Lee Push Through Sizers

[richhodg66]

Anybody ever have one that was off?

I've had several over the years and they work. I recently acquired a .323 sizer from them to use on a new (to me) bullet mold for a new to me also Marlin .32 Special. I cast some tonight, my calipers show them to drop at about .325, but I could not push one through that .323 sizer on my Rockchucker.

I would have thought that Lee die would have handled something a little over, they have with other ones I've owned. It's marked .323, at first, I thought they might have given me a .314 sizer or something. I really don't have anything to measure the inside diameter, just wondering if anybody ever got one that was off.

[Bzcraig]

I have a NOE mold that drops boolits @ 360 and I have no problem pushing them through my Lee 356 sizer using the cheap Lee press. It will leave some swaged edges at the bottom that clean up easily but they go through.

[Jupiter7]

I've taken .314 to .309 w/o issue. Required more force than the .001-.002 I usually size.

[kcinnick]

I have a classic cast press mounted upside down dedicated for small runs when I don't want to change over my Mark VI or Lube master over for a small run. I have a bunch of lee dies, some are easier than others to push through. I won't run 147g FP's through it because it is a PITA, but most other bullets are a breeze.

[Shooter]

Did you lube them first?
I regularly size down .458 to .454.

[RickinTN]

I have an old Ideal mold for 45 acp that drops it's bullets at .458 with wheel weight alloy. I've sized them down to .452 in a lee sizer in my Rockchucker press but it did take some "elbow grease". I avoid casting with this mold for this reason. If you don't have a way to measure the inside run some smaller bullets (oversize 30's or so) to see if you can get and idea of the actual size of the die.
Good Luck,
Rick

[khmer6]

Try lubing. The boolits with something

[richhodg66]

I tried using LLA and the same result. Pretty sure this is one whose quality control slipped through.

[country gent]

Measure the Pusher if the "pusher" is 320 or so, then the die is close. Feeling the wobble with the pusher in the die will give you an idea how much clearence there is. Calipers normally have 2 small jaws oposite the large faws for inside dimensions. Find a bullet you can push thru and measure it after. Maybe Bump a 30 cal one up with a hammer then push tru and measure. Check for burrs sharp edges as they will greatly increase the force needed. How hard is your alloy running harder alloys will also increase the force.

[richhodg66]

These are pretty soft. 50/50 with a little tin, I cast them to try to develop a hunting load with. I seated some checks and lubed a few as cast, if they will seat and chamber, this may not be an issue.

I'll play with it and see if I can figure it out.

[jmort]

You could send it back to Lee Precision with a note indicating the apparent under-size issue, or have a machinist open it up to your exact spec.

[John Boy]

...just wondering if anybody ever got one that was off.
Rich, I have about a dozen, standard and custom - everyone is 0.005 undersized. Spoke to Lee about this and they still come undersized. I learned early to order the next 0.00x larger

[frkelly74]

I consider the dies to be adjustable, as long as you want to go bigger. The old fine emery cloth on a split dowel chucked in a battery drill will open them up really quick. Plus you will end up with a better finish inside the die when you are done. Go slow and measure often. I have a .243 nominal die that I opened up to .268 with a carbide drill bit and abrasive polish for my 6.5 rifles. By the way , some of the Lee dies are quite rough inside when new.

[richhodg66]

I consider the dies to be adjustable, as long as you want to go bigger. The old fine emery cloth on a split dowel chucked in a battery drill will open them up really quick. Plus you will end up with a better finish inside the die when you are done. Go slow and measure often. I have a .243 nominal die that I opened up to .268 with a carbide drill bit and abrasive polish for my 6.5 rifles. By the way , some of the Lee dies are quite rough inside when new.

I thought about doing this. I may just see if smoothing it up works, but like others on here, I have shoved a pretty oversized .38 bullet through my .358 die and it handled it fine. I used to have a .429 one that was the same way. Seems with the kind of leverage you can get with a Rockchucker, a few thousandths would be no problem.

[texassako]

I wonder if the ram is not lining up with the die when on the press. Easy to check by just running it up without a boolit.

[richhodg66]

It seems to be. I think I'm just gonna get a die for my Lyman 450. Here lately I've been liking the Lee push through dies and LLA, but I think I'm just gonna go back traditional.

[Bzcraig]

Rich, I have about a dozen, standard and custom - everyone is 0.005 undersized. Spoke to Lee about this and they still come undersized. I learned early to order the next 0.00x larger

Guess I got lucky, my .356 die pushes out boolits at .3563 consistently.

[Dave Bulla]

Having dealt with Lee customer service to replace missing parts from used die sets I've bought, I suggest you give them a call. I've ALWAYS been very happy with the service I've received and on replacement part orders, they've always been at my door in two days.

I imagine you'll have to send your part in to them but from that point, I bet it will be a very fast turn around time till you have the new part in hand.

[Newtire]

I've taken .314 to .309 w/o issue. Required more force than the .001-.002 I usually size.

