Sizer dies lube holes

[castmiester]

Looked up a archive on this but it didn't mention about a two hole verses four hole. SOme mentioned about plugging the holes

Adjusting the push out rod on my 450 will not keep lube away from GC shoulder. I noticed the two hole die was completely filled with lube though when I received my press.......

So I'm guessing the two hole works just as well as the four hole?

[Tatume]

They all work fine, and can be adjusted to stop lubing the tops of your bullets. Two hole versus four hole is not an issue. You may need to plug one or more holes. If you don't have any lead shot you can cut a little bit of lead and tap it to fill the hole.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

generally,
two hole for Pistol boolits.
four hole for Rifle boolits.
But just like everything else in casting and loading cast, there are exceptions to the rule...and tricks to make things easier.
.
At some point, I decided that plugging some holes in Lyman style dies just made sense for certain boolit designs, and that should make things less messy...and it does. While others may have been doing that for years, I'd never heard of doing that. At first I would just plug the hole with a piece of shot, like is done with Star lube dies, but since the Lyman die ports are not designed for that, damage to the boolit tends to be an issue. I came up with making a rivet shaped plug out of solid solder wire and that works great.

[Dusty Bannister]

As JonB, but I used a larger piece of shot, tap on it to form the rivet and then gently file down enough to enter the Lube sizer. Removal with the edge of a knife blade to pop the plug out.

[castmiester]

Heavier pistol bullets are pretty long, but I'll see how it goes.

got a pic of your plug ?

[Tatume]

got a pic of your plug ?

No, I don't have a photo. Just take a little bit of lead and tap it into the hole. It's easy. The little splatters and drippings that invariably occur while casting work fine.

[Bent Ramrod]

On the in-and-out lubrisizers, Ideal/Lyman, Lachmiller, SAECO, RCBS, etc, I don’t find any difference wrought by the hole array that isn’t rendered moot by the depth adjustment at the bottom. Lube smearing up the noses can be reduced by depth stop adjustment and reduced further or eliminated by proper pressure wrench technique.

On the push-through types like the Meepos and Star, where the auxiliary lube pump is activated when the boolit reaches a certain point in the die, it may be necessary to block off some holes if the boolit is too short to cover them all. I haven’t had to do that, at least yet.

But I’ve never tried to lube a boolit without lubing the GC shoulder. On all my moulds, the GC shank is wide enough so there is a first lube groove (often shorter than the rest, but still there) ahead of the gas check when it is seated, whether crimped on or not.

[243winxb]

Keep lube away from GC shoulder - Some make an insert that sit on top of the push out rod. Plugging holes in die has not worked for me.

I still wipe lube off a bevel base bullet. 2 or 4 holes, no difference on my 450.