advice on opening a Lee push-through sizer

[jpb]

Dear casters

I need to make a nose sizer for a .35 cal rifle bullet (I have a great bullet mold, but a short throat in my .358 Norma Mag).

I have an extra Lee push-through sizer in 8mm (.324 it seems to be). I will contrive a stop so that only the nose of the bullet will be sized... I plan on pushing the bullet back out with a flat-ended punch (bullet mold has a good meplat so this should work).

Since I have an unneeded Lee 8mm sizer, I have nothing to lose! How might I best open this up die up to about .357 or so and still keep the sizing hole round?

I suspect that running a drill bit in will not work (I don't have the right size, and those sizers must be hard steel to resist wear, right?

Anyway, I was thinking of using a rod of close to the current 8mm size and wrapped with 320 grit wet-or-dry paper (wet with oil), then rolling the die back and forth on a bench in long strokes (rolling pin style) to ensure that it did more than a complete revolution and hopefully cut evenly. I know that this may take a while to do this way, but I'd do so while half watching TV.

I would finish with 400 then 600 grit paper or 800 if you guys think I should. Next question: how fine a finish do I need to avoid leading in the sizer die?

Note that I'm in Sweden, so even if there is some US company performing such a service it will not help me.

jpb (John)

[StarMetal]

jpd

Take a dowel, either metal or wood, that is small enough, that even when you wrap it with an abrasive paper of some sort, it will fit through the die. Make the dowel long enough so you have long enough ends to grasp and roll this on a pad, like rubber pad to provide friction so the die will turn on the dowel with the abrasive paper. Use a very fine grid or your favorite abrasive like emery cloth, good grade of sandpaper, etc. Roll a few time and check often. Check buy running a lead slug throught and miking it. If it needs more, roll it again and retest.

Joe

[Leftoverdj]

I don't think what you want to do can be done by hand. There is simply too much metal to be removed. Easy enough to open a sizer up .002 to .003, but you are talking ten times that. Even if you have that much patience, that's ten times the chance to get it out of round. You are right that it is much too hard for anything but grinding.

Looks to me like you would be better off to get a local machinist to make one from a 7/8-14 bolt with a 9mm reamer or to get one of us to send you a Lee.

[grumble]

John, the "rolling pin" method will sure work, but unless you can make each stroke exactly one revolution of the die, you are liable to get an out-of-round hole. And, .033" is a LOT by that method. The more you expand the hole, the more likely you are to get out-of-round.

Each to his own, but I prefer to wrap 220 grit wet/dry sandpaper around an aluminum dowel with a lenghtwise slit, and chuck it into a hand drill. Make enough wraps of paper around the dowel to be a tight fit into the die, then dunk it into a coffee can of water and let 'er rip. I've never tried to take out as much metal as you're attempting, but the "dowel in a drill" works well for up to .005" or so. Just keep adding another layer of sandpaper as the hole gets bigger.

If you use a plugin type drill, take proper protections against electrical shock, of course. With a battery drill, there isn't much of a hazard.

[Scrounger]

I don't think what you want to do can be done by hand. There is simply too much metal to be removed. Easy enough to open a sizer up .002 to .003, but you are talking ten times that. Even if you have that much patience, that's ten times the chance to get it out of round. You are right that it is much too hard for anything but grinding.

Looks to me like you would be better off to get a local machinist to make one from a 7/8-14 bolt with a 9mm reamer or to get one of us to send you a Lee.

Probably less expensive to just buy the Lee Sizer Die. You can always sell it later. They run about $12 to $15.

[Buckshot]

...........Jpb, I see you have a few posts, but I don't think I ever said welcome to the board. So, welcome to the board :-). The easiest way would be as LeftoverDJ suggested, and that would be to go to a local machine shop and have'em make one up. If you did, I would have them make the sizing portion as long as the length you want to reduce.

The reason I suggest this is if you plan to tap the boolit back out of this die, the nose will be supported and will not have a tendancy to possibly mushroom, if the sizing ring area was short.

If that is a no-go for you, I would have some friends over for a few beers and a bar-b-que. Toss the die in the coals, making sure it got to a good red heat. Then cover it up and just leave it overnight. The next day it should be nice and soft. Drill it out to a close undersize, and be aware that drill bit's DO NOT make round holes, and even the best drill a tad oversize.

From there you can decide what method to use to bring it to a finish size. You do not need to harden it. Sizing lead isn't going to impact the steel of the die, regardless.

...............Buckshot

[jpb]

Man, what a great site! I really appreciate all the feedback and suggestions!

I have a lot to think about. In particular, I had not thought about the length of the sizing portion of the die. I will check this before doing anything because if the bullet is unsupported and therefore mushrooms as I am trying to tap it back out all will be for nothing.

On my next trip to Canada or the US I will indeed grab some 7/8 inch bolts for future projects, but here in Sweden all the damn bolts are metric so some existing reloading die is my only option for now.

I had not thought about using a barbecue and burying the die in the coals until the next day to anneal the die. What a great idea! If I can take an *annealed* sizing die to a machinst then I may be able to get the job done fairly easily -- I had been figureing that I'd have to pay for annealing as well.

I have even considered having my gunsmith enlarge the throat on my rifle for cast bullets, but it shoots j*cketed bullets so well that I hesitate to alter anything. Decisions, decisions!

I welcome any further advice!

jpb (John)

[Bass Ackward]

I have even considered having my gunsmith enlarge the throat on my rifle for cast bullets, but it shoots j*cketed bullets so well that I hesitate to alter anything. Decisions, decisions!

I welcome any further advice!

jpb (John)



John,

Advice? Bite your tongue.

Over on this side of the pond we have most cast bullet people wanting to rebarrel so that a throat can be cut no more than .001 over bore. Some benchresters actually want .0005.

And you want to open it up?

[jpb]

Bass Ackward:

Point taken! :-)

I will alter the bullets from my existing mold, or get another mold!

I once loaded cast for a .303 British that had a huge bore. If you used a bullet big enough to fill the bore, you could not chamber the case! It shot surprisingly well with j*cketed factory loads, so I had no trouble selling it to a non-reloader.

jpb (John)

[drinks]

JBP;
I have that problem with a .44-40, tight chamber, big barrel, tried 2 diameter bullets, improved accuracy, but a pain to do.
I have several Lee sizing dies, they do not seem very hard, I have easily bored one out with a drill bit just slightly undersized and then honed out to the size I needed with the split dowel and abrasive cloth or paper.
Use a drill motor or drill press or minilathe to do the turning, this will even out irregularities in the drill hole. Be sure the abrasive paper/ clothis long enough to extend all the way through the die.
A cheaper method of getting 7/8-14 blanks is to buy a 7/8-14 die and make your own, that is what I do.

[Rod B]

I have increased the diameter of a Lee sizing die approx .001 by using the following method.

Cast a very hard bullet (pure linotype) of the appropriate caliber.

Grease the bullet & then coat with valve grinding or lapping compound.

Push this bullet through the die several times, apply more lapping compound each time.

If my memory is correct, I had to make about ten passes through the die to increase .001. As you might assume a lot depends on the coaseness of the compound used.

Its essential to take your time, clean out the die, size a regular bullet & measure its diameter. Just keep repeating the procedure until you arrive at the size you want. This procedure is only suitable for up to about .003.

Hope this helps.

Rod. ;-)