Seater for CB

[utk]

What make of boolit seaters do you use for (oversize) cast boolits?
I am slowly gathering stuff for cb in 30-30. So far I've bought a LEE die set plus a couple moulds.
I have tried a LEE .311 (93 grs) pistol boolit in the LEE seater but it's too big to pass through the hole in the top of the die.

Since .308Win has the same nominal boolit dia, I've tried the .311 boolit in my Hornady seater, but it won't fit inside the sliding sleeve.

So gentlemen, what mfg of seaters you use for the "oversize" boolits?

Urban

[Maineboy]

I shoot a number of 30 caliber rifles with cast boolits and except for the 7.5X55 Swiss, I size them all .311. I've honed out most of my seater dies so they just accept .311 boolits. Sometimes you can use a seater die from one caliber to seat boolits in other calibers.
BTW, I also hone out the neck portion of some cast boolit only sizer dies so the case necks will size only enough to hold my fatter cast boolits. I figure the less you work brass, the longer the case life. It also eliminates the need for an M die, but I still need to put a slight bell in the case mouth and do that using using Waksupi's method for flaring case necks... He posted on the old Shooter's board about pushing his Leatherman's pliers into a case mouth and giving it a half twist. Experimentation will tell you just how much pressure is needed to make that perfect flair.

[utk]

Maineboy,

How do you do it, when honing out the sizer die?

As for your seater dies, have you honed up a Hornady seater? They have a long sliding sleeve that "houses" the boolit during seating. I've been thinking of buying a .303 Brit seater as this caliber has a fatter boolit as standard.

Urban

[slughammer]

I recently got a set of Lee 32 HR Mag dies and proceded to reloading. The seater die suffered from the same ailment as yours; my .314 dia boolits were getting a ring sized onto the front driving band from the seating die. I took the die apart and lapped it out with some sand paper on a 1/4 " rod. I just use masking tape to hold the paper to the rod and turn the rod with an electric drill. Hold the die in your other hand so it can self align. Start slow and check often. Really any of the lapping techniques for opening up size/lube die would work fine.

[utk]

Sounds like an excellent idea, I'm thinking of ordering an extra Lee RGB die set and opening up both the sizer and seater die. The sizing die per Maineboy's suggestion, so the brass doesn't get overworked.
One can buy an extra expander, either for .303 Brit (might be too long) or 7.62x39. Both for .311 boolits, IIRC.
I'm awaiting a reply from Hornady as whether a separate .303 Brit sleeve can be purchased, I really like Hornady's seaters as they align the boolit on it's way into the die (I'm slightly hesitant to LEE's ability to keep the boolit straight???).

Urban

[Maineboy]

utk, I use the same method as Slughammer reports except I chuck the rod in my drill press. Go slow and check often. You've opened a seating die enough when a .311 boolit (or whatever size you want) will just drop through. Lee dies are much easier to hone out than RCBS dies and I use them almost exclusively. I forgot to mention that I found one of those "universal" 30 caliber neck sizing dies and honed that out for minimal neck sizing my 30 caliber cartridges and use the honed out sizing die only when the cases become a bit difficult to chamber. With these modified dies and my low pressure cast boolit loads, cases last for a very long time.

[Char-Gar]

I have the CabinTree guy make me a .3125 sleeve for my Vickerman seating die. I use it forall 30 cal seating.

Lyman made some straight line seating dies some years back and they had seating chambers large enough for cast bullets. A year or two ago, some guy was selling scores of these in all calibers on EBay. I bought about a half dozen in various calibers. They work very well.

[Char-Gar]

BTW..Having nothing more to do, I hauled out a couple of the Lyman PA seating dies and measured ID of the bullet sleeve.

The 7.62 Russian measured .315
The 303 British measured .315

These two dies are the same except for the labels, and are usuable for any "fat" 30

The 8mm Mauser measured .325 and should work with any 32.

Anyway..these Lyman PA (Precision Alignment) seating dies pop up on Ebay and are cast bullet friendly.

[Char-Gar]

Oh yes...I forgot...I also has L.E. Wilson make me a custom straight line seating die for .308 Win. that takes bullets up to .3125. Wilson can and will make just abut any size you want. They are expensive, but boy are they fine tools!