New Lee 6.5 140 gr nose punch?

[Dutchman]

I was gifted with a ziplock baggie of the new Lee 140 gr 6.5mm mold with the long pointy nose. I rummaged around and found a nose punch to use in my Lyman 4500 but it looks like it puts a slight radius on the meplat. Any suggestions for a better nose punch? I don't think this is going to interfere with accuracy...

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I have a TP for a NOE 258-120 FN
The flat measures .150" (or maybe .005 larger?)

I also have a Lyman 420, which is very similar to the NOE TP, but the flat measures .180"


edited: to add sizes

[gwpercle]

Clean the nose punch and custom fit it to the boolit nose with a small ball of Epoxy Putty ( Like J-B Weld ) use the slow cure . Grease the boolit nose so it doesn't stick .
After inserting epoxy into nose punch , line everything up and lower punch like you are sizing the boolit ... don't go all the way down into sizer die . Look and see if any epoxy is extruding out ...if so you used too much ...clean off any ooze and make sure all is straight , in line and perpendicular ...if good ... let harden and cure .
You now will have a perfectly fitted nose punch . Don't use fast-setting , it's weaker ...slow cured , it will last at least 25 years or untill you remove it by force .
Gary

[405grain]

I'm thinking that a flat faced top punch could (possibly) deform the ojive up by the nose. gwpercle's idea above would probably work really well. You could also try contacting Lee and ask which top punch to use? They might not have an answer but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'm eager to see how these bullets preform in 6.5x55 so post some results once you've gotten some range time.

[Dutchman]

I'm thinking that a flat faced top punch could (possibly) deform the ojive up by the nose. gwpercle's idea above would probably work really well. You could also try contacting Lee and ask which top punch to use? They might not have an answer but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'm eager to see how these bullets preform in 6.5x55 so post some results once you've gotten some range time.

I was thinking that what with the length of this boolit makes it too bendable when freshly cast though they don't require hardly any significant force to size as only the bottom section gets sized .268". I've not done the epoxy method described by Gary. Never had to! I'll look through my existing nose punches again and pay closer attention to the nose. I think more support would be better around the nose to guide it into the die.

I'll use my shop-made bullet seater tool (Stoney Point) to figure seating depth but I don't see a problem considering 266673 and the Swede military 156 gr RN. Unless the barrel is new it'll have enough wear in the breech of the barrel to allow seating with no clearance problems. I have some 266469 loaded but haven't shot them yet. They're from the Ideal mold and are sized .268". I'm hoping for those to at least match the accuracy I've gotten with 266673 .266".

Might give the Lee bullets a very light treatment of 45-45-10 since there's a lot of bare bullet with this mold. Same as with 266673. They'll also get a mild Lee crimp.

When I take the scoped m/38 to the range I'll be shooting 4 different 6.5 cast bullets. The Cruise Missile .267", Ideal 266469 .268", Lyman .266673 .268", Lee 140 gr .268".



These seating depth numbers are very subjective and wouldn't do anybody any good to use for their rifle. No two rifles are going to have the same dimensions as these. Below 266673 is barely seated in the case. I kept trying to touch the rifling and it never did but it shot 5 into 1 @ 50 yds.