Mold and Boolet sizing for new caster.

[Mag357]

Ok so here we go I'm looking at buying my first mould and need get things straightened out before I get one and being too big or small .
I'm sure you have been ask this question by lot of people but just so I get it straight .
With my research you want to size your boolet about .001 over cylinder mouths?
For example my 357 mag barrel is about .356 and my cylinders are .357 ( yes I have slug them) so with that information I will need to get a mold of .359 and then size them down .358 is that correct? That is if I made any sense at all lol

[Rex]

There seems to be many opinions on that. Mine is to size the bullet to a snug push to get it through the clean cylinder throats. I have a 686 S&W and the barrel and throats seem quite snug to me. I size my bullets with a Lee .357 push through sizer and they still require some tapping to get them through my throats. My Chinese micrometer says they are .3575.
I hear a lot of "not a speck of leading in the barrel", I've never seen it! However my alloy is a bit of a mystery and I use my own beeswax/Vaseline lube.

[Mal Paso]

If the throats of your cylinders are truly .357" over a .356" groove then .357" should be your sized bullet and mold .358" or larger.

[Mag357]

Ok thank you I thinking on getting an Arsenal 158gr 358-158 KT - RCBS Clone and get the NOE sizing dies to start out with.

[sigep1764]

Good choices Mag! As long as the cylinder throats are larger than they groove diameter, you should be in good shape as long as your boolits are sized to the throats. Keep us posted on results.

[Mag357]

Ok so here is an after thought how much can you size them down to in one go so for an example going from .359 down to .357 (.002) in one go or is it too much and have to go down in .001 at a time?
Sorry this will be for the sizing dies.

[bmortell]

most people say no more than 3 thou at a time

[Bazoo]

I've sized .004 in one swipe and it was doable but not great. It deforms your bullet, not enough you can see it normally, but the driving bands will start to be different widths as will the grooves. I generally try .358 first and if no problems I use that for anything 38 and 357 mag.

I suggest you get an iron mould to start. They don't produce any better bullets but they are easier to keep at the right temperature range, that will be a big part of the learning curve for you, it was for me at least. The other benefit of an iron mould is they will take a lot rougher treatment without damage. By that I mean, if you get some lead on the blocks, you can take a brass rod and scrape it off or use a bronze brush to scrub an offending spec or clean out the vent lines. You don't have to go through a lot of extra to clean them if you protect them with remoil and clean with lighter fluid. Kroil won't contaminate them either but I haven't tried that yet.

I also suggest getting th RCBS mould. Nothing casts as sweet as an RCBS on my opinion. They are just easy to cast with. Not to mention RCBSs warranty if you ever have problems.

Oh, don't scrub a hot mould with a toothbrush, it'll melt on it and you'll play heck getting it off. If your casting and have a spec of lead between the blocks or whatever, if you got an iron mould you just use a bronze brush and give it a touch and go back to casting. Aluminum you'll have to much more careful in every way. Folks like aluminum moulds for 3 reasons. Less maintenance, less weight, cheaper to make.

[kevin c]

There are a number of lubes used to lessen the physical effort of sizing. Mechanical advantage (type of press linkage, the length of throw, the mounting and height of the press relative to how you sit or stand) makes a difference too. So does how many you have to size (I can shoot 2 or 3 thousand pistol boolits a month, and right now I'm prepping a new batch of 10K). But that just addresses how hard it is for you; Bazoo's point on how hard it is on the cast and therefore how it will perform when shot is valid.

Personally, I have been casting .001 to .002 over desired, HiTek coating and baking, and then sizing easily with HiTek lube, and it's working so far.

[Mag357]

Thank you and all I have for a Pres is a RCBS Rock chucker.

[Conditor22]

Rock chucker will do great, I started with a rock chucker and it's still on my bench.

Before buying sizing dies, check out NOE

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

After the initial cost of the Push Through Size Die Body, size changes are cheaper and they have more sizes available.

