How "I" resized my Lee Push Through Die

[snaggdit]

I expect many will chime in on their variations on this. This is how I did it. My .308 Lee push through sizer needed to be bigger. I put it in my Rock Chucker and took three .310 cast boolits and applied fine valve grinding compound to them all. Why three? That way the third pushes the first out. I then put the pushed out boolit back through and repeated till about ten had gone through. Then I took q-tips and paper towels and cleaned it up good. I then pushed through a new unsized boolit and measured. Still too small. Took three more new, unsized boolits and repeated the process until I finally had .309.

I should say that my process used up a dozen or more boolits, but I added them to the can I keep handy for rejects and they got melted back down. The residual compound floats off in the pot.

[45nut]

Simple process, but quit and measure often,, it is quite easy to go past the desired spec.
I know it's been done.... not saying whodunit. :coffeecom:

[Leftoverdj]

At least with my alloy and my compound, one set of bullets will open up a die something less than .002 before they quit cutting. I just shuck the same 3-4 bullets through until they go through without resistance.

[SciFiJim]

Thanks snaggdit, that's what I was hoping for. Did you have to apply more compound each time the boolits went through the sizer?

[snaggdit]

Only between sets after cleaning. They stay pretty gooey.

[lead-1]

May try this at a later date, right now the sizer is for resizing out of round pulled military bullets. Thanks for the post.

[44man]

Aintcha possed to shoot them boolits through? :bigsmyl2:

[Gohon]

At least with my alloy and my compound, one set of bullets will open up a die something less than .002 before they quit cutting. I just shuck the same 3-4 bullets through until they go through without resistance.

Seems to me after the first trip through, the bullets would be sized down and subsequent trips through the die wouldn't do anything.

[7br]

My guess is there is enough springback in the bullet to keep the valve compound up against the sizer die on subsequent passes.

[Shiloh]

I cut a slot in a nail with the head cut off. Chuck it in a drill or flex-shaft unit, put a strip of 400# emory paper in the slot, and hone the die. Measure often. Finish with cloth and FLITZ. Leaves a mirror finish.

What grit is FINE valve grinding compound??

Shiloh

[snaggdit]

I cut a slot in a nail with the head cut off. Chuck it in a drill or flex-shaft unit, put a strip of 400# emory paper in the slot, and hone the die. Measure often. Finish with cloth and FLITZ. Leaves a mirror finish.

What grit is FINE valve grinding compound??

That would work, too. My package of compound I bought at Oreilly Auto Parts was a two part package with fine and coarse tubes of silicone carbide in a grease suspension. It did not give grit values.

[Shiloh]

Does it leave a good finish??

Shiloh

[softpoint]

I opened a .458 up to.460, I split the end of a piece of aluminum round stock, 3/8" and put 400 grit paper.in it and chucked it in a drill. When i got close, less than 0005 to go, I put 1000 grit in it. After I had it where I I wanted it ,I used a dremel tool with one of the rubber cylinders with polish. It is FAR smoother and shinier than when I got it.
Some have said their sizers were pretty soft, and easy to open up. Mine wasn't soft. It was harder'n chinese arithmetic!

[snaggdit]

As for the finish, I had never really looked until you asked. It isn't polished shiny like a rifle bore, no. It is pretty smooth, though. Obviously the area above the sqeezing part has rings left from Lee turning it in a lathe but this is just where the sized boolits slide up loosly till being pushed out by other boolits. I compared it to several I have used but never tried to widen and they seem about the same smoothness. If I could get it to work, I could try and take some pics down the hole. Don't know if my camera will be capable, though.

[Rick N Bama]

I have a .429" Lee sizer that needs to be about .434. Is that doable with either the valve grit or emory paper?

Rick

[6.5 mike]

Rick n Bama, I've taken .002 out of mine by rolling them across a rubber mat about 2 feet long. Used a piece of 400 grit paper long enough to reach all the way through the die, wrapped around a dowel. Take the locknut & o ring off, lightly oil the paper, push dowel & paper through, & start rolling. Takes about 50 rolls. I finish with 600 grit crocus coth the same way. Either way you try, measure often. Also I let the paper "walk back & forth" using my thumbs as a stop, seems to help keep the ID round. It took about 20 mins to open one from .4505 to .452.

[mrbill2]

I just made a push through die yesterday on the lathe and used Snaggdit's method to size the hole. I used barrel lapping compound. 220,320 and 600 grit. Worked great for me !!
Mr. Bill2