Sizing PC bullets

[elginrunner]

I have a lyman lubrisizer, and several lee push throughs (purchased before the lyman). I find that the lees do a better and faster job of not shaving powder off. Am I doing something wrong with the lubrisizer? I take pains to line it up, and size slowly as not to “chop” off the edges.

I would get all lee but most are out of stock, and dont come in the sizes i would like....

[Burnt Fingers]

Take a look at the NOE sizing system.

You'll need the die body, bushings, and a push rod.

[Agarbers]

I have a Lyman L/S and recently purchased the Lee push-through dies in the sizes I need. Following the directions shown by Fortunecookie45LC I lube my PC coated bullets with spray case lube and size them. It is much faster than the Lyman. I don't lose and PC and no damage due to the lube.

[DHDeal]

There's a couple ways to get the sizes you need. Just starting out, I'd go with the NOE set up as it is a good way to keep everything in an all in one package. If you're already heavily invested in Lee dies like me and don't like the size you see, open one up to the size you want. Finally, you can always order a custom sized Lee.

All the above would be easy if these were normal times. I understand that just about all of the above suggestions are out of stock.

My experience using a lubesizer with PC hasn't been bad at all, though I rarely use my LAM's for that purpose. My guess is the die is dry and while PC is slick and relatively hard (in comparison to the bullets) they still size easier with some sort of lubrication. Try spraying some OneShot or other case lube on some bullets and try that. No guarantees if you're stuffing a .005" oversized bullet in a normal diameter hole

[elginrunner]

I will try some lube, if that fails then I will try the NOE route... right now the main die body is not in stock...

[Bazoo]

Well, dumb question. You ain't got the old style sizing dies that shave lead do ya? They got a defined step inside rather than a tapered lead. Easy enough to remedy if you do, even if you ain't got a lathe.

[GasGuzzler]

I used the bullet sizing conversion and push through dies from Lee on my APP for these Ranch Dog .30-30s. This was my first time PCing or sizing PC bullets.

275586

[farmerjim]

+1 for the NOE dies. They work great. They even have nose sizing dies for bore riders.

[Walter Laich]

I use a single stage press mounted upside down and the Lee push through sizers

made a chute for the bullets to drop into the die and this does a great job in a small amount of time

[Idz]

My Lee sizers purchased about 10 years back required some polishing to remove the sharp transition from the entrance cone into the sizing section. A smooth transition doesn't scrape off the powder.

[elginrunner]

Well, dumb question. You ain't got the old style sizing dies that shave lead do ya? They got a defined step inside rather than a tapered lead. Easy enough to remedy if you do, even if you ain't got a lathe.

I dont think so, if i understand correctly, that is a old style. Ive bought all my stuff in the last ten years from vendors...

[bangerjim]

Guess I am lucky. I have 12 different Lee sizing dies. Never had to tweak any one of then. They never have scraped PC off!

[wolfwing]

I use a single stage press mounted upside down and the Lee push through sizers

That's kinda ingenious!!

[Bazoo]

No worries on my idea then. I run into one in .430. Took a minute to figure out why my bullets weren't sizing concentricly. The original ideal sizers up through today all use the same size and style dies.

[tankgunner59]

I've always only used the Lee bullet sizing dies for all of my calibers, and I have never had a problem with stripping of powder coat or lead. I just sized some 9mm today and it all went great. Not putting down any brand, as I've had no experience with any others.

[elginrunner]

While giving this a long think, and reading many, many threads, part of my problem may have been using bullets that were cast in years past. Theye were WW that were water quenched. Im casting and baking today. I plan on trying to resize before the final hardness sets up...

[DHDeal]

Like people, they got wider and harder as they got older? Girl (or guy) got to big to go through the door...

[elginrunner]

I cast several today, WW alloy, and as soon as they were dry from the water quench, I powder coated and baked them. Water quenched out of the oven, and dry again. I then sized on my lubrisizer... easy peasy!! like night and day difference... very little force used, and no scraping the powder off the sides like it did previously.... I plan on letting them sit for a few days before I load them...

of course all of this is after I ordered a NOE sizing set ....

[GasGuzzler]

The bullets I mentioned above were cast a couple years ago. I powder coated them one day and sized/checked them the next, all without issue. A few days later I cast some .358s and powder coated them as soon as they were cool enough to pick up. I saw no difference.

[remy3424]

I haven't PCed any rifle boolits yet. My boolits are for mid-range loads (the hardest are straight COWWs), not water quenched out of the mold or after PCing, I size them the same day (within hours of PCing) and no problems using the 450 lubesizer. Glad you got them working for you. With all the hardneing, they must be for rifles I will guess....I will get there someday!

[NevadaJack]

What do you use for powder coat? Is one PC better than the other?

[Doubles Shooter]

If you are just starting to powder coat, go with Smoke's powder and follow his instructions to the letter.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?241259-VS-Hi-quality-Powder-for-DT-or-Spraying-bullets

[elginrunner]

What do you use for powder coat? Is one PC better than the other?

Im using eastwood, so far they have been great. Smoke has a good rep as well.

[OS OK]

If using the Lee push through size die, there's a couple tricks out there to increase production a little and make this sizing exercise go a little quicker.

At first, it was pretty slow as I held the cast in place centered on the push post and eased it into the bottom of the size die. Later as I got a little faster doing this I caught my finger up a little between the side of the post and the die...that kinda scared me thinking I could have taken a chunk of meat out of my finger pad.
I came up with this idea of putting a small spring around the push post so I could just drop the cast on the post and the spring would do the guiding as I reached for another cast.
That worked well but as I got into the faster pace of sizing in a hurry, I started filling that little red plastic catcher and pushing the lid off and spilled several batches of fresh sized cast to the floor. That's when I started putting a strong rubber band around the container and that stopped all the accidental spills.

https://i.imgur.com/OZRDUSx.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/D3sqdt6.jpg

I forget what year it was but here in the CB forum several of us were talking about building an upside down press...this would allow you to merely drop the cast into the base of the upside down size die. This went very well also. Some presses like this RCBS Jr. allows the handle to be screwed into the cam assembly so you can still pull down for this upside down process.

https://i.imgur.com/AHi36Hq.jpg?1

This turned into a forum wide quest for speed and that led into feeders for the upside down press...we all went into different directions to achieve some type of feeding system to increase sizing speed even more.
For me it was to set up a sizing table with a tube feeding the die and I was happy with that, still am.
If you use the search function you can find all the threads about sizing & upside down presses.

With this simple feed table next to the press I can feed the casts down the feed tube at a pretty good clip.

https://i.imgur.com/4KeiXlw.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ocO9kFo.jpg

Sizing can be a monotonous job but you can at least speed it up a bit.

[elginrunner]

OS OK,

that's a neat set up! thanks for posting pictures about it!

[clum553946]

I just use my Star sizer. Fast down stroke motion.

[nueces5]

Sizing can be a monotonous job but you can at least speed it up a bit.

First of all I congratulate you for the excellent ideas !!
I'm going to steal some of your ideas !!!