base first with lee sizer.

[Gew]

My gas checks were getting severely deformed in lee sizer putting the 338 bullets through nose first and not wanting to buy another Lyman sizer came up with some bad ideas to use the lee base first. Here is the best one.
Take an extra shell holder and a 17/64 drill bit with some grinding paste ,I used 200 grit, and bore out the shell holder. It will now hold a top punch perfectly upside down. This method, like a real bullet sizing press, stretches the jackets on much nicer than nose first and it no slower. Good luck everyone.

[bangerjim]

Getting a round nose or "pointy" nose boolit to go thru straight base 1st is darned near impossible. I turned holders on the lathe to do that.....keeps the boolit straight so the check and the PC/lead will not smear to one side. Most go thru OK. The PC on the nose does not matter if it is slightly damaged or not.

And some styles will go thru perfectly, especially FN's with a nice flat area!

banger

[JWFilips]

If flat nose you can do it!

[Retumbo]

I just lube the bullet...seems simple enough.

[Gew]

The bad gas checks turn out only on my 6.5 NM bullets and 338 bullet. So until those bad experience I did it the conventional way.

[Retumbo]

I had issues with a die swaging the check and actually extending it past the base. My nice evenly rounded check ended up with a square base where one side actually ended up with a sharp edge. Little tallow on the base of the bullet as I size has eliminated this problem.

Have been meaning to do a bit of a polishing job.

[GabbyM]

I'm not understanding why a pointed bullet would not center in a nose punch that fits. Or is the issue of alignment caused by something else?

I don't run long skinny bullets like Lyman #311299 through my nose first Star. Due to inability to push them through straight. Not that it can't be done. Just easier to get straight bullets in my RCBS or Lyman lube presses. In those I have to hold the handle centered and they wobble around. In a loading press I'd think all would be solid and aligned.

NOE Bullet Molds has a new die system in production. I bough over a hundred dollars worth yesterday. Runs in a loading press similar to what's described above. What I wanted was a nose qualifying die setup. For long bore ride boolits in 30 and 270 calibers. I have this issue with high tin content bullets growing in nose diameter as they age in the bucket over a few months time. Plus I bought a .302" bushing to size down the .303" nose on my #314299 to fit oversized 30-06 bores. Will probably end up buying more bushing sizes. My thought is to lube the bullets with BLL before sizing. Hoping it works out. Here is a link to NOE.

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=104&osCsid=m9hgbcr2lbo2isgji1bmrluru1

[Gew]

You can do this with no modifications . RCBS shell holders fit nose punches from Lyman and RCBS perfectly. Thank you gabbym for the noe info. Here are pictures of 338 bullets nose and base first. i have only had trouble with 500 magnum, 338 and 6.5mm boolits. 154952154951

[Tom W.]

I had trouble with mine and Lee sent me a die that fit the nose of my boolit but was not bored through. Worked a lot better to put my gas checks on.

[facetious]

Try polishing the die. I have don it with the split rod and all so with a bore mop in a drill. wrap the bore mop with a fine wet/dry paper and run it in to the die with some oil on it. You just want to smooth it and don't get carried away or it will open it up more then you may want. Then finish it with the bore mop wrap'ed in paper towel and some Flits polishing paste. I size .313 boolits down to .301 in a die polished like this with a shot of dry lube to paper patch them and thy go through the die like a wet turd.

It looks like the gas check is grabbing the die and the punch is trying to push through the check. I think that a polish job and a lube of some kind would let the check slide and crimp on better.