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Lube/Sizers (Read 612 times)
slk
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Lube/Sizers
03/08/10 at 12:15:32
 
Ok I have some questions about lube/sizers. I am going to be casting some 500, and 405 grain bullets for 45/70. I figure I will need a sizer to true them up and lube them. Will I need a sizer with a heater or will one do without.  Pro & Cons????????????

Thanks guys
Steve
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Fred Boulton
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #1 - 03/08/10 at 12:45:18
 
I have had a lyman Lube Sizer for 26years. Only use it if I can't cast a bullet of the correct diameter. Never used it for anything over .451".
Sizing should be avoided if you can: pan lube for black powder, tumble in liquid alox for smokeless.
fred.
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38_Cal
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #2 - 03/08/10 at 13:46:54
 
You'll only need a lube heater if you're using one of the hard lubes, or setting up in an unheated garage in the winter...and a desk lamp with a 40 watt bulb shining on the lubrisizer from a couple of inches away does the same thing much cheaper.  I use my version of Emmert lube, beeswax, Crisco and vegetable oil in a 5-3-1 ratio, and don't need a heater on my Lyman machine.  

David
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David Kaiser
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classicchecker
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #3 - 03/08/10 at 13:58:54
 
I lube with SPG using a RCBS lube sizer.  I don't use the Lyman sizers, finding most are egg shaped pretty bad.  Tried three, and returned them.
I order a .458 sizer from RCBS, and it is dead on concentric .458.  My bullets measure .4582 to .4583 after sizing and lubing, 20:1 lead, from a .459" Brooks 545 gr. creedmore mold.  Brooks states on his website that he cast his bullets to .459 and resizes them to .458".  I am kind of new at the BPCR silhouette, but what works for a two times National champion, Steve Brooks, should work for me!   Smiley
                           Best to all,   Tim Smith-Lyon
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38_Cal
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #4 - 03/08/10 at 15:05:59
 
I should add that the Lyman and RCBS lube sizer dies will interchange in each other's machines.  I don't think that I have any Lyman dies newer than ten years old, and don't have the egg/oval problem with the ones I do have.  SPG is a very good lube, but I don't find it cost effective...my home brew does what I need at a much cheaper cost.   Grin

David
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David Kaiser
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eph289
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #5 - 03/08/10 at 19:50:37
 
I suppose if you tighten the set screw too tight it might egg the die
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merle
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #6 - 03/08/10 at 20:03:23
 
I've used the cheapie Lee lube and size kit for 45-70.

I pan lube and then run it thru the Lee 458 die.   It mics
out a tru concentric .458.

I've run 405 to 525 grain bullets thru it.

I paid less then $15 for it. Can't beat the price.

Merle
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boats
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #7 - 03/09/10 at 08:28:10
 
Mostly pan lube or use a Dell style at the shooting bench. However use a Lyman sizer sometimes.  Wintertime in my shop when it's cold it works better heated. So seldom it's not worth putting a heating device on the sizer.

Get a heat gun, mine's a Craftsman and not very expensive. It only takes a minute or so to warm the sizer up so things flow nice.  The heat gun is also usefull if switching lubes. Hang the sizer upside down and melt all the old lube out.

Boats
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boats
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #8 - 03/09/10 at 08:34:24
 
On the Lyman sizer itself.

My dies were custom cut by a guy who advertises on the Cast Bullet Association web site. It lubes  .377 300 gr 38/55 smokeless practice bullet intended to shoot fixed without changing the size of the bullet as cast at all.  Have also altered the top punch to fit that bullet so no deformation from it either.  Use it to make long runs of practice bullets quicker and easier than pan lubing.

When I want the absolute best accuracy I don't use the lube sizer, go to a different bullet pan lubed  breech seated shot as cast.  That one is tapered and not a good bullet to size with the Lyman.  The Lee dies are great value do a good job and usefull to experement with. I have half a dozen of them around some sucessfull projects some not.

Boats
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40_Rod
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #9 - 03/09/10 at 08:39:10
 
Garbage in garbage out. If you buy a good mould from a good aftermarket mould maker you will get a round mould that is a proper size. If you buy from a manufacturer with a one size fits all approach to mould making you will have to jump through all the resizing hoops. Think about it first they sell you a mould that is somewhere in the neighborhood of the size that you need. Then when it doesn't shoot well they want to sell you a resizing contraption to fix the already shoddy work they did when they cranked out a couple of thousand moulds. Spend your money on a good mould that is the right size and round then pan lube them and you will have a lot more time to shoot. Or you could spend your time deforming the bullet with dies in hopes that you can make a silk purse out of the sows ear that fell out of a commercial mould.
40 Rod
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westerner
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #10 - 03/09/10 at 10:07:15
 
Making oversize molds then selling all the tools to make them the right size.  Great marketing.  A real money maker!   Grin

Custom molds all the way!

             Joe.
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boats
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #11 - 03/09/10 at 19:27:35
 
40 Rod & Westerner you are connoisseurs of bullet molds.  Lots of guys shoot well with factory molds.  They ain't all bad. Ask Froggy who has a mixed collection and shoots them all.

I do agree something custom is better though.   38/55 have three molds that work, two custom and one out of the box Saeco, it throws a pretty good bullet too.

For monthly offhand matches with about 100 fixed rounds expended and another 100 per month practice, the lube sizer set up right and one of LBT's old custom two cavity's cut for my barrel is the ticket.  It shoots almost as good as breech seated Hoch bullets. Probably 2 moa compared to One & 1/2 moa. Production is way faster allowing more shooting and fishing time.

Boats
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westerner
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #12 - 03/09/10 at 21:43:11
 
The only mass produced molds I use are Saeco molds. Yep thats it. Undecided

I cant think of one Lyman or Ideal mold,  wait, okay I use a Ideal Hudson mold for one of my Ballards. Havent shot it for about five years.

Some of the old Schutzen bullets made by Lyman and Ideal were the correct size. I dont have the French tapered spitzer mold. Dont see those too often.  

   Joe.
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Green_Frog
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #13 - 03/09/10 at 23:24:24
 
I've got about 1/2 a dozen or more Ideal and Lyman moulds in .32 caliber ranging from a couple so old they have integral handles to a variety of the later ones... all single cavity and most small blocks, so they are indeed old.  All the ones I cast with cast as consistently and as round as most of the moulds people brag about.  BTW, Joe... the French bullet (tapered w/spitzer point) was about the third one I got.  Don't use it much any more, but used to love it in my high-wall .32-40.

Froggie
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henpeckedmuch
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Re: Lube/Sizers
Reply #14 - 03/12/10 at 13:25:33
 
I have two lubersizers lyman and RCBS When casting for 45/70 I have 458 dia bullets and use 459 sizer. Don't want to make the bullet smaller just get excess lube off. Most bullets are more accurate shot as cast and not sized.
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