How to reduce nose diameter

[Junior1942]

Is there an easy and cheap way to reduce the nose diameter of a long, bore-riding bullet? Other than sandpaper, that is... My ancient RCBS 7mm 168 gr SP mold drops bullets with .282" noses. I have to force them in my T-C 10" 7mm TCU barrel. I want the noses .275" to .276". Over sized noses weren't a problem back when all I shot with that bullet was targets, but now I'm wanting to hog hunt with it. I want a round to slide in the chamber and slide out of the chamber if need be.

[stubert]

Would it be possible to open the throat instead?

[Junior1942]

Would it be possible to open the throat instead?

Well . . . yeah, but not for only maybe 15, 168 SP bullets a year. Plus I'm wanting to use it next week maybe.

[Sonnypie]

Well . . . yeah, but not for only maybe 15, 168 SP bullets a year. Plus I'm wanting to use it next week maybe.

For that small of an amount yearly, what about buying some?
100 would last 6 years with some foulers to shoot as well.

[Junior1942]

For that small of an amount yearly, what about buying some?
100 would last 6 years with some foulers to shoot as well.

Buy? BUY?? Horrors! Harvest a wild hog with a store-bought bullet??? The shame! The shame!

[Sonnypie]

Buy? BUY?? Horrors! Harvest a wild hog with a store-bought bullet??? The shame! The shame!

Now, now...
Nobody has to know. Just scuff them up with some steel wool, or sand.
Dead Pigs Tell No Tales....

[theperfessor]

Does Lee sell a push-thru die close to the size you need? Could you just push the bullet in part way and then push it back out from the top? Make some kind of ejector rod to tap them out with? As you said, you only need to do a few.

[Larry Gibson]

Got this know how from Doc Highwall I believe. For use with a 45, 450, 4500 or a RCBS lubrasizer.

Modified a .457 H die to take a Redding/Hornady/Wilso/RCBS NS bushing of the diameter wanted. The I die was turing down to go through the smallest expected bushing (.258). A washer is used to hold the bushing in under tha H&I nut. The 450 stop for the I die is adjusted so you size only as much as wanted. works good for me.

You may have to size in .002 steps so you don't swage the bullet pody out of bend it. I use lanolin on the bullet noses as a lube.

Larry Gibson

[Junior1942]

Huuuuummmmmmm........

[cbrick]

Several years ago I had a 6.5 BR in a custom XP-100 with a match Shilen barrel, The SAECO #264 wouldn't chamber for the same reason. I used the SAECO lubrisizer sizing nose first with the depth set to only size the nose, then the ejector would push the boolet back out. Worked well and they still shot well but it was a PITA. I used Hornady paste case lube on the noses. Don't remember off-hand which sizing die was correct for this. Also with this boolit I had to size the front driving band (at the same time) about the first 20 thousands so it would chamber in the tight Shilen chamber.

Rick

[sabrecross03]

This is what I do for my 9mm using 38 bullets. I size the top band to .356 and the bottom two bands to .358

Does Lee sell a push-thru die close to the size you need? Could you just push the bullet in part way and then push it back out from the top? Make some kind of ejector rod to tap them out with? As you said, you only need to do a few.

[.22-10-45]

Hello, Junior1942..Why can't you just push nose first into a 7MM Lyman/RCBS sizer mounted in lubsizer..the machine has built-in stop & ejector already.

[ihmsakiwi]

Is there an easy and cheap way to reduce the nose diameter of a long, bore-riding bullet? Other than sandpaper, that is... My ancient RCBS 7mm 168 gr SP mold drops bullets with .282" noses. I have to force them in my T-C 10" 7mm TCU barrel. I want the noses .275" to .276". Over sized noses weren't a problem back when all I shot with that bullet was targets, but now I'm wanting to hog hunt with it. I want a round to slide in the chamber and slide out of the chamber if need be.

Hi Junior,
I have the same issue with both my RCBS 7mm 145gr and my NOE Hunter 145gr in my F.A. Single Shot. I nose-size by pushing the boolit nose first into a RCBS .277 sizing die only so far that it doesn't size the driving band but does touch up the nose enough to be able to be seated further out. Peter

[MikeS]

I too was thinking that this could be done with any of the in/out lubrisizers. (Lyman/RCBS, SAECO) Just get a die the diameter that you want the nose section (bore riding portion), and insert them nose first into the sizer, with it being set to only allow the nose to actually go into the sizing portion of the die, and because of the shape of the lead in on the die there won't be a sharp demarkation between the part you sized this way, and the rest of the boolit (which I assume has already been sized to the proper size for the driving bands). Or I suppose you could size the noses first, then size the rest of the boolit body, I don't think it really makes a difference which one you size first. If Lyman doesn't make a .275 or .276 H&I die set, I think you can get it from Buckshot.

Using this method, if you have one of those boolit designs that have lube grooves on the nose (which are designed to be lubed manually) I think you might even be able to apply lube to them this way.

[Junior1942]

Thanks, guys! A .277" H&I die is on its way!

[gnoahhh]

Those all sound like good practical ideas, but how would one guarantee concentricity? I should think that some way is needed to present the nose into its sizer perfectly straight, or one runs the risk of bending the nose or at least taking more off one side than the other. Perhaps I'm over-thinking the problem, but I made up a simple die with a long "chamber" exactly the same diameter as the sized bullet body, with a smaller hole in front of it to swage the nose diameter down. Push the bullet in until it meets resistance, then insert a rod to push it farther down into the smaller ID. (I use an arbor press, and the push rod has a shoulder turned on it to prevent pushing it in too far.) I made it out of brass (figuring that it would take many more cycles before it started to wear appreciatively than I'll ever subject it to) and took all of about an hour of lathe time.

[44man]

I made a mold for the 45-70 that had too large a nose so I worked out a way to just size the nose in a Lee die of the right size.
Works like a dream.

[Larry Gibson]

Note in the modified H die the bushing "floats" and is lined up by the bullet. The bullet base is pushed down with a flat nose punch so the base can also move latterally to line up the bullet with the bushing. So far I've resized 6.5 and several .30/.31 bullet noses and they remain quite concentric. The bushings are inexpensive compared to H dies and allow step sizing down to avoid deforming the rest of the bullet wich I found is easy to do if sizing over .002" at one time.

Larry Gibson

[geargnasher]

Thanks, guys! A .277" H&I die is on its way!

I'm late to the party again, but you have the solution right there. I do that all the time with several calibers where I can use existing or slightly modified H&I dies. Just be careful not to bend the noses with your sizer, and use a bolt with the head filed flat for a top punch, or a large caliber punch with a large enough meplat which will work because it doesn't have to enter the H die when just nose-sizing. You can seat your checks at the same time you're sizing the nose, and the nose will usually have a nice taper to it due to the tapered entry of the H die.

Gear

[mroliver77]

If I remember correctly, Buckshot made some custom nose sizers up for smokemjoe for use in a Lyman type sizer a while back.