Saeco sizer

[james nicholson]

I am new to lube sizers, have always tumbled my pistol bullets in 45-45-10. But I was reading about the Saeco sizer and it said it swaged bullets to the proper size, does this mean it will squeeze the bullet to make it bump up a little? I picked up a new to me Winchester 94 in 30-30 and a Lee 309-150F mold. The mold throws my alloy at .3095 and when I run it thru the 309 sizer mainly to seat the gas check, I drop to .309. By measuring the mouth of a fired case, I could go up to .310 and still be good on chambering. I know I could always hone my Lee sizer, but I also want to try a harder rifle type lube such as carnuba red. Any Saeco users know if it will bump up? Also any advice on rifle casting and shooting would be appreciated.

[Nueces]

The Saeco lube sizer, in common with the Star, Lyman, RCBS and others of similar design, size the same way as does your Lee die, though a lube sizer die generally has a much longer precision diameter than does the Lee. The oldest Ideal and Lyman size dies sized bullets by shaving lead. Thus, the distinction being made here by calling the modern process 'swaging.' You could more accurately think of it as 'squeezing.' The bullet passes through a tapered entry and is squeezed down to size.

In years past, some folks, limited to a few designs of factory moulds, would try to increase the nose diameters of rifle bullets, to better fit their bores, by using custom nose punches and bearing down hard at the end of a lube sizer handle stroke. This would bump up the nose diameter while the bullet shank was constrained in the sizer die. If you were to try to increase the bullet diameter in this way, I think your sizer would give up. They are not built for that sort of pressure.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I use two Saeco lubrisizers for a couple of decades now and they have always done a good job for me. Nueces in the previous post gives a good summary of what you can or can't do with the various sizers. You can bump noses on bullets to some degree in an effort to change their shape somewhat, but it is not a great idea particularly if you have to start exerting excessive pressure. Saeco sizers are not particularly strong and I would not recommend "pushing it".....If something lets go more than likely it would be one of the link pins you will have to go fishing with Saeco for replacements. Shaving as described, in older machines, was not desirable as it usually did more one side of the bullet than the other. The Squeezing used in modern rigs was considered an improvement, but you cannot alter the diameter of a bullet by pressure when it is in the sizing die no matter how much pressure you put on it....and you'll break something for sure if you overdo it. I do not know the source that recommends "swaging" in a Saeco sizer, but I don't understand how that could be done in a machine that is made to reduce/size a bullet to a smaller diameter while lubing it. If you need a larger diameter bullet then you could check with Saeco on their Terracorp fromula/tables for adding tin and antimony which increases the as cast diameter of cast bullets or consider lapping the mold that you use to a slightly larger diameter. Another point to consider is that getting uniform bumping may prove difficult to achieve. Harder lubes like carnuba red may require the use of a heater to ease the strain on the sizer. Bullets can be bumped, but usually a special die is required to do it...Special means it has to be custom made. Also the alloy used for the bullets has to be considered....pure lead is the softest, but as the hardness of the alloy increases the force for sizing (or bumping) increases.I believe that the better choice would be to increase the diameter of the cast bullet to start with by, lapping, beagling the mold or trying to increase the tin-antimony content of the alloy rather than trying to bump the bullets. Hope this has helped, but keep asking questions. LLS

[dromia]

All the current sizers swage bullets down from the as cast size to a smaller diameter, they are not designed for swaging diameters up.

For such presses and dies then you need to look at the likes of Corbin and the swaging section here on Cast Bullets, be prepared to part with some serious money if you go this route.

Personally I'd just get a mould that drops a smidgin oversize for your needs and swage/size down as intended with your SAECO, I have a SAECO style sizer that was marketed by Herters and takes standard H&I dies rather than the SAECOs dies.