HangFireW8
10-03-2010, 08:46 PM
Digging through my collection I found that Ideal #395, intended for old 358-395 hollow base revolver slugs, works really well for the Lee C312-185-1R boolit.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=274&pictureid=2766
As with most Lyman top punch/Lee combinations, it does not perfectly preserve the Lee boolit's round nose profile. You can see it leaves a nice little meplat, and makes the nose profile a little conical, but not enough to leave a ring or transition point unless enough force is used to bump-up the bore riding shaft.
I was sizing .314" boolits down to .310" (don't ask) and had no problems with boolits sticking or pulling the top punch out of the LAMII (held by a little boolit lube not the set screw). It will probably work for similar Lee boolits as well.
I wouldn't mention this little victory except that castpics.net doesn't list any top punch for this mold.
-HF
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=274&pictureid=2766
As with most Lyman top punch/Lee combinations, it does not perfectly preserve the Lee boolit's round nose profile. You can see it leaves a nice little meplat, and makes the nose profile a little conical, but not enough to leave a ring or transition point unless enough force is used to bump-up the bore riding shaft.
I was sizing .314" boolits down to .310" (don't ask) and had no problems with boolits sticking or pulling the top punch out of the LAMII (held by a little boolit lube not the set screw). It will probably work for similar Lee boolits as well.
I wouldn't mention this little victory except that castpics.net doesn't list any top punch for this mold.
-HF