Resizing a sizing die?

[72coupe]

I bought a .325 Lyman H&I die with the intent of opening it up to .331. I didn't think this would be a problem as it is only 6 thousandths of an inch or put another way just 3 thousandths per side.

Well I polished on that puppy for 3 hours and only changed it 1/2 thousandth. So I knew a letter size Q drill would be just perfect. So I bought one.

After running down 3 Makita rechargable batteries and making little progress I switched to my Dewalt 24 volt. Heat was a big problem and I sprayed Remoil onto it to keep it cool without much luck. I finally punched it through but the whole top of the die turned bright blue and so did the end of the drill bit.

Making the rod was not nearly as hard.

I'll see if it works in the next few days.

[garandsrus]

72,

It sounds like the die was hardened. Folks here have mentioned annealing the die before machining on it.

You might have been able to use a brass lap and diamond paste without annealing.

John

[cajun shooter]

As garandsrus said it seems that you found a hardened die. If you have a project like this in the future both Buckshot and Lathesmith do that type work

[72coupe]

In the instructions that came with the die it said it was hardened. Since I only needed to remove .006 I thought it couldn't be that hard. I was wrong.

[montana_charlie]

When you are contemplating using a drill bit on something that may be hardened, choose a non-critical surface and try using a file on it. If the file can't cut the metal, a common drill bit certainly won't.
CM

[72coupe]

Thanks for the tip Charlie. Next time I am thinking about doing this I will think again.

I just don't understand why they don't sell an H&I die in every size from .15 to 1 inch.

[462]

72coupe,

That would tend to reduce boolit casting complications...and we wouldn't want that, would we?

In all seriousness, I agree with you. If it's known, for instance, that there are .44 caliber revolvers that have overly large throats, why aren't sizing dies larger than .431"?

Like you, I've had to enlarge a die, and it is time consumming.

[Buckshot]

" Heat was a big problem and I sprayed Remoil onto it to keep it cool without much luck. I finally punched it through but the whole top of the die turned bright blue and so did the end of the drill bit."

...........Oil isn't a very good coolant, but a good lube. You may find the ejected boolit useable, but maybe not. If you were using silicone carbide paper, the grit breaks down quickly on hardened steel. However, even if unsuccessfull congratulations on at least TRYING! :-). It was a valuable lesson in any regard.

I used to open up dies for people. I used diamond paste and brass barrel laps, and .003" was as far as I'd go. Diamond paste is expensive and brass barrel laps aren't free either, but it was the time involved and the possibility of going over my .0003" tolerance that was the killer. Considerable time was involved and going over that tolerance ended up in wasted time and materials, plus I was out the cost of a replacement die.

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

[72coupe]

Buckshot I am opening it for use with a 220 grain Lee .329 cast bullet. They cast .331 and that is the minimum size I need so if the die is larger it is not really a problem.

The more I read and learn about the 8X56R Hungarian the more I think it must be one the most odd calibers ever created.

[DLCTEX]

I needed to drill higher lube holes in a die for 243. It also was hardened too hard to drill, so I heated it to cherry red and allowed it to cool slowly. I was then able to drill it without a problem. The drill caused a burr on the inside that I removed with emery cloth wrapped around a rod. I then reheated the die to a cherry red and quenched it in oil. I used old motor oil and probably should have used clean oil as I had to spend time again with the abrasive cloth and a rod to clean some of the carbon off the inside . It was a pain but I now can lube all the grooves on the boolit (before it was only one) and the die is now .245. If I figured my time at $5 an hour it would have been cheaper to buy a new one, but I don't pay me so it was cheap.

[georgewxxx]

Remember too that sizing dies made nowdays have a bit of a taper on top so you don't just shave off lead during boolit sizing operation as the first Ideal's did. ....Geo

[Buckshot]

Buckshot I am opening it for use with a 220 grain Lee .329 cast bullet. They cast .331 and that is the minimum size I need so if the die is larger it is not really a problem.

The more I read and learn about the 8X56R Hungarian the more I think it must be one the most odd calibers ever created.

............The problem with the 8x56R is the odd and rather generous dimentions for the caseneck, throat, and grooves given the bullet (and in our case, boolit) size. While using a jacketed slug of .329" in a barrel of .330" - .333" grooves poses no problems with blow by, and the (common) .316" bore certainly gets a bite.

But for us cast guys when you can chamber, and the throat will pass a cast slug of .338" if you're trying to fill the throat, those same .316" lands move a LOT of lead around. And if you shoot cast of a thou or two over the groove diameter, the slug will have plenty of wiggle room in the throat. Add to that the caseneck re-sizing that takes place.

Other then that they're sturdy, handy and handle a pretty stout cartridge. About the only other platform similarly handy is the Russian M44 and M38's. Well there's the British Jungle carbine but they're not as cheap nor as common.

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

[lifeon2]

you know lee will make you a custom sizer for $25