True up your cast and paper patched bullets

[Gunlaker]

Jim I do the same as you, for the same reasons. I do have a couple of .45's that want a .445" bullet with my paper and I'll size the bullet from .446" to .445". I generally run the patched bullets through a sizer die before putting them into the cases.

I don't suppose you'd consider adding your .4505" sizer dies to your lineup of products would you? I'd sure be interested in buying one.

Chris.

[Kurt]

Jim I'm with you on uniform diameter PP bullets and a bullet that is a consistent snug fit 100%.
A bullet that is tight enough that you need a tool or even a hard thumb push to get the breach closed your changing the load performance by changing the compression of the powder and bullet release. This might make a big difference at long range or you might only loose one scoring ring, but that loss of one ring might loose you first place on the leader board. Back when I used the Goex Express powder giving it .300 plus compression it did not make any difference on the powder compression using a seating tool but it changed the bullet release. Using a lightly compressed powder load like one might use with Swiss or the OE powder the added compression seating a tight bullet makes a down range difference.

When I got my new Douglas barreled .40-65 it has a very tight undersized bore and shallow groove from the common .400/.408 I could not seat the round with the thumb that worked fine for the .40-70 Shiloh, the breach block had to finish seating it and I had holes all over the paper because the bullet was to large in diameter. This would have been OK maybe if I seated the bullet deeper in the case that I could work up another accuracy load at the cost of powder capacity that would effect downrange performance so I ordered two Lee push through dies and also a proper diameter mould and the difference is plain on the down range target that I did the right thing.
If you have a ugley bullet you will also have a ugley target.

But pay attention on how much you size the bullet down. sizing a .4023" to .4005" will increase the length of the bullet and also change the ogive to a shorter length. This might or might not make a difference on accuracy for your particular load.

[Eric Johanen]

Pleased I started this thread. A lot of interesting information is being discussed and I think it can help in loading better ammunition and target scores. Uniformity and consistency are keys to good shooting. Also little things can make a big difference in putting up usable hunting ammo. Discussions like this are quite interesting and can help new shooter's a great deal.

[bruce moulds]

say you want to size a bullet to 0.450".
do you buy a 0.450 sizer.
that is to say, do theyy size to thi i.d. of the die?
keep safe,
bruce.

[Distant Thunder]

Chris,

I don't think I could compete with Lee Precision on price or delivery of custom sizing dies. These days I have a hard time keeping up with almost everything I make, just getting too slow I guess. I may have to give some thought to down sizing not expanding.

One thing I have found with sizing dies for patched bullets is the smoother they are inside the better, I polish mine with very fine emery paper. Like Kurt says, sizing more than a little bit changes more than just the diameter. I have checked my naked bullets before and after sizing and the bullet diameter is unchanged. All I'm doing is smoothing out the paper. As bruce asked, for such slight size reduction the bullets come out the size of the I.D. of the die. Sizing more might have some spring back maybe, but it can't be much with lead.

[Eric Johanen]

I suppose you could get a very slight variation with the dies. I ordered a ,450 sizer and with my .444 bullets patched with .002 bond paper the finished diameter is .4505 and works quite well. I believe it's pretty hard to hold 1/2 thousands.

[bruce moulds]

thanks guys.
nei seems to have something similar as well as lee.
keep safe,
bruce.