Sizing .44 Patched bullets.

[Eric Johanen]

Weather is crappy and I have been thinking ( usually always dangerous) