Top punch for Lee Mold

[Midohhntr]

Hi all, just acquired a Lee 452-255 RF for my Ruger Blackhawk and Henry .45 Big boy. Just need some advice on what top punch will work since I've had an RCBS lubamatic since the late 70"s, I really don't want to powder coat or tumble lube.
I'd rather run them thru the sizer die making sure they're uniform.

[Conditor22]

A flat punch should work fine, make one out of something you have lying around

or

clean the end of a 452 punch you don't use much, lightly oil the tip of a boolit you cast, fill the tip of the cleaned top punch with hot melt glue (or 2 part epoxy), and press the tip to the boolit you lubed into it keeping everything lined up and centered (not as important with the hot glue tip)

when hard carve/sand off the excess and you're good.

[Rcmaveric]

Hope you can see it.

First column is Lyman nose punches and second is RCBS nose punches
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[redhawk0]

I have a chart. This should help.

redhawk

LEE molds to Lyman and RCBS Top Punches.pdf

[Midohhntr]

Wow, thanks that's exactly what I was looking for, I initially looked at the Lyman #190, I also have the #429 punch I might check to see if it can work..

[gwpercle]

Make a flat punch . Fill the one you have with epoxy putty or cement and let dry , sand dead flat .
Use a flat punch to seat any boolit with a flat spot on it .
All those lists showing which punches fit which lee moulds aren't woth doodly squat .

Custom fit a bullet nose profile to a punch with epoxy putty ...perfect fit .

The flat punch works with RF , SWC , TC and Wadcutter .
In a pinch I use the flat punch on RN boolits also ...
After doing this for 50+ years , the flat punch will seat just about all your boolits ... for the rest make a perfectly fitted custom punch with epoxy putty . Clean the punch , drop in a small ball of epoxy putty , grease the bullet so epoxy doesn't stick and insert into sizer so all are straight and lined up ...let harden .
Gary

[megasupermagnum]

I've had so many problems with flat top punches, I could never recommend them. I do use them sometimes in a real pinch, but I usually run the bullets through a Lee sizer first, just so they are pre-sized, and use the flat punch for lubing. The problem with flat top punches is they require the bullet to self align against a lot of friction from both top and bottom, and often in a die full of sticky lube, and that is something that is not reliable. There are 3 keys I've found to making it work. #1 you have to start the bullet straight, I often use my thumb to make sure it is flat on the punch in the die if possible. #2 Polish the flat punch, I mean really polish it so it is a mirror finish. #3 lube the top punch. I like to put a tiny dab of grease on my finger, and dab the punch. I add a dab every 5 or so bullets.

If you are not very careful, you will turn your bullet sizer into a bullet destroying machine. A bullet sized crooked is what you will get, and is beyond repair. I've had so-so results with using hot glue or epoxy to make a top punch. The best approach for that is to find a top punch that is just a little too small, such that the nose starts into it, but doesn't quite hit the bottom. You can then use hot glue or epoxy to take up that space. I would recommend hot glue, as it is removable.

Personally I think a much better way would be to have a top punch that only contacts the ogive of the bullet. A top punch serves the same purpose of a bullet seater, so I don't understand why a bullet seater style top punch wouldn't work.

[ubetcha]

It sure would be a good thing if Lee produced nose punches for the bullet designs. With their ability to produce low cost reloading products, nose punches should an easy thing to do, I suspect.

[gwpercle]

It sure would be a good thing if Lee produced nose punches for the bullet designs. With their ability to produce low cost reloading products, nose punches should an easy thing to do, I suspect.

You would think by now Lee would have realized all the extra money that could be making selling nose punches ... but what do I know .
I do like the fact that NOE sells nose punches with their moulds ... and have started buying their moulds and punches ... Mr. Lee are you listening to all this ?
Gary

[Midohhntr]

You would think by now Lee would have realized all the extra money that could be making selling nose punches ... but what do I know .
I do like the fact that NOE sells nose punches with their moulds ... and have started buying their moulds and punches ... Mr. Lee are you listening to all this ?
Gary

My thoughts as well, I've used Lee molds since the 70's you would think they would make them by now.. But, my top punch for this one will be a 1/4" hex head bolt..

[Mk42gunner]

Make a flat punch . Fill the one you have with epoxy putty or cement and let dry , sand dead flat .
Use a flat punch to seat any boolit with a flat spot on it .
All those lists showing which punches fit which lee moulds aren't woth doodly squat .

Custom fit a bullet nose profile to a punch with epoxy putty ...perfect fit .

The flat punch works with RF , SWC , TC and Wadcutter .
In a pinch I use the flat punch on RN boolits also ...
After doing this for 50+ years , the flat punch will seat just about all your boolits ... for the rest make a perfectly fitted custom punch with epoxy putty . Clean the punch , drop in a small ball of epoxy putty , grease the bullet so epoxy doesn't stick and insert into sizer so all are straight and lined up ...let harden .
Gary

I'm with Gary on this one. I use a ¼" rod about an inch long as a top punch for most of my sizing. Started doing it when I didn't have any that fit, and was doing mostly SWC. Tried it with the Lee 312-185, and surprise surprise, it worked.

Now I don't sweat not having a top punch that exactly matches, I try the simple option.

Robert

[mdi]

Sorta on topic and sorry if this considered "drift"; I don't use a lubrisizer as for 30 years my push through sizing, pan lubing and PCing has worked well for me. But how critical is having a nose punch that perfectly fits a particular bullet for lubrisizing? One of the reasons I didn't try a lubrisizer was the "need" for a nose punch and sizing die for every different bullet I cast...

[Rcmaveric]

Depends on the bullet and nose profile.

You can damage the nose or bend skinny soft bullets.

With flat point bullets you can get away with a flat nose punch.

Inhave used hot glue to make a better fitting nose punch to prevent damage to my noses.

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[DanLee]

About the only reason I use my 450 now is to seat and crimp gas checks. No sizing. Then it's tumble lubing them with LLA. I let the barrel size the bullet.