Top punch for Saeco 315

[condor13]

I am having trouble locating Saeco top punch #46509 to fit my Saeco #315 mold. Does anyone out there know of a standard Lyman or RCBS top punch that will fit the Saeco #315 boolit? Thanks, Greg

[beagle]

I had that one for a while. As I recall a 150ish grain .30 that I used in the .30/30. If that's it, as I recall, I used the RCBS punch for the 30-150-FN. Mould's been gone for years. If I had someone to borrow from, i'd try a Lyman #8 for the 311008. As I recall, the noses are pretty close. Got over 100 top punches and a little digging usually turns up something that will work and not leave a ring./beagle

[condor13]

Thanks for the response beagle and the info. I checked all my TP's and had nothing very close to that bullet. So I'm still looking. Maybe somebody else out there has run into this same problem with the #315. An old mold (new to me) and TP's for it seem to be rare. Greg

[Gewehr-Guy]

The 315 is my most used bullet, and I have just been using a Lyman 284 top punch. It seems to keep the bullet centered while sizing, but it will slightly round the very edge of the flat nose. My bullets are fairly hard, with a soft bullet it might round over a bit more, and not cut as nice a hole in a target.

NOE makes a 315 style mould, and should sell a punch too fit. I would get one , but my 284 works for me.

[Teddy (punchie)]

I have a bunch of top punches if you need one. What size is the Saeco Mold and type of nose? From what I'm piecing together it's a 175 grain round flat nose?? in 30 Caliber ??

[gwpercle]

Don't Forget ... you can custom fit a nose punch , that almost fits , with a small ball of epoxy putty ... place the putty in the nose punch and use a greased boolit to make a perfect fit . They last for years and are the epoxy is easy to remove if you want to un-custom fit the nose punch .
Life's too short to have nose punches that don't fit , not when epoxy putty is available !
Gary

[Waleone]

The Saeco #315 is a gas checked, tapered body, truncated point, flat nose design, weighing approx. 175 grains. I have 3-#315 moulds, 2-#313 (approx. 170 grains) as well as similar design bullet moulds from Don Eagan and NOE. I just finished seating gas checks and lubrisizing a bunch of #315 bullets using my NOE top punch for their 311-179-FN mould and can tell you it works perfectly. The positives for using the NOE top punch; price is $5.75ea. and last I looked they have 18 in stock. The negatives (maybe) is that it is aluminum and is easier to damage if you do not maintain hold of the lubrisizer handle and let it slam.

[porthos]

as stated above; it is so easy to make a top punch to fit the bullet, don't know why anyone would have to search for one. NOE sells "blank" top punches