sizing problem

[jimkim]

I bought a new six cavity Lee 452-230-TC mould the other day. It drops .454" bullets cast from straight ww alloy. I also bought a Lyman .452" sizing die. It's sizing these bullets to .449". If I finish ream or polish the die to .452" id, how badly will the lube leak around the (I'm not sure what to call it)piston/pin? By now you've figured out I need .452" bullets for my pistol.

Not living near a reloading store sucks. [smilie=b:

[jcwit]

I'll bet this is not what you want to hear but I'd get ahold of Lyman and see about returning the mismarked sizing die and plunger for one the correct size.

Be pleasent to them on the phone, mistakes such as this happen, we don't like it, but its a fact of life.

[jimkim]

I just hope this time around they'll be more helpful than the last time. My 311291 was actually a 308291. My 358242 was a 357242. These were cast with an alloy of only 2% tin so maybe that was it.

On a good note my Lyman .454" sizer does in fact size to .454" and my Ideal 308291 is actually a 311.5 291. So not all is lost.

[462]

I've enlarged Lyman sizing dies as much as .003". Any seepage, and the amount, will be directly related to the lube's viscosity, temperature and the pressure applied on it. Experimentation will be required. I view the correct size boolit to far out-weighs any seepage inconvenience.

A machinist should be able to make a fatter ejection pin. I've had limited success doing so, but I'm not a machinist nor have the requisite tools.

Having said all that, my very first step would be to call Lyman.

[gwpercle]

jimkim

Send the sizer die back, it should size to what it is marked.

Mine is marked .452 and after sizing a boolit , cast of wheel- weights, it measures .452 ( actually .45195 but that is close enough ).

When you go to enlarging the die and not the ejector rod you could get leakage. Now you got to get a larger rod. Unless you got some kind of lathe and metal working tools and know-how to do all this, I find it much easier to just return and exchange it for the correct size.

gary

[cajun shooter]

I'm sorry but I have to tell you that out of all the loading equipment makers, Lee has the most problems with Quality Control. They do make some nice products that sell for a price that most can afford.
The biggest problem is that they have had these problems for years and they continue to repeat them.
If you want to have less problems then try to at least move up to a Lyman or RCBS type of Lubing press.
I'm aware that many people like the Lee sizing system but I'm not one for many reasons and one of them is that I shoot 100% black powder and Lee does not make anything that applies to that. Even the moulds are made for smokeless with the very small lube grooves.
I had to send back the last five Lee custom moulds that I purchased. They would not drop the same size bullet from all six cavities. One of them was so bad that it dropped bullets from .449 to .453 but not any in the requested .455 size so that they could be sized to .454
I would send the die back as fast as I could and ask for the correct replacement. I wish you the best of luck.

[Char-Gar]

Poor Lyman can't seem to win for loosing! 20 years ago, folks were down on Lyman because their molds cast bullets oversize and the common wisdom was you could not size bullets down more than a thou or two without destroying accuracy. Folk wanted their molds that required no sizing and no more than .001 over groove diameter.

It took Lyman a while, but they came around and gave their customers what they wanted.

Then the consumer changed gears and though the issue out. Now they wanted molds big enough to be sized down to fit the barrel throats and found out that sizing was not the great bug-a-boo it was once thought. But, Lyman still behind the curve makes molds too small.

There was a time when the Lyman/Ideal company had folks working for them who knew more about cast bullets than anybody else. Seems like today, they don't have people working for them that know how to shoot cast bullets. Lyman just responds very slowly to public pressure, when they should be on the range, shooting and leading the pack. Or at least that is the way it seems to me.

[Reload3006]

Poor Lyman can't seem to win for loosing! 20 years ago, folks were down on Lyman because their molds cast bullets oversize and the common wisdom was you could not size bullets down more than a thou or two without destroying accuracy. Folk wanted their molds that required no sizing and no more than .001 over groove diameter.

It took Lyman a while, but they came around and gave their customers what they wanted.

Then the consumer changed gears and though the issue out. Now they wanted molds big enough to be sized down to fit the barrel throats and found out that sizing was not the great bug-a-boo it was once thought. But, Lyman still behind the curve makes molds too small.

There was a time when the Lyman/Ideal company had folks working for them who knew more about cast bullets than anybody else. Seems like today, they don't have people working for them that know how to shoot cast bullets. Lyman just responds very slowly to public pressure, when they should be on the range, shooting and leading the pack. Or at least that is the way it seems to me.

