Opening up sizing dies.

I completed my sizer mod, to my suprise it was much eazier and for me and much better. The die holder looks just like a lee, a bit shorter. The sizing bushings are 1/2 inch long and were so much easier to make than the full size versions. I made four sizers in the half the time it takes to thread one full size one. I can harden them too with ease. I may need a set screw, some times the lube failed to hold the sizer, but when this happened the sizer just fell on the pusher and the boolit stayed on the pusher, no big deal kind of neat how good the way it works, just grab the sizer and plop it over the next boolit and feed it into the die and stroke the press and another freedom seed is done.
be well
 
I opened mine by following the instructions on Castnoolits. Just "lube" some of your bullets with valve grinding compound and run them through your sizer. After every few bullets, clean your die and run a clean bullet through it to see what it sizes at. Check often because it doesn't take long.
 
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They are not as easy to size as guys make them out to be I've found.

I put emery cloth on a brass rod and in a drill and it still takes a ten minutes to gain anything substantial.

The rolling it back and forth by hand method got me zippo for a good twenty minutes work...
 
I opened some of mine with a undersized dowel, 1000 grit sand paper, drill press and a handful of cast bullets to check the sizing as I open it up.

I out the dowel in the drill press and hold the die in my hand and move it up and down as it spins haha.
 
Opened up my .452 to .460 last night with 80gr emery cloth wrapped around a steel rod. It took some effort, but worked out well. It gets pretty hot if you're in a hurry. I'd agree that they aren't hardened. Probably took 15 mins, which isn't bad considering the amount of material removed.
 
I bought 1/2 dozen in 285 to be opened up to 301,303,305,up for paper patching prupose's. It take's time but it's worked out well.
 
Opened up a Lee 40 S&W ( .400 ) to a .41 Colt ( .402 ) easy with the cut dowel/sand paper method. Dowel fits in the mouth of an eletric drill .. took 15 mim maybe .. have some fine grit. Why Powder coat .41 colt .. ( see below )

This was done to resize powder coated " heeled " .41 colt projectiles for ( pre 1890 ) 1877 thunderer .. after/during 1890 the thunderer cylinder was modified to " not " have .401 sholders (my opnion/experience ) . 1890 saw the release of the .41 hollow base projectile .386 and it would appear that the 1877 cylinder, after 1890, was straight bored to allow for max expansion of the base during the jump to the barrel.

These powder coated projectiles were created for specific load development .. to prevent powder coat from sticking to the base of the heeled projectile ( part inserted into the .386 brass cart ) it was wrapped in plumbers white silicone tape ..when the tape was removed after baking .... projectile base was pristine.

Resizing to .402 ( cylinder sholders are .401 on both my pre 1890 thunderers ) eliminated 80% effectiveness of the powder coated heeled projectiles exposed lube grove, (I was not using it ) .. but I am sure that a filling of the grove with silicone tape would have prevented any powder coat from reducing the grove depth and one could have the benefit of using a powder coated heeled projectile with black powder. My load development was for smokeless ......

Applying the plumbers tape was not as tedious as one would expect ( took 10 seconds ) .. the tape sticks to the preceding layer and does not deform in the baking process .. I was not protecting the lube grove, but would imagine rolling the tape and tying in the grove would be quick .. these projectiles were " not " prepared for plinking so added time was not a factor ..

Post for info only .. ■■■ not recommending the use of smokeless powder in antiques designed for black powder. ■■■
 
If you really want accurately sized holes to push lead bullets through, dig around the web for drill bushings. There are several different styles, some press fit, some replaceable by loosening a screw and sliding the bushing out. Available in carbide or hardened steel, and in sizes usually guaranteed to be well within a tenth of a thousandth of an inch. And only a couple bucks each.
 
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