Excerpt from Fouing Shot 143 Jan/Feb 2000
By David Southall
Bonita Springs, FL
My earliest experiments using cast bullets were fairly successful, using unsized bullets and bee’s wax/lard finger-applied as a lubricant. The only real problem I encountered was the occasional large bullet that prevented chambering. Some time later, I invested in a Lyman “push-through” die, which fit my Lyman 310 tool. No longer did an oversize bullet give me trouble! Back then I was shooting .32-20 and .44-40 Winchesters, at black powder velocities and pressures.
Over time, I accumulated more firearms, and was introduced to the Lee Precision line of very inexpensive bullet molds and reloading equipment. With each new gun, I would “invest” in a mold and sizing die so that I could shoot reduced loads cheaply. Wheel weight metal and Alox/beeswax lube was a pretty good combination for both handgun and moderate velocity rifle loads.
Gleaning technical (but not always helpful) information from gun magazines, kept my interest level high, as I experimented with alloys, hardness, powders and primers. In short order I had developed several loads which met and even occasionally exceeded my expectations. Once I had that near-minute-of-angle load, I wanted make up a lot of them. Here is where my troubles began.
The principal bottleneck in the production of the copious quantities of accurate cast-bullet handloads was laboriously hand lubricating each bullet before it was pushed through the press-mounted, Lee sizing die. This was messy, and time-consuming. In addition, the gas check on some bullets slid back on the check shank as they were pushed through nose first in the Lee die. A lubri-sizer would make this operation simple, and fast. I bought the RCBS model, noting its similarity to Lyman’s, but with sturdier linkage. I also bought several different sizing dies and nose punches, and set to work making up a large volume of sized and lubed bullets.
Expecting that these “machine-quality” bullets would actually be superior to those manually lubed bullets, I was surprised when they weren’t. In fact, group size opened up to 4-5 inches. I looked frantically for the cause. They were the correct size, hardness, alloy, weight, with gas-check properly seated - everything seemed the same. I weighed a couple of hundred, separating them into 1/10 grain lots and shot them carefully. There was no improvement in the accuracy of these either.
While carefully inspecting one of the lubri-sized bullets under magnification, I noticed a slight difference in the width of the sized portion of the ogive, above the first lube groove. Looking at several others, it appeared that at least some of the bullets were not entering the sizing die straight. I took a look at a few bullets that had been sized in the Lee push-through die, and the first band was perfectly uniform, all around.
By David Southall
Bonita Springs, FL
My earliest experiments using cast bullets were fairly successful, using unsized bullets and bee’s wax/lard finger-applied as a lubricant. The only real problem I encountered was the occasional large bullet that prevented chambering. Some time later, I invested in a Lyman “push-through” die, which fit my Lyman 310 tool. No longer did an oversize bullet give me trouble! Back then I was shooting .32-20 and .44-40 Winchesters, at black powder velocities and pressures.
Over time, I accumulated more firearms, and was introduced to the Lee Precision line of very inexpensive bullet molds and reloading equipment. With each new gun, I would “invest” in a mold and sizing die so that I could shoot reduced loads cheaply. Wheel weight metal and Alox/beeswax lube was a pretty good combination for both handgun and moderate velocity rifle loads.
Gleaning technical (but not always helpful) information from gun magazines, kept my interest level high, as I experimented with alloys, hardness, powders and primers. In short order I had developed several loads which met and even occasionally exceeded my expectations. Once I had that near-minute-of-angle load, I wanted make up a lot of them. Here is where my troubles began.
The principal bottleneck in the production of the copious quantities of accurate cast-bullet handloads was laboriously hand lubricating each bullet before it was pushed through the press-mounted, Lee sizing die. This was messy, and time-consuming. In addition, the gas check on some bullets slid back on the check shank as they were pushed through nose first in the Lee die. A lubri-sizer would make this operation simple, and fast. I bought the RCBS model, noting its similarity to Lyman’s, but with sturdier linkage. I also bought several different sizing dies and nose punches, and set to work making up a large volume of sized and lubed bullets.
Expecting that these “machine-quality” bullets would actually be superior to those manually lubed bullets, I was surprised when they weren’t. In fact, group size opened up to 4-5 inches. I looked frantically for the cause. They were the correct size, hardness, alloy, weight, with gas-check properly seated - everything seemed the same. I weighed a couple of hundred, separating them into 1/10 grain lots and shot them carefully. There was no improvement in the accuracy of these either.
While carefully inspecting one of the lubri-sized bullets under magnification, I noticed a slight difference in the width of the sized portion of the ogive, above the first lube groove. Looking at several others, it appeared that at least some of the bullets were not entering the sizing die straight. I took a look at a few bullets that had been sized in the Lee push-through die, and the first band was perfectly uniform, all around.
Reverting to my old sizing die, accuracy returned. It was clear to me that the bullets sized nose first with the Lee die were superior to those sized base first in my new lubri-sizer. Not one to give up on something that I had recently spent good money on, I set about figuring how to get this contraption working properly.
A careful inspection of my lubri-sizer revealed one part of the misalignment problem; the die was held in the press by the lock nut, which allowed considerable lateral movement before it was tightened. In addition, the nose-punch did not fit the bullet precisely.
The first thing I did was to file a flat on the nose punch shaft so that it would be mounted the same way each time it was removed and re-installed. Taking a few very hard (BHN 24) bullets sized in the Lee push-through die, I loosened the lock nut in the Lubri-sizer and seated one deeply, after first coating the nose portion with grease. I cleaned and de-greased the nose punch, then put a dab of epoxy in the cavity. I reinstalled the punch and lowered the ram to let the punch set lightly on the bullet in the die. When the epoxy set I had a perfect impression of the bullet’s nose in the punch.
Now when I change die and nose-punch, for a different caliber bullet, I take a very hard bullet (BHN 20+), and size it nose first, with the die loose in the press. I then turn the same bullet around and seat it, base first, in the slightly loose die. With the ram down and the bullet being centered in my altered nose-punch, I carefully tighten the lock nut. Set up this way, I can now size and lube bullets that shoot as accurately as those run through the Lee push-through die. ⁄
A careful inspection of my lubri-sizer revealed one part of the misalignment problem; the die was held in the press by the lock nut, which allowed considerable lateral movement before it was tightened. In addition, the nose-punch did not fit the bullet precisely.
The first thing I did was to file a flat on the nose punch shaft so that it would be mounted the same way each time it was removed and re-installed. Taking a few very hard (BHN 24) bullets sized in the Lee push-through die, I loosened the lock nut in the Lubri-sizer and seated one deeply, after first coating the nose portion with grease. I cleaned and de-greased the nose punch, then put a dab of epoxy in the cavity. I reinstalled the punch and lowered the ram to let the punch set lightly on the bullet in the die. When the epoxy set I had a perfect impression of the bullet’s nose in the punch.
Now when I change die and nose-punch, for a different caliber bullet, I take a very hard bullet (BHN 20+), and size it nose first, with the die loose in the press. I then turn the same bullet around and seat it, base first, in the slightly loose die. With the ram down and the bullet being centered in my altered nose-punch, I carefully tighten the lock nut. Set up this way, I can now size and lube bullets that shoot as accurately as those run through the Lee push-through die. ⁄