Lee sizing dies go from .358 to .401?

[Stopsign32v]

Well I was wanting to get a Lee sizing kit for my press so I could start sizing some 357 cast boolits but I'm told it is best to load a little over size bullets. From what I've read it is common practice to load .360? Anyways basic question is why doesn't Lee offer a .359, .360, etc? Maybe I'm missing something

[fredj338]

No it is not common practice. I have 8 diff 357mags, they all get 0.358" cast bullets. All will shoot better off the bench than I Can offhand. With any revo, cyl threat size will determine a lot of your accuracy issues. So measure those, pin gages or ID microm. IF they are smaller than bore dia or your bullet, you will have accuracy issues with lead bullets. The "rule" is 0.001" minimum over bore dia. That is the starting point & often works just fine, but does little good if the throats are 0.001" smaller than your bullet.

[Stopsign32v]

IF they are smaller than bore dia or your bullet, you will have accuracy issues with lead bullets. The "rule" is 0.001" minimum over bore dia. That is the starting point & often works just fine, but does little good if the throats are 0.001" smaller than your bullet.

OH! This is a ding ding ding moment in my head. It all makes sense now. I had it backwards! Thank you very much for pointing this out to me, you literally just set off a light bulb!

[ryanmattes]

It's also not very hard to open up a Lee sizing die with very fine sandpaper, a dowel, and a drill motor, if you really need to. For .45 they only make .452 and .454, so I picked up 2 .452's and opened one up to .453. Similarly, they make a .401 but no .402, so I opened up a .401.

But in the end, you need to know your barrel and throat size. Sizing to .359 or bigger doesn't help, and in fact makes it worse, if your cylinder throat is .356. Slug your barrel first, cast and size to .001-.002 over that, and then check for problems. If it's still leading like crazy, hammer some pure lead through your cylinder throat, and see if it's coming out smaller.

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[charlie b]

If you are going to do several sizes of bullets for different guns it might pay to invest in the NOE sizing setup. It is a bushing style (like the Lee APP dies) so different bushing are inexpensive and changing sizes is just loosen a setscrew. NOE has sizes for just about any dia you want.

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[Stopsign32v]

If you are going to do several sizes of bullets for different guns it might pay to invest in the NOE sizing setup. It is a bushing style (like the Lee APP dies) so different bushing are inexpensive and changing sizes is just loosen a setscrew. NOE has sizes for just about any dia you want.

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What do the NOE sizers work in?

[TimD]

The NOE sizers screw into your press. One video is worth 1000 words... ;-)

Full Lead Taco has a video detailing their use...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRoudK8THGM

[Stopsign32v]

The NOE sizers screw into your press. One video is worth 1000 words... ;-)

Full Lead Taco has a video detailing their use...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRoudK8THGM

Lord I wish I had known about the NOE before I purchased the LEE .358 sizing setup. Oh well 2 is 1 right?

[mdi]

Lee offers "popular nominal" sizes for their sizing dies, and 38/357s "normally" use .357". I have customized, honed/polished the ID of about 6 Lee sizing dies for specific cylinder throats and barrels. No big deal and easy...

[Walks]

After seeing Full Lead Taco's video on the N.O.E. bullet sizing, I'm saving my pennies to buy their setup.

Thanks TimD

[ryanmattes]

I've been thinking about buying it and selling off all my lee dies. I've got a little lee C press I could dedicate to it, so I'd only have to swap bushings and push rods, and it could just stay set up for sizing. Especially since it can easily do base-first sizing for checks.

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[robg]

i only size boolits that need a gas check so it seats them ,i dont bother to size plain base boolits

[charlie b]

NOE also sells a neat little setup to seat gas checks square on a bullet. Look at the tooling section of their website. Full of little goodies.

[charlie b]

I've been thinking about buying it and selling off all my lee dies. I've got a little lee C press I could dedicate to it, so I'd only have to swap bushings and push rods, and it could just stay set up for sizing. Especially since it can easily do base-first sizing for checks.

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I have a Lee Challenger press that is dedicated to bullet sizing operations. Has the NOE holder in it.

[1hole]

i only size boolits that need a gas check so it seats them ,i dont bother to size plain base boolits

Well, some say this and some say that about sizing but it's certain they all precisely fit the bore by the time they enter the barrel their full length.

[rockrat]

I size .001" over cylinder throat dia. as long as that is over groove dia.

[1hole]

i only size boolits that need a gas check so it seats them ,i dont bother to size plain base boolits

Well, some say this and some say that about sizing boolits but it's certain they all precisely fit the bore by the time they enter the barrel their full length.

[tazman]

Well I was wanting to get a Lee sizing kit for my press so I could start sizing some 357 cast boolits but I'm told it is best to load a little over size bullets. From what I've read it is common practice to load .360? Anyways basic question is why doesn't Lee offer a .359, .360, etc? Maybe I'm missing something

Measure the cylinder throats on your revolver. No need to size any larger than that since any boolit will get sized down to their dimensions when fired.
Perfect sizing would be a sliding fit to the cylinder throats.

[oley55]

Measure the cylinder throats on your revolver. No need to size any larger than that since any boolit will get sized down to their dimensions when fired.
Perfect sizing would be a sliding fit to the cylinder throats.

prezactly, ^^^^^^

[Stopsign32v]

Measure the cylinder throats on your revolver. No need to size any larger than that since any boolit will get sized down to their dimensions when fired.
Perfect sizing would be a sliding fit to the cylinder throats.

So what if your cylinder throats are 3.585 and you only have 3.580 sizing dies from Lee? Open one up slightly or what?

[Cosmic_Charlie]

That would be close enough. I have no trouble shooting boolits a touch smaller than the throats.

[tazman]

So what if your cylinder throats are 3.585 and you only have 3.580 sizing dies from Lee? Open one up slightly or what?

.358 would be a sliding fit in the throats. The boolits will expand slightly(bump up) when the pressure hits the base in any case.
In my experience, Lee sizing dies tend to be about .0005 oversize anyway. That is what my Lee sizing dies leave the boolit after sizing. The others all work out the same way, leaving the boolits .0005 larger than nominal.

[DanLee]

I don't size cast bullets anymore. I let the barrel do it.

[bedbugbilly]

Stopsign32v - taxman explains it well.

What you don't want are cylinder throats that size your boolit down and then expect them to expand to bore size - example - .356 throats and a .358 bore. If your throats are .3585 and your boolit .3585 - that is a good fit - and your bore is .357 - your boolit will easily size down to bore size as it enters the forcing cone.

I shoot Colt and Remington cap and ball revolvers with conversion cylinders - "Navy" revolvers in .36 caliber. I load 38 Colt Long which is shorter tha a 38 spl. ani it is the parent cartridge for the 38 spl. Bore size on a .36 caliber Navy is .375. So . . . . my conversion cylinder throats are .3755. This allows me to use a 125 or 150 grain .375 "heeled" bullet. HOWEVER - I also have the option of using either a .358 hollow base 150 grain Round Nose or a .358 hollow base 148 grain Wad Cutter (I have both molds). SO . . . . that is putting a .358 boolit through a .3655 cylinder throat into a .375 bore. The .358 hollow base soft lead boolits will expand to fit the .375 bore and they give good accuracy. Ed Harris wrote a great article about his tests with .358 hollow base boolits in a revolver with a conversion cylinder that is identical to what one of the revolvers is that I have.

I describe the above to illustrate that you need you throats larger than your bore size and you also need your throats a bit larger than your boolit so the cartridge can chamber easily. A .358 boolit in a .358 throat is almost an interference fit but a .3585 throat should allow the cartridge to drop into each chamber easily without having to apply thumb pressure.

Another example - I have a Uberti Cattleman SAA in 45 Colt. My bore is .452 and my cylinder throats are .455. I have molds that drop at .452 and molds that drop at .454. I very rarely size any of my cast for my revolvers. My cattleman seems to shoot both the .452 and .454 size boolits equally as well and if I do my job, it groups very well at 50 yards.

[Mal Paso]

.358 would be a sliding fit in the throats. The boolits will expand slightly(bump up) when the pressure hits the base in any case.
In my experience, Lee sizing dies tend to be about .005 oversize anyway. That is what my Lee sizing dies leave the boolit after sizing. The others all work out the same way, leaving the boolits .005 larger than nominal.

Do you mean .0005"? Depending in temper and alloy boolits can spring back a half thousandth.

[tazman]

Do you mean .0005"? Depending in temper and alloy boolits can spring back a half thousandth.

You are right. I will correct.