I am pretty pissed off at Lyman right now over a new 4500 its not so much that they had a defective product leave their factory every one has that. But I buy a brand new press its junk I already paid to have it shipped to me from Midway then I have to pay again to have it shipped to Lyman and then a long string of Emails back and forth finally after a lot of argument they replace my Sizer Still cost me shipping so in the long run I should have just bought the RCBS it would have been less expensive.
How do I know this? Because every time I have ever had any issue at all my fault or not RCBS has made it right FREE OF CHARGE. Lyman does not. So Lyman will never see another penny of my money period ever.

[jimkim]

I'm sorry but I have to tell you that out of all the loading equipment makers, Lee has the most problems with Quality Control. They do make some nice products that sell for a price that most can afford.
The biggest problem is that they have had these problems for years and they continue to repeat them.
If you want to have less problems then try to at least move up to a Lyman or RCBS type of Lubing press.
I'm aware that many people like the Lee sizing system but I'm not one for many reasons and one of them is that I shoot 100% black powder and Lee does not make anything that applies to that. Even the moulds are made for smokeless with the very small lube grooves.
I had to send back the last five Lee custom moulds that I purchased. They would not drop the same size bullet from all six cavities. One of them was so bad that it dropped bullets from .449 to .453 but not any in the requested .455 size so that they could be sized to .454
I would send the die back as fast as I could and ask for the correct replacement. I wish you the best of luck.


The undersized die is a Lyman .452" sizing die. I was using it in my Lyman 450.

The Lee mould is marked 452 and casts .454" diameter bullets. I sent it back and am waiting to hear something.

[hk33ka1]

Sounds like you got a GOOD Lee mold and a BAD Lyman sizer.

I'm sure Lyman will fix you up.

[jimkim]

While waiting for my new die, I decided to try out my idea. I sized and lubed the Lee bullet with my .454" sizing die. I loaded the oversized rounds in with my Frankenstein dies, using the Lee FCD to size the round and bullet. I checked the rounds with my Dillon gauge and then my Springfield Armory XD-45 barrel. After 12 rounds I can see no leading and very little powder residue. I think this will work until I get my new sizing die. The picture is clearer without opening the attachment. I'm going to run 50 rounds through it without cleaning and take a better(I hope) picture.

[hk33ka1]

Sounds like you have a winner with this load. I hope it is shooting as accurate as you want it to.

[jimkim]

The replacement sizes to .453". I think from now on, I'll make my own.

[leadman]

The sizing of a boolit depends greatly on the alloy. Lyman supposedly makes their tools to work with Lyman #2. If you use a harder or softer alloy the amount of springback will change.
I have used this fact to get the size boolit I want.

Lee says they are also using #2 alloy for their testing now. Previously they used 10 to 1 lead to tin.

[jimkim]

What diameter should aircooled WW's be with a .452" sizer?

[hk33ka1]

.452"

[462]

.452"

Not necessarily, for the reason already mentioned. Springback is the reason why barrels and cylinder throats slugs should be of lead, rather than wheel weights.

[bandit7.5]

I bought a new six cavity Lee 452-230-TC mould the other day. It drops .454" bullets cast from straight ww alloy. I also bought a Lyman .452" sizing die. It's sizing these bullets to .449". If I finish ream or polish the die to .452" id, how badly will the lube leak around the (I'm not sure what to call it)piston/pin? By now you've figured out I need .452" bullets for my pistol.

Not living near a reloading store sucks. [smilie=b:

Save the die and get a 71/84 mauser or find someone that has one and trade
for the sizer you need.

[Theunsb]

I had a weird problem with Lee 429 sizer die sizing cast boolits to 425 to 427 using LLA. Then an article somewhere on this site suggested try sizing with WD-40 before lubing it.

Now I get 429 constantly, however checking regularly that there is no lead built-up in the sizer die.

M2c

[Char-Gar]

I have a 30 year old Lyman die marked .452 that sizes .453. I used it for ten years before I measured a bullet that was run through it. I fired many thousands of bullets in several 1911 pistols with those .453 bullets and never had a problem. What does that tell you?

About 1992 or so I bought a Lee .452 push through sizer and the bullets did come out .452. Now I push them through the Lee and lube them in the .453 Lyman. I really can't tell the difference between the real .452 bullets and the phony 452/453 bullets in the autopistol. Again, what does that tell you?