Double sizing

[twotrees]

I was wondering.

I have 2 molds that cast .455 and need them for boolits for 45 Colt, 454 and 45 auto.

Now the rub. The 454 and, to some extent, the 45 Colt want .454 sized boolits, while the 45's auto wants .452.

If I use the existing .454 H&I die in the Lyman 450 to size and lube all the boolits first and then run the round nose ones for the 45 auto nose first through the Lee .452 sizer afterwards.

Am I missing something? Would the lube installed in the first sizing be good enough, when I run them through the .452 Lee Die??

Too cheap to buy the .452 die, when Lee is 1/2 the cost.

Thanks in Advance,

[docone31]

Yep.
The lube will be ok. When I pan lube, I use lee dies to clean the lube. It sizes and leaves the lube lands lubed.

[Buckshot]

http://www.fototime.com/ADF9F422ACC2AA7/standard.jpg

.............Left is a 236gr 8mm boolit from a single cavity Lee group buy done many years ago. On the right is the same slug after being sent up through a Lee .314" die for use in an Argentine. Works like a champ!

..............Buckshot

[Bret4207]

I've done the same thing, works fine.

[frank_1947]

Well I can tell you from experience you will need a 451 sizing die for 45 acp it is
.4515 I tried the .452 to big bullet would not feed and you could see by eye top of case to far out 452 is for 454 cusull or any or colt.

[454PB]

Well I can tell you from experience you will need a 451 sizing die for 45 acp it is
.4515 I tried the .452 to big bullet would not feed and you could see by eye top of case to far out 452 is for 454 cusull or any or colt.

Not necessarily, it depends on the gun. I own several .45 ACPs, and they like .452" sized boolits. Years ago, I had a miltary .45 1911, and it wanted .453" boolits.

The older SAA .45 Colts and their clones needed .454" boolits.

The first step to successful cast boolit use is measuring throats and bores.

[frank_1947]

well then the chambers must have been reamed oversized, that could be done, in a 45acp caseing they will look bulged with a 452 bullet

[SciFiJim]

I made up these dummy rounds to test different COL in my Kimber. All are sized at .452 with no bulges. All fit and fed with no problems.

http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt47/SciFiJim_photobucket/100_1474.jpg

[frank_1947]

That is good, they sure would not work in my springfield some years ago i had to buy the 451 sizer, the 452 i had waas for my 454 Casull

[Bret4207]

You'll find there are few hard and fast rules in the chamber 'biz. Stuff that should chamber fine often won't and stuff that shouldn't fit sometimes will. I've given up providing hard and fast rules and have gone to "try it and see" for most everything. The guys here keep proving the old rules are WRONG!

[cajun shooter]

Frank, I have some boolits that I cast and size at 452 for both the acp and the colts. Works fine in both. Now I do have a Colt that requires the 454 bullets. I size those for it and then size down to 452 for the others with no problem. The only thing that happens when you keep sizing down a boolit is that you lengthen the boolit and close the lube grooves some. Later David

[DLCTEX]

The five 45 ACP guns I load for all accept .452 boolits and function fine. First I've heard that .451 is too big.

[frank_1947]

I am well aware of things that might work should work but don't work, no two guns are alike, not to long ago some guy had a fit on another forum when I said we shoot a 9mm at 1400 fps to make major power factor in USPSA and that thousand shoot loads like that and there is no data to support it other then years of people testing it like 8.6 HS6 to reach that 1400 or what I am using now 7.5 of Silouette, if it works be happy.

[9.3X62AL]

With all of the variables involved in dies, chambers, grooves, and whatever else--the "hard and fast" rules become few and far between.

One definite tendency is for diemakers to predicate dimensions on the usage of jacketed bullets by the consumer/end user. One result of this course of conduct is that many dies or their components (expander spuds/balls) are too small to do the best work with cast boolits.

Example--my RCBS die set for the 45 ACP dates from 1980 or thereabouts. The tungsten-carbide sizer reduces casing outside diameter to .467", and the expander spud diameter is .447". The upshot of this combination is that the .452" cast boolits are difficult to seat, and when pulled show diameters of .449"-.4505", depending on alloy hardness. Very not good.

In this case, I used a 45 Colt sizer die (again, tungsten-carbide) on 45 ACP cases and results were case outside diameter @ .469". Mo betta. The 45 Colt expander spud was a mite small for my taste (.448") and a bit long, but the Lyman Multi-Charge Die Set's 45 caliber spud ran a friendlier fat .449", about .4495" as best I can tell.

The end result was easy, reliable feeding--less effort processing cases--likely less metal fatigue to casings--and zero leading in S&W, SIG, Kimber, and Glock 45 ACP pistols.

I caution that some tightly-toleranced pistols might not like this regimen. The Kimber alluded to above is a target variant owned by a friend, the other pistols are all service-grade. All gobbled up the ammo with relish, which was loaded with Lyman #452374, Lee 230 TC, and a few with #452460--which didn't hang up, surprisingly. Only sufficient taper crimp was used to turn the belled case mouth straight.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Yup, the only thing that is "for Certain" with our cast boolit making is that there are way to many variables to stand on statements of this is a fact. It may be for a certain set of circumstances , but you can bet it will not be so with every case[smilie=1:

[runfiverun]

you find that out in a hurry if you have 3 or more guns in the same caliber.
what you do for one won't feed in the other or leads up the bbl in the third.