One thing to note, the NOE die is threaded in underneath where the Lee is threaded in on top. You can't get the press handle to cam over (go all the way down) with the NOE die but I've never found that to be a problem. plus since you only buy bushings for a size change they store in a omore compact container. :)

[Mag357]

Thanks for all the information I have learnd a lot more on here than others places think I will go with the NOE sizing dies and not Shure if it's true but have heard that you need to polish them just
a little bit.

[Bazoo]

Nothing wrong with getting a lee sizing die on the cheap to start with if money is tight. Lots of times you can find them for 15 or less on the forum. Im an advocate of buying used gear though.

Which version of rockchucker you got?

[Mag357]

Supreme

[gwpercle]

If the throats of your cylinders are truly .357" over a .356" groove then .357" should be your sized bullet and mold .358" or larger.


My RBH throats are .357 barrel is .3565 .
Casting a .358 boolit and sizing it to .357 or sizing it to .358 makes no difference in accuracy or leading. For decades I sized them .357 but after getting a .358 sizing die , two years ago , I find them easier to run through my Lyman 450 lube sizer.... the less sizing the easier it is to do. And I can see no difference in accuracy or leading with the .358 sized boolit .
The more sizing and the harder the boolit the harder it is to size them...some people have broken linkages on machines doing too much and/or too hard .

Gary

[Wayne Smith]

Thanks for all the information I have learnd a lot more on here than others places think I will go with the NOE sizing dies and not Shure if it's true but have heard that you need to polish them just
a little bit.

There are very few products out there that won't benefit from a little more polishing or finishing touches.

At this point I would suggest you jump in and start casting. The experience will teach you more than all the reading you will do. Then you can come back and ask questions based on what you have done.

[Mag357]

Thank you for all of the advice and have ticking it all in :lovebooli

[Land Owner]

Whatever accurate and useful advice you get, COPY IT, TAPE IT IN, or WRITE IT DOWN in your own reloading manual, a book of wisdom in one place and constantly at your fingertips. Every now and again, SCAN THE DOCUMENT into your computer as a PDF.

You will one day want to recover the appropriate dialog in this thread, and so much more. We all have a touch of CRS and while the "cherished and sought" wisdom is OUT HERE on the Net, it is not so easy to find as in YOUR OWN Loading Manual of Reloading wisdom.

Every one of YOUR measurements, every one of YOUR guns, every one of YOUR calibers, every one of YOUR boolits, every one of YOUR molds, your powder charges, your results, and whatever else YOU choose becomes a monumental REFERENCE BIBLE of YOUR EFFORT. You will be well served for all of your reloading and shooting years with such a GIFT to yourself.

[fredj338]

For revolver, size to cyl throat dia or a bit larger. For semi, 0.001" over bore generally works great. The problem oft comes when shooting cast in multiple firearms. The 9mm is one of those. I size all my 9mm to 0.357" for all my guns. It just makes life easier & never had accuracy or leading issue.
You'll find that it is almost impossible to order a mold that cast the size you want because your alloy is rarely identical or the casting temps, both affect final bullet dia. So bigger is better, you can always size down.

[Pilgrim]

Size as little as you can get away with. The only reason I size is to lube the boolit. I keep promising myself to use the powder coat stuff I've already purchased. For powder coating I will only seat gas checks (if gas checks are needed) and coat 'em. No sizing at all. My target size is .002 over groove diameter. If it is larger than that I'll scratch my head a bit and shoot 'em as is and if the results are bad THEN I'll start worrying about sizing. As long as the loaded round will fit in your chamber/throat, you should be good to go. Harris wrote a series of articles in Handloader about sizing. He finally went to hand lubing in order to distort the boolit as little as possible. That is how he got the best accuracy. Compared to jacketed bullets, even quenched lead is pretty soft. The best thing you can do is distort the boolit as little as possible and keep it aligned with the barrel/chamber. Let the gun do the sizing for you. Lube only to keep from leading. The only true killer is undersized boolits. There ain't no recovery from undersized boolits! I've only been casting for about 45 years so I've yet got a lot to learn. Revolvers are the most difficult to cast for and get good accuracy. Chamber throats vs. forcing cone vs. barrel dimensions make revolvers tuff. FWIW. Pilgrim