boolits sticking in sizer die

[singleshotbuff]

Gentlemen,

I'm new to using a lubri-sizer (and fairly new to casting for that matter), but so far have done alright. I have mostly sized boolits for my 380 ACP.

I have a Lyman 45 that I picked up off of eBay, using Lyman dies and Lee alox lube (tube stuff, not liquid alox).

Yesterday I attempted to size some boolits from my Lyman #358156. They're about .360-.361" (if I remember correctly, I'm at work), and cast of 50/50 wheelweights and soft range scrap then dropped into cold water from the mold. I cast them about 2 weeks ago, and when I tried to size them yesterday, they stuck in the sizer (.358") . Stuck to the point that I had to removethe die from the press and drivethem out with a mallet .

What is going wrong here? Boolits to big to start with? Too hard? BEst way to fix it??

Thanks for any help. The knowledge on this board is outstanding.

SSB

[StarMetal]

Well for one thing you should size your bullets soon after water quenching the, say like the same day or next. The reason is it takes about two weeks for the lead to cure/harden from it's quenching to their final hardness. So being you sized them after two weeks and they were pretty much oversize, they would be very hard to size. Another thing is I believe I would put some bullet lube on the first bullet to get the walls of the sizer die lubed up too. Generally that is why bullets stick most the time. Also one stroke down into the sizer and immediately stroke back up with no hesitation. If you stop halfway up you can get a bullet stuck sometimes. Mainly tho your bullets were pretty hard. Size they as soon as possible after casting.

Joe

[singleshotbuff]

Starmetal,

Kinda what I was afraid of, too hard. Is there anyway to soften an already hardened boolit? I'd like to shoot up what I cast rather than melt & re-cast.

Thanks

SSB

[Bass Ackward]

Starmetal,

Kinda what I was afraid of, too hard. Is there anyway to soften an already hardened boolit? I'd like to shoot up what I cast rather than melt & re-cast.

Thanks

SSB

Many ways if you don't have lube on them.

You can heat treat in an oven at 400 degrees for 1/2 hour and then turn it off and let them cool real slow inside the oven. Or you can boil them for about 1/2 hour and let them cool slowly.

Both methods will soften you up.

[slughammer]

I just sized a shoe box full of booilts in my Star on Saturday night. I used a spray of Midway case lube on them to make sizeing easier and take it easier on my arm. The Midway stuff is just alcohol and lanolin. I have also applied lube by using a gallon zip lock bag. Add a squirt of lube, a splash of alcohol and close the bag and mix it around. Add boolits to bag, mix around and dump out to let alcohol evaporate.

The alcohol works great as a carrier for the lube to thin it down. I try to get as little lube on the boolit as necessary to make the operation easy.

[Char-Gar]

It is easy to stick a bullet in the die if there is no lube. When starting with a clean or new die, I use a little case sizing lube (Imperial Wax) for the first few bullets and after that there is enough lube in the die to keep things going without much sweat.

The older Lyman 45 doesn't have the leverage of the latter versions, and I once tore one all to hell by trying to size dry water dropped .455 bullet down to .452.

That is what taught me about using a nose first sizing die in the reloading press.

[MGySgt]

What I would do -

Re-heat treat them in the oven and size the same day you heat treat them. Lube the first few through.

I also polish the inside of my dies with 800 grit wet/dry sand paper. 10 to 15 seconds spinning a split spud with the paper tucked and wrapped around it at low speed will put a mirror finish on and not reduce the size.

Makes sizing even hard ones a little bit easier.

Drew

[Bucks Owin]

It is easy to stick a bullet in the die if there is no lube. When starting with a clean or new die, I use a little case sizing lube (Imperial Wax) for the first few bullets and after that there is enough lube in the die to keep things going without much sweat.

The older Lyman 45 doesn't have the leverage of the latter versions, and I once tore one all to hell by trying to size dry water dropped .455 bullet down to .452.

That is what taught me about using a nose first sizing die in the reloading press.

Yep, my thoughts exactly. "Singleshotbuff" may need to lube those first boolits by hand until the lube starts getting through the sizer die....

Dennis
Lyman 450 buff....