Really at a loss here. It's my first time sizing, and from everything I've read, it's really not that complicated. These boolits have no lube groove and are designed for PC or HTC.

Closely examine the inside of the sizer insert with a magnifying glass...It should be mirror smooth.

[Pbaker]

Hi all,

Seems like all is well with the world. I polished the die and started using case lube (lanolin/alcohol) and everything sizes great. I can size .433 bare lead down to .430 and I can size .435 PC down to .430 (with ease). I guess I can chalk it up to a rookie mistake and/or learning experience. I really appreciate everyone's feedback and trying to help me sort this out.

[Conditor22]

Glad it worked out for you.

A lesson for all of us -- unless all your sizing dies are mirror-smooth a little polishing will make sizing easier. (I'd start with 1,000 grit wet/dry paper and then some polishing compound on the back of the paper.

[Pbaker]

I did not use sandpaper. I just used a little buffing wheel with some polish. She shined right up. I do have some 1500 grit, but I figured using polish was probably about the same.

[beagle]

Didn't see what brand sizing die you were using. I've had trouble with the old Lymans without the tapered leade into the sizing die. Might look at that too.
Once made some .44 bullets from an unknown allow off the railroad when I was much, much younger. Couldn't size them in an old Lyman 45 sizer. Older and wiser now, I expect they were babbit./beagle

[David2011]

I did not use sandpaper. I just used a little buffing wheel with some polish. She shined right up. I do have some 1500 grit, but I figured using polish was probably about the same.

Even at 1500 grit the abrasive will cut the tops off of the peaks of the metal. The buffing wheel alone, unless it’s hard felt with a coarse abrasive, will just polish the peaks. My two cents.

[fredj338]

I have never had an issue sizing bullets down just 0.002" from cast size. Do we assume you are lubing before while sizing? If not, likely your issue. I size PC bullets in a cheap Lee C press inverted with my Lee dies installed. Not much effort is required to go 0.002".

[KCSO]

Sounds like they may need to be run through a push through sizer first and run them down to just a thou over final dimension and then use the lube sizer. That is a fairly hard alloy and a say 45 or 450 lyman doesn't have a lot of leverage. Make sure they have some lube on them to start with.