Resizing cast bullets

bgcameron

bgcameron

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Give it a try. They’ll need to be lubed for sure. They may spring back a little past .309, but maybe not. .005 is not that much, but it could be pretty tight depending on the lead hardness.
 
Never tried it however I resize powder coated bullets, some of which can get pretty tight. Be interesting to see how much they stretch.

Cheers
 
I tried squeezing down some cast 8mm at .329" down to .323" and the results weren't worth pursuing.
The lube grooves were almost gone and some looked pretty uneven.

The results with a different bullet might be quite different and if you have the gear it's not going to cost to try a couple.
 
Evanguy said:
Id see if a loaded round fits in the chamber. If the throat is big enough the fit you can just fire them.
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make sure that there is enough space for the neck to expand enough to release the bullet without building pressures to dangerous levels. A good friend kaboomed a K-31 due to this.
measure the neck on a fired case, and then make sure that the diameter of a loaded round is several thousands less than that.
 
vagrantviking said:
I tried squeezing down some cast 8mm at .329" down to .323" and the results weren't worth pursuing.
The lube grooves were almost gone and some looked pretty uneven.

The results with a different bullet might be quite different and if you have the gear it's not going to cost to try a couple.
Click to expand...

I don't have a sizer die yet. Does anyone in Victoria have a 309 sizer die I could try?
 
I size my cast at .311 for my Winchester 94. Barrel slugs at .308. I get zero lead fouling. I would suggest slugging your bore then go 2 thou over that measurement. To small of a bullet will cause leading.
 
"make sure that there is enough space for the neck to expand enough to release the bullet without building pressures to dangerous levels. A good friend kaboomed a K-31 due to this.
measure the neck on a fired case, and then make sure that the diameter of a loaded round is several thousands less than that."


Fair enough, you are correct. I was just posting on my cell quickly and made it a bit to short of an answer. The point i was trying to make was you can shoot the biggest lead that will chamber in the rifle freely without help pushing it in. But 0.002 over sized is most common.
 
I'd size those down to .311" personally. I shoot .311 sized bullets in everything 30 Cal with zero issues

As for sizing them down from .313" to .309" that should be easy as that's not much of a size reduction.

I size 405 grain .459" bullets down to .447" all the time. No issues other then I have to push on the press handle I bit harder.
 
I’ve done it in the past with no problem, swirl the bullets in a tub with some cooking oil for lube. No problem going to .309 but as mentioned I’d do .310.
 
Tinman204 said:
I'd size those down to .311" personally. I shoot .311 sized bullets in everything 30 Cal with zero issues

As for sizing them down from .313" to .309" that should be easy as that's not much of a size reduction.

I size 405 grain .459" bullets down to .447" all the time. No issues other then I have to push on the press handle I bit harder.
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Aha - me too for the 71/84 Mauser (in 43 Mauser). I chose a particular mold that weighed 500 grs that had deeper lube grooves though and sized to only 0.448", as the sizing eliminates a lot of lube capacity. It makes them into "bore-riders" as well, so I lube the nose too using Alox.
 
It depends on the bullet style. Some bullets have less surface area that needs to be resized, and they will size much easier than abullet with more area to swage down. Bore riding nose styles with narrower driving bands will size easiest. If the bullet has larger lube grooves then there is usually not an issue with them filling but narrow lube grooves will basically disappear if you reduce diameter too much.
 
My own experiences with sizing BB hard cast differs quite a bit from sizing much softer WW castings.

first of all, the Lyman sizer machine is not that "robust" in the handle mechanism so a bit of restraint must be observed in the amount of "pressure" used to size. A Lee "push-thu" in any single stage press will allow you to exert a lot more pressure, basically don't "bust or bulge the die open" is the limitation here.

I have down-sized quite a few BB slugs in my "powder coating" testing for rifles. BB advertises their alloy at a Brinel # of 25 while WW mostly test at 12 or less. I have found that I can easily reduce a WW slug without damaging my sizer press down 4 thou. at one go. It takes the same handle pressure to down-size a hard cast BB slug 1 thou per pass. In my opinion, if you want to down-size BB slugs 4 thou at a single pass then a single stage press & pass-thru sizer be used.
 
fingers284 said:
My own experiences with sizing BB hard cast differs quite a bit from sizing much softer WW castings.

first of all, the Lyman sizer machine is not that "robust" in the handle mechanism so a bit of restraint must be observed in the amount of "pressure" used to size. A Lee "push-thu" in any single stage press will allow you to exert a lot more pressure, basically don't "bust or bulge the die open" is the limitation here.

I have down-sized quite a few BB slugs in my "powder coating" testing for rifles. BB advertises their alloy at a Brinel # of 25 while WW mostly test at 12 or less. I have found that I can easily reduce a WW slug without damaging my sizer press down 4 thou. at one go. It takes the same handle pressure to down-size a hard cast BB slug 1 thou per pass. In my opinion, if you want to down-size BB slugs 4 thou at a single pass then a single stage press & pass-thru sizer be used.
Click to expand...

That's correct - I assumed OP was using a push through.
 
I slugged the bore at .308" I ended up ordering a .309 sizer (what Budget Shooter supply had in stock). With a little lube, the bullets size perfectly to .309.

Now to work up a load.
 
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