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morganfruchtnicht
I got a 459-500 mold and .459 sizing bushing and the bullets are very difficult to size. Why?
Lead is range scrap, bullets come from mold at 0.459 and get powder coated with powderbythepound powder to around 0.463. When sizing them through the noe 0.459 bushing with unique lube I got about 1 of every 8 bullets stuck in the sizer. I weigh 180lbs and could bounce all my weight on the press handle when a bullet was stuck. I had to remove the bushing each time and use a hammer and socket to tap the bushing off the bullet. After sizing the bullets were exactly 0.459.
I use this exact same process with two different lee molds and lee sizing dies and it works great and the coated bullets are easy to size. Why is it so hard to size these big bullets?
morganfruchtnicht
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Hugh Kuhns
How long have the bullets been made? I try and size mine within 24 hours after casting. I have had this problem also and ordered a 460 sizer and used it first and then used the 459. Lube has helped some but makes for a lot of extra steps. I know how much fun it is to remove a bullet stuck in the sizer, good luck.
That is a good tip of using a socket to remove the bullet from the die…I’ll try that next time I stick a bullet.
762sultan
adamsutherland
Range scrap is usually pretty hard, combine that with sizing down 4 thou and I’m not surprised it is a struggle. I prefer soft bullets of around 10 bhn for up to 2000 fps and even then I wouldn’t try sizing down 4 thou in one step. I’d go though 0.461″ and then down to 0.459″.
I have never had success with powder coating but suspect that this could be contributing to the problem.
SwedeNelson
The range scrap is fairly soft and I coat/size within an hour or two of casting. I do drop the bullets from the mold into water to harden them, but that doesn’t matter with the lee molds. If it makes a difference I tried to size a single uncoated 459-500 and it also got stuck.
I cast the lee 429-240 and size to 0.430(not 0.429) and they size very easily. A friend said the long noe mold has no lube grooves so will be much harder to size as the lead has nowhere to flow to. Can that make such a large difference?
Swede: sure can, will try Saturday.
Full.Lead.Taco
Part of it depends on how thick your powder coat powder is too. I recently cast some of the 500 gr bullets, coated them, and then added a little Unique case lube and then went right through. I usually try to size right after powder coating, and I usually water drop them too, but I don’t have the stuck bullet issues you are having.
I may be doing this all wrong. After casting I size them first and then powder coat them. This does not give them a slick surface like the PC would provide. I will have to PC them first and see if they go thru the sizer a little easier. I don’t seen to have trouble with smaller diameter bullets, only 45 and up.
762sultan
Full.Lead.Taco
louneofotistos
I hope its ok to jump in on this thread with similar issues. I just got my sizing dies the other day and started sizing some cast bullets I casted a couple months ago. They were cast closer to 16BHN and coated with hi-tek. I didnt get anything stuck but I felt like I was going to split my bench in half. After reading above, it seems to make more sense. I was sizing .458 socom bullets from .464/.466 to .459 in a single step and 147gn / 124gr 9mm from ~.364/.365 to .356 in one step.
I have a couple questions… did I hurt the dies?
Anything I should check on my press to see if I hurt the rock chucker? (it is making more noise now than it did prior)
What step down dies should I use to size the above in a more appropriate manner?I am new to all of this and im too much of a just pull harder kind of guy as opposed to wondering why its so hard to pull.
In general, is there a sizing rule of them? x number tenths per step kind of thing? Thanks in advance!
-Lou
The Noe guy called me, he came to the conclusion that mine from .464 down to .459 was just too much size difference in 1 pass. He sent me a .461 bushing and next time I am going to try it first then the .459. Seems a reasonable conclusion since my method works great on other bullets(that are shorter and have lube grooves).
Been a while, I’m slow. Finally made another batch of these yesterday:
Bullets came out of mold at 459-460.5
After powder coating they were 461.5-463
After sizing in the 461 bushing they were all 461. Two (out of 130+ bullets) got stuck in the 461 bushing but came out very easily. Sizing them was much easier than going straight to the 459.
Then I sized them to 459. None got stuck but the sizing was abnormally difficult.I used unique lube and the noe sizer. Are these this difficult to size for anybody else? I also cast a 44 and 357 bullet with lee molds and they size like butter. Lead is range scrap, not abnormally hard. I cast, coat, and size in one evening over a couple hours.
Hugh Kuhns
adamsutherland
SwedeNelson
louneofotistos
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