What product do you use for sizing your boolits?

[huntersdog]

I have worked casting with my buddy and he use a Lyman 4500 Lube sizer, but I want to start doing my own here and was wondering what would be good for starting out on my own casting endeavor. How is Lee and is it more time consuming than using say the Lyman 4500 Lube sizer.

[Yodogsandman]

The difference is the time to lube the boolit. The Lyman 4500 lubes as you size the boolits. The Lee brand doesn't lube the boolit for you. The lube is added by finger lubing, pan lubing or tumble lubing. For some applications I like to use the Lee to size a bunch of say pistol boolits quickly and then tumble lube with a coat of Ben's Liquid Lube (BLL).

[Hick]

I use the Lee lube/sizers that fit in my RCBS press. I have limited working space and having one less piece of equipment on the bench is important to me. They work nice, and push the boolit through nose first-- so one sizing die does all of that caliber regardless of shape. Of course, that m3ans I'm pan lubing-- but I find that it doesn't take much time.

[dragon813gt]

I have two RCBS LAM1s. A NOE bushing sizer w/ a lot of bushings. And a Star. They're all used for different purposes and they all work well. While I use the LAM1s most often I should have bought a Star from the start. I'd have more sizing dies if I hadn't spent the money on the LAMs and dies for them.

I had a bunch of the Lee sizers but got rid of most of them. The NOE system does the same thing, takes up a lot less space and the marked size is the actual size, unlike Lee.

[michiganmike]

I use Lee products exclusively and have no complaints. It yields bullets that are probably more accurate than I can shoot. I use the Lee sizer and then apply 2 coats of BLL (Bill's Liquid Lube). I load for rifle only, no revolvers or pistols. So, I have no need to turn out bullets by the hundreds, as a competition or high output recreational short gun enthusiast needs. The Lee sizer is reasonably priced and for me yields concentric projectiles that group nicely.

Also, I have a high regard for BLL. A little goes a long way, is reasonably priced, simple to make, has caused no leading and my guns like it. I am satisfied and don't intend to look further. A satisfied customer, with both the Lee sizer and BLL.:grin:

[Bullwolf]

I actually own a Lyman 45 wtih a few different size dies. It's still filled with orange magic lube, and is stowed away someplace under the house. I don't use it anymore. I prefer to use the Lee size and lube die kits instead.

I have many of the Lee push through lube & sizing dies kits, in common popular pistol and rifle calibers.

http://tecmagex.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/500x500/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/l/e/lee_lube_size_kit_188.jpg

I use the Lee push through lube and size kits to size my boolits, and to crimp on gas checks as well

Early on I'd learned to size ALL of my tumble lube boolits for consistency sake, and to catch any casting quality control issues. The Lee dies were simply priced right for me, and I later found them to be mighty convenient to use. (when mounted in a standard reloading press)

http://www.titanreloading.com/image/data/D2g/sizelube.jpg

I even have a few custom Lee size dies that get used for oddball projects, that I have honed out somewhat larger.

I prefer to use tumble lube on the majority of my cast boolits.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=60181&d=1359865941

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=114721&d=1397181549

I even tumble lube boolits with regular lube grooves.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=91449&d=1360126151

Sometimes (rarely) I will even coat boolits.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=52572&d=1311909465

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=52610&d=1313305073

I find the coatings to be really labor intensive to apply though, and I don't use them very often.

The Lee push through lube and size die works well for everything I do. I've found that I can even size unlubed boolits using the Lee push through sizers.


Other times I will hand lube boolits (finger lube) - and then run them through a Lee push through sizer die to clean up the lube in the grooves

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=144252&d=1422503294

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=137393&d=1425694656

I find the hand lube method is easy to use when testing out a new lube, or if I am only loading a small amount of cartridges.





- Bullwolf

[gwpercle]

I use the older Lyman 450 , works just like the newer 4500 . I like to size, lube and seat gas checks in one handle cycle.
Tumble lube and pan lubing were not for me. If you have space and can afford one it's nice.
I know coating is all the rage , but I still need my boolits sized , might as well size and lube at the same time.
Buying that 450 was the absolute best reloading investment I ever made. I don't know of a faster way to lube-size.
Gary

[Wayne Smith]

One Lyman 450 with Emmerts (modified) for BP and pistol and one RCBS LAM I with now Ben's Red for rifle.

[DougGuy]

I have a Lee and a RCBS LAM2 and use both. The Lee is real easy to create a custom size by simply honing to whatever diameter you want, and many times if I have boolits that were sized and lubed and sat on a shelf for a few months, they will grow as they age harden so running them through the Lee is fast and takes care of any growth from age hardening.

[scottfire1957]

What little I do, is powdercoat and use a Lee sizer.

[quail4jake]

Magma Star!

[waco]

I use Lee products exclusively and have no complaints. It yields bullets that are probably more accurate than I can shoot. I use the Lee sizer and then apply 2 coats of BLL (Bill's Liquid Lube). I load for rifle only, no revolvers or pistols. So, I have no need to turn out bullets by the hundreds, as a competition or high output recreational short gun enthusiast needs. The Lee sizer is reasonably priced and for me yields concentric projectiles that group nicely.

Also, I have a high regard for BLL. A little goes a long way, is reasonably priced, simple to make, has caused no leading and my guns like it. I am satisfied and don't intend to look further. A satisfied customer, with both the Lee sizer and BLL.:grin:

Hard to argue too much with this post......Plus 1 for BLL!

[reddog81]

I use the Lee dies, but would probably go for the NOE stuff if I was starting out. I powder coat all my bullets.

[Scharfschuetze]

No complaints with the RCBS Lub-A-Matic. 40 years old and still cranking 'em out.

[shoot-n-lead]

Since I went to strictly powder coat...I use the Lee push thru...and that is likely all I will use in the future.

Got to get rid of some lube equipment that is just sitting around this reloading room.

[ioon44]

I use my old Star to size my Hi-Tek coated bullets.

I sold my Lyman 450 and all related dies and stuff, I don't see me ever using lube again.

[jmorris]

When I first started I used a ruble lube and built this sizer.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eANEMBS_V_0

[jmorris]

After gremlin460's thread I built this one too.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01zbImsdkbg

[fralic76]

I powder coat all my bullets and size them with the Lee sizing kit for each caliber.

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

[44man]

Great video and led into more great ones.

[robg]

I'm with bullwolf the Lee kit with the reloader press is the fastest and simplest way .

[marlin39a]

I use 2 Lyman 450's. One is heated with Carnauba Red. The other is unheated with Xlox 2500 Plus.

[Artful]

Let's see I started out with pan lube, then Early on got RCBS lube/sizer, then added a Lyman 450 for when using two different lubes, then added STAR unit - then did a little Lee lube and sizing - now doing a little
powder coating.

STAR is still fastest for me - Lee is good value for the money - RCBS and Lyman are very dependable and a good first start if you want all in one.

[mdi]

If the product you mean is a tool for sizing, then you've gotten a ton and a half of "reports". I started way back with a Lee "kit" that included a small round pan, a "cookie cutter", a sizing "die", and a punch, prior to that I used a Lee T/L mold and alox. I have found no need for a lubersizer with dies and nose punches for each bullet profile, so I use Lee's push through sizing dies. I now have 8 of them and I dip lube with 45-45-10, pan lube, and PC my bullets. Since I have more time for casting, lubing, coating and reloading than I have for shooting, this system works great for me...

[pdumont01]

I use a Lee push through sizer with liquid alox, only lubed bullets havnt tried PC yet.

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[BobT]

I have 2 Lyman 45s and an RCBS LAMII, the lyman units are for the soft lubes and the LAMII has a heater for the hard lubes or winter time. I tumble lube most of my plinking boolits.

[Walter Laich]

another vote for powder coating and Lee push through.

[sigep1764]

I started with a Lyman 4500 and a Star now sits right next to the seldom used Lyman. The Star is just that much faster. It took me a couple hours to figure it out and get it set. Havent touched the settings in a year. Just add lube.

[nrc]

I powder coat and run through the Lee sizers... They aren't always available in every diameter you may want, but they will make one for you to your spec for less than $40. I recently special ordered a .359 from their website and it arrived in about 3 weeks.

[Golfswithwolves]

There may be better ways that I have not tried, but I enjoy using my RCBS machine. It's just fun to me to work the lever and have a nice finished bullet come out.

[bstone5]

I have a Lyman and a Star sizer but since I now powder coat all the cast bullets the Lee dies that have been polished and the mouth opened up and polished for gas check seating is all I used now with the powder coated bullets. Used the Lyman with lube for many years before powder coating became available or popular.
The powder coated bullet with a simple cola can gas check that is deep will result in bullets that give zero lead and a very good gas seal with several hundred bullets shot at one time.
Each person has to make their own choice with regard to lube or powder coating, but in my case with thousands of cast bullets to be done at a time powder coating was my choice.

[country gent]

I normally pan lube and shoot as cast using a homenmade cake cutter to remove bullets. I do have a mecham press mounted push thru lube sizer I use occasionally with SPG when I buy sticks instead of blocks. I like the Mecham tool and dies set up its quick easy and works for me.

[Rod B]

I have a Lyman 45 I use exclusively for my 45/70 bullets. All others are put through my RCBS lube sizer.

[TXGunNut]

I have a pair of 4500's; one for BP (SPG lube) and the other for smokeless (BAC). I also use the Lee system and LLA for some boolits. Someday I'll buy a Star for the boolits that don't seem to like either method.

[lightman]

I use an old Lyman 450 with a heated Midway base. I really want a Star or Magma but its really hard to start over when You have so much invested in sizing dies and top punches.

[Morgan61]

I use the push through sizers from NOE. So far I only cast for my Marlin 336A. I size them at .310" , powder coat, then size them to the .311"

[mdi]

I powder coat and run through the Lee sizers... They aren't always available in every diameter you may want, but they will make one for you to your spec for less than $40. I recently special ordered a .359 from their website and it arrived in about 3 weeks. I "customized" my Lee die (.357") with a wooden dowel, split 1 1/4", wrapped some fine emery cloth around the dowel, chucked into my drill, squirted oil on the emery cloth and honed/polished the ID out to .359"...