I would just call them and send it back to Lee. They are real easy to deal with. I have used their push thru dies and they work great for me. I even sie the .323 boolit they make for the 8mm from .323" down to .314" after putting lube into the grooves. The smaller diameter the boolit is, the less sizing it will take before bending it. I recently tried sizing a .270" diameter 6.5mm boolit down to .265" in a Lyman/RCBS type die and it bends every time.

[Shiloh]

Lube mine with a teaspoonful of mineral sprits. Stir the boolits in the can just like if I were lubing them. Wets them just enough to ease the trip through. Tumble lube as usual after that.

Shiloh

[Newtire]

You mean turpentine? I'll get some and give it a try. That 6.5mm bullet mold is giving me the fits.

[rhead]

Two problems are likely Have you slugged the resizing die. Do it the same way you would a barrel Also adjust the die so that the Boolit goes past the sizing ring as the handle on your press is camming over to give the Max leverage. There is a problem somewhere.

[steve4102]

I don't mean to insult, but do you have the die in the press upside down?

[richhodg66]

It's in there right. I can feel a rough spot in the die when I put the push through part into it all the way, but I can't really see anything wrong. I'll send it to Lee when I get around to it.

I have a couple of Lyman 450 dies coming in soon, so problems solved (probably). I like those Lee push though sizers for some applications though.

[leadman]

Does the pusher go into the die with no problems? I leave the die a little loose and run the pusher up so it centers the pusher in the die.
I got a new .430" die last week and it sized to .4295" and the finish was very rough. I bought this to open up to .432" so this wasn't a problem.
I also noticed there was not much taper going into the die so maybe if your boolits are way oversize and soft the pusher is expanding the base.
I would find a smaller boolit or sinker and slug it like was mentioned.

[popper]

If the alloy has aged/hardened a lot, they may get tough to push through. I've stuck a couple in a 310, then had to use a chore boy to clean the lea out. Yes, they were lubed. Alloy will make a difference.

[JIMinPHX]

Several years ago, I ordered a custom size push through die from Lee. They promised it in 4 weeks & delivered it much sooner than that.

When I pushed my first batch of boolits through it, they came out about 0.001" bigger than I had wanted. I was about ready to call them up & give them a piece of my mind, but fortunately, I decided to double check first. I checked that die with a ball gauge & found that it was right on the money, within less than 0.0001" of claimed size. I then had a few chats with a few people & came to find out that some alloys spring back a little after being sized. I ran some dead soft through that die & the size came out just what it should be.

That aside, I'm going to jump on the band wagon with a few things that have already been posted.

Take a look inside that die & see how gentle the taper is that leads up to the sizing area. It should be pretty slight.

Lube that thing up with grease & push through a short piece of dead soft lead, then measure what diameter it comes out at. Lead balls work best for this, as they have very little bearing surface. Long & hard boolits can be very difficult to push through, even if you are only trying to take off .001". Long soft boolits can be problematic too if you try to take off too much at once. It is possible to push a soft boolit so hard that it expands & gets fatter at the base & jams things up. I found that out the hard way. With very long boolits, I sometimes size them down in 2 steps.

If the short dead soft slug measures out of spec or if the die taper looks funny, call up Lee & ask them what they think. I have always found the people there to be friendly & helpful.

[JIMinPHX]

You mean turpentine? I'll get some and give it a try. That 6.5mm bullet mold is giving me the fits.

Mineral spirits is slightly different from turpentine. It is usually found in the paint section of places like Home Depot or Ace Hardware, right next to the turpentine. Mineral spirits comes in two flavors that I know of, odorless & regular. I usually get the odorless. Mineral spirits is what Lee recommends you use to thin LLA. I assume that it is what Lee uses to thin the LLA in the first place, but I don't know that for fact.

6.5mm boolits can be hard to size because most of them are very long & the length to diameter ratio seems to make a big difference in the amount of force needed to get the boolit through the hole. I have had some luck in custom made dies where I shortened the portion of the die that is at the actual finish diameter to less than 1/8" long. I used a long counterbore that was only a few thousandths larger in diameter before the final taper to finish size in order to keep things straight.

[zuke]

I've used Dawn dishwashing liquid many time's as a sizing lube

[singleshot]

I've used Dawn dishwashing liquid many time's as a sizing lube

Maybe if you shoot them with Dawn it will clean out a dirty bore? :kidding:

[JIMinPHX]

Dawn works better if you add a little water to it than it does if you use it straight.

[375RUGER]

I keep one of those foaming pumps on the kitchen sink filled with 25% dawn 75% water. One pump of that foam is enough to run 100 boolits through a sizer.

[richhodg66]

Well, I finally got around to installing the .323 sizer in my Lyman 450 and sized some of those bullets. They are pretty oversized, it sized the nose down too. I may have to switch to a different bullet for the .32 Special. It did work as it should, so I still think there's something wrong with that Lee. I'll send it to them when I get around to it.