Re-sizing after powder coating

[mehavey]

With the (Lee) die super-clean, no issues w/ bare lead
(within reasonable 2-3 thou)

[Txcowboy52]

I myself, like others have said, have sized thousands of bullets after powder coating with no problem whatsoever.

[charlie b]

Pistol bullets I size after PC. No lube.

Rifle bullets that I PC are a bit more complex. Cast, seat and size with GC, nose size (both .001 undersize), powder coat, size body and nose size again (final size). Why all that? I want sub MOA accuracy. To get that, especially with a bore rider, the bullet fit to bore has to be near perfect, an interference fit in the bore with the body jammed into the lands.

And, no, don't use lube on the dies, either before or after PC. Never had an issue with lead smear.

[beemer]

Before, after or both, depending. I usually put on the gas check first because some shanks are too large after PCing. A lot of this is not chiseled in stone, just figure out what works for what you got.

I have no problem sizing dry with a Lee but sometimes it's a little too much for the Lyman. I have sometimes used crocus cloth to polish a Lee sizer.

[fredj338]

PC or Hitek applied properly does not rub of in the sizing die or down the bore. Size after coating. Maybe with a gc I could see sizing first but pb bullets, just extra work for no gain. Sme of my bullets are pretty fat going into the lee die but the pc stays in place.

[6622729]

I’ve been reading about powder coating and will probably start this spring with 45 acp, may start shooting at a higher velocity. I’ve been shooting wheel weight bullets for years, and here’s my question - although I think the answer is obvious, I’d like to ask anyway:

I’ve always sized my bullets after casting, does anyone size after powder coating? I suppose not, it would take the powder coat off…

I size after powder coating. If I have a powder that is effected by the sizing I very slightly lube those with Imperial lube before sizing. Then they go through slick and unhurt. I have an Eastwood machine grey that is super tough and unhurt by sizing.

[pworley1]

If the powder coat comes off during sizing, you have done something wrong.

[Seeker]

You guys that size before and after: Do you have any die leading problems when sizing uncoated bullets?
I assume you size them unlubed. I'd hate to have to lube-size-clean-coat-size, or is that what you do?

I size before (unlubed) and after when using gas checks. I've never had a problem with leading in my sizing dies. Even before I started PCing, I never lubed the bullets before sizing and had no problems then either.

[fcvan]

I cast, powder coat, and size for plain based boolits, mostly pistol rounds. These boolits are tumble coated (shake and bake) with a very consisttent PC thickness.

For gas check boolits, I spray coat the boolits in ajig that prevents PC from coating the gascheck shank. I then gas check and size. These are decidedly used for accuracy shooting and do quite well.

I never touch boolits after casting and generally PC same day. I do use nitrile gloves to place the gas check boolits in the jig to prevent fingertip oils from being transferred. The plain based are just transferred to the plastic tub, powder is measured with a Lee dipper, so much per caliber and number of boolits. I've not cast or PC'd in quite a few thousand ( more than 50k) so I'm not running out