Sizing .308 Down To .277

[DODGEM250]

I am curious if anyone here has any experience with sizing cast soft/pure lead boolits down from .308 to .277 I have a .30 cal mold that I cast boolits for 30-06 / 300 winmag that casts .308, BUT, I want to reload some .270 Winchester. Before I venture in to other investments, I'd like to know if a .277 sizing die will get me where I want to be from my .308 casts for target shooting (shown in photo)

Next question is, does anyone have a .277 sizing die for sale ?


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[ku4hx]

Never really thought about that much of a reduction, but I'd guess with really soft alloy or "pure" lead you're going to deform the boolit pretty badly in a Lyman type press. Maybe less with a Lee pass-through die.

Reductions of .003" or .004" has been the max reduction I've found practical.

[Mk42gunner]

Your picture didn't show up for me, I just love dial-up (not).

By the time you figure in the time for multiple passes through multiple sizing dies and the cost of said dies, with no guarantee of success (you are thinking of reducing the diameter by roughly 10%) you will be money and time ahead to buy a mold and sizer meant for your .270.

Robert

[Junior1942]

Your picture didn't show up for me, I just love dial-up (not).

By the time you figure in the time for multiple passes through multiple sizing dies and the cost of said dies, with no guarantee of success (you are thinking of reducing the diameter by roughly 10%) you will be money and time ahead to buy a mold and sizer meant for your .270.

Robert+1 on what he said.

[Reload3006]

after a couple thousandths your boolit is going to deform badly and not push through your sizing die. Experience talking be lots of money ahead to buy a mold and die.

[Larry Gibson]

I regularly take .325 bullets, GC'd and lubed, down to .314 - .316 with no problems. I've success fully taken a .311 sized, GC'd and lubed bullet down to .288. But had more trouble doing it than it was worth, as mentioned. Lube grooves did get distorted quite a bit, bullet elngated irregularly, the .30 cal Hornady GC popped off and the nose was too large to enter the bore. I solved the GC problem by making much thinner brass GCs. I also sized the noses which further distorted the bullets. Frankly they ended up so bad I never tried shooting them. I had most of the tools to get the job done but if I'd had to buy them I would have been money ahead by a long shot to just buy a mould and a correct H&I sizer.

BTW; better, currently available H&I sizer for the .270 would be a .278. A .279 or .280 would be even better. *mm bullets can easily be sized down but the biggest problem with such is the bullet nose does not get sized down appropriately and the bullet is then too long and really gets seated too deep into the case. Sizing such down (i.e. the 8mm to .314 - .318) is successful in mislurp chambers that are generous in dimension, particularly the throats. With a commercial .270 you probably won't find that. Best to just get the mould. No reason a good cast bullet like the RCBS 270-150-SP won't shoot well in a .270. If you can find the Lyman 280468 or the 280642 they would be very good also.

Larry Gibson

[Hang Fire]

Doubt that soft will make it through lubri/sizer die without severe boolit damage. If going the Lee push through route, best go base first with custom nose fit up to prevent finning. The old 310 tool instructions for sizing chamber expressly states going base first to avoid finning.

[DODGEM250]

Absolutely agree with the replies. 'nough said. Thanks.

[MtGun44]

Actually, I have been TOLD, not done it myself, so consider that - that if you will
lubricate the boolit first with a normal lube and fill all the grooves (probably need to
fill a crimp groove, too) that you can size them down a large amount and the
lube transfers the pressure and moves the grooves down in size, too. I wouldn't
want to do too much in one pass, might need two dies, and it probably will depend
on how hard an alloy you are using. Doing it on a strong press with a Lee pushthrough
type die, after lubing in a RCBS or Lyman lubrisizer may work. I'd worry about the
linkage on a Lyman lubrisizer if you try it in one pass with anything at all hard.

Worth a try.

Bill

[Bret4207]

Be a lot easier to find a 7mm mould and get a sizer the diameter you need. I use a 270 mould for a fat 6.5, same idea.

[runfiverun]

there's no way it'd work.
even a 7mm would be a pain, two of the three 7mm molds i have have noses that are already at 2785.
if you sized them down to 279 you'd have a 1.10 ish long cylinder with maybe a taper on the front.
good luck chambering that
you'd have to size the nose, and then the body [lubed] on a push through.
and you'd end up with a work softened lead boolit that you'd have to heat treat.

[beagle]

Definitely too much of a quantum leap taking one down that far.

You could probably end up with a very long bullet that would load and go out the barrel but I beleive the distortion would cause it to be grossly inaccurate.

Pick up the right size mould and sizer and be done with it./beagle