Bevel removal Lee 452-230 2R Reamer size?

[Shakey Jakey]

I would like to cut the bevel out of this Lee mould with a reamer. I want the base of the boolits to drop at .4535-.454 with WW. What size reamer do I need? Please, not a guess, but from experience. Thanks

[John Traveler]

I think you just answered your own question.

A 0.4535"-0.454" will get you there.

However, I would not use a reamer to open up the base of the mold. There is too much chance of misalignment and ending up with an out-of-round mold.

It would be more correct to clamp and dial indicate the mold blocks to zero in a four-jaw chuck and bore out the mold to the correct 0.454" base diameter.

[Calamity Jake]

I would like to cut the bevel out of this Lee mould with a reamer. I want the base of the boolits to drop at .4535-.454 with WW. What size reamer do I need? Please, not a guess, but from experience. Thanks

A 29/64 reamer would be .4531 if they made one which I don't think do.
You can have one custom made by grinding down the next size
up (15/32) but the nature of the reamer is to cut about .001 over the actual size.

Best bet is to follow Johns advice and use a lathe or a milling machine and a boring head.

[deltaenterprizes]

MSC sells reamers in .001'' increments, fractional and metric.
I do not advise the use of a reamer either.

[KYCaster]

I'd cut it to the same diameter as the driving bands in the mold.

Jerry

[geargnasher]

You will need to ream a full thousandth over what you want the boolit base to be when cast from clip-on WW +1.5% tin (bhn 12 air cooled), and this is with the alloy at 675-700* and the mould near 400*. This is from experience.

Also from experience, just carve the bevel out with a very sharp utility knife. The aluminum is very soft and shaves quite easily, if you're very, very careful you can cut the bevel even with the base band, or nearly to it, then ream with a chucking reamer from MSC. As has been said they are available in half-thousanth increments, I use them together with a chamber pilot I make for opening/uniforming revolver cylinder throats. The reamers have a slight 45 degree chamfer on the end that helps them start centered in the hole, provided the hole isn't too small (the Lee bevel is too small, you will need to open it slightly to get the reamer started).

The reamer is $20-25 plus shipping, the mould costs $20, and your odds of screwing it up doing it by hand are high. You can get a far superior custom mould made to your exact design, specifications, and band size with your choice of alloy for around $100 shipped from Accurate Molds dot com in a couple of weeks, so you decide whether you want to fight it or just get a mould exactly like you want to begin with.

Hope this helps,

Gear

[JIMinPHX]

I would measure the existing diameter of the mold & compare that to the as cast size of the boolits that it drops with the particular alloy that you use. That should answer your question best.

Reamers do work if they are fixtured properly. See post #72 here - http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=57030&page=4

[redgum]

I had the bevel removed from a .45 / LEE 230g tc
I took it to a toolmaker and he machined .020" off the top leaving thr mold better finished than LEE did. I had to put a shim washer between sprue plate & screw but BOY what a difference

[zxcvbob]

Does it matter if you screw it up a bit, as long as it is oversized? Seems like the sizing die will straighten any little imperfections.

I haven't used my Lyman 4500 in at least a year; it's covered with dust. All my molds have at least a little bevel to them and the lube squirts under the boolit instead of in the grooves. http://www.gunrightsmedia.com/images/smilies/cussing2.gif
I've been thinking about taking a sharp pocket knife to one of the molds and hard carve the bevel out and see what happens -- probably a 2-holer first.

[ItZaLLgooD]

My Lee 452-230 2R drops boolits around 240 grains. Machining the mold down 0.02 would get it closer to 230 and get rid of the bevel. Win win.

[JIMinPHX]

I haven't used my Lyman 4500 in at least a year; it's covered with dust. All my molds have at least a little bevel to them and the lube squirts under the boolit instead of in the grooves.

There are ways around that problem.

[RobS]

I received a well used Lee 230 TC mold and the person before me thought they would work the mold with, I'm guessing, a dowl and wet/dry sand paper. Needless to say he took care of the bevel, but made the base of the bullet look like a bell. I fixed it by working the top of the mold block off and now the bullet runs at 225 grains.

If I were going to take the bevel off this design it would be to mill the top off and bring the bullet down closer to the 230 grain area.

[zxcvbob]

I received a well used Lee 230 TC mold and the person before me thought they would work the mold with, I'm guessing, a dowl and wet/dry sand paper. Needless to say he took care of the bevel, but made the base of the bullet look like a bell. I fixed it by working the top of the mold block off and now the bullet runs at 225 grains. Maybe I'm just stupid today... Why would having the boolit base slightly bell-shaped (or even out-of-round) hurt anything if you're going to size them?

[RobS]

It was so big that it wouldn't fit in the Lyman's sizing die mouth.

[zxcvbob]

That might be a problem. <g>