timberhawk
01-29-2015, 10:37 AM
Last night I opened up a Lee Push Thru Sizing Die from .4008 to .402. I use this die to size bullets before and after powder coating. It has always seemed harder to push the bullets thru than my other Lee dies. I think it had a little rougher finish.
I used a wooden pencil with some 320 grit wet/dry sandpaper taped to it and a cordless drill to open it up. Just taped a piece of sandpaper to the pencil and wrapped a couple of layers around the pencil and let centrifugal force keep the paper pressed to the die.
Went slow and checked the size by pushing a fresh cast bullet thru at regular intervals.
When I got to .4018, I switched to 800 grit paper and polished it out to .402.
This took about twenty minutes from start to finish. but I wanted to work carefully and slowly as this was the first time I had ever tried this.
Worked like a champ. The die is mirror smooth and requires much less force to size a bullet.
I may use some 800 grit on my other push thru dies, just to remove any rough spots and polish them up.
I used a wooden pencil with some 320 grit wet/dry sandpaper taped to it and a cordless drill to open it up. Just taped a piece of sandpaper to the pencil and wrapped a couple of layers around the pencil and let centrifugal force keep the paper pressed to the die.
Went slow and checked the size by pushing a fresh cast bullet thru at regular intervals.
When I got to .4018, I switched to 800 grit paper and polished it out to .402.
This took about twenty minutes from start to finish. but I wanted to work carefully and slowly as this was the first time I had ever tried this.
Worked like a champ. The die is mirror smooth and requires much less force to size a bullet.
I may use some 800 grit on my other push thru dies, just to remove any rough spots and polish them up.