What Sizes Do I Need?

[forrest-hunter]

Ordered a Lyman bullet luber with heater. Plan on lubing some 38, 44, 30 (30-30, 30-06), & 22 (bee, 223) - what size lyman top punches and lube dies do I need? I will be casting swc and flat nose for target and hunting -Lee molds

[VHoward]

You really need to slug the barrels of the guns you are going to cast for. Once you find the actual diameter of the barrel, then you would need sizers that are .001 to .002" larger than the slug diameter. Sometimes you can get away with shooting the bullets as cast depending on what the molds drop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuNoo4m6jso
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPHypjU5alQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErFaJlUVs1Y
The first 2 videos cover slugging a semi auto pistol barrel. The 3rd video covers slugging a rifle barrel. There is a video on youtube on slugging a revovler also.
A properly sized bullet will go a long way towards a non leading bullet.

[VHoward]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?110213-From-Ingot-to-Target-A-Cast-Bullet-Guide-for-Handgunners
In this thread is a digital book you should read It is available in HTML and as a PDF. There is a lot to learn from the book and you are free to download and print it out for your own personal use.

[Cowboy_Dan]

Top punches will depend on boolit design. While Lyman and RCBS (you can use either brand of dies and top punches in your Lyman machine) don't make top punches for Lee boolit designs, you can usually find one that is close enough. If all you do is flat noses, uou could get away with making a flat top punch out of a properly sized bolt.

[243winxb]

358, 430, 309, 225"

[Echo]

I use 360, 4300, 310, and 225, but you asked for top punches - depends on the boolit. Or you can jury-rig your own with a glop of epoxy, or candle wax, or even a small clump of Al foil, in the cavity of a similar punch.

[dh2]

I use 360, 4300, 310, and 225, but you asked for top punches - depends on the boolit. Or you can jury-rig your own with a glop of epoxy, or candle wax, or even a small clump of Al foil, in the cavity of a similar punch.
Order what the mold manufacturer calls for when I ordered the mold is the preferred way. Trying to rig one does not give the best results .cast boolits can preform well if you do everything right

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

[VHoward]

What you guys use may not be what the OP needs. You don't know what the actual models of guns he is casting for. That is why I gave him links to videos to find the sizes he needs. I had a 9mm semi auto that the barrel slugged out to .357 While I have another one that slugged out to .355. I went with .358 for the size die. Almost too big for the .355, but it works.

Lee molds do not have nose punches listed anywhere as Lee's sizing dies size the bullet nose first and use a flat punch on the ram of your press.

[ammohead]

Forrest-Hunter,

You can make this as easy or as involved as you like. Boolit casting is the tinkerer's dream hobby. It is usually a rule of thumb to start with a thousand or two over standard diameters. .309-.310 for 30 calibers .430-431 for 44 etc. Most often you can get satisfactory results with this rule of thumb. But rule of thumbs don't always work and when that happens you will need to start tinkering. Slugging the bore by tapping a cast bullet through the bore and then measuring with a micrometer will give you the groove diameter of the barrel, but if you are looking for that last measure of accuracy the throat diameter just ahead of the case mouth section of the chamber is the place where perfect fit will give best results. Filling the throat will best ensure that your bullet will start into the rifling dead center to the bore. With revolvers best results usually are acheived when a bullet can be pressed through the cylinder with firm thumb pressure. If it is loose in the chamber neck it won't enter the throat of the barrel centered. If the groove diameter of the barrel is larger in diameter than the cylinder neck like some older Rugers and Colt SSAs then accuracy will be very hard to acheive without the bullet being cast very soft so that it will bump up to the correct diameter in the bore. Start simple and if that works to your satisfaction great. If not then tinker up.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Ordered a Lyman bullet luber with heater. Plan on lubing some 38, 44, 30 (30-30, 30-06), & 22 (bee, 223) - what size lyman top punches and lube dies do I need? I will be casting swc and flat nose for target and hunting -Lee molds
I'd start with just one caliber to just get your feet wet...after playing with the one calliber and reading more threads and stickies here, you'll be swimming in no time and be able to better understand what you need to do, to get your questions answered.

If you are shooting a 38 spl revolver (or several of them), you can't go wrong with starting out with a .359 size die. and I assume you are using SWC or full WC in the 38's, so a flat top punch is all you need for those.
Good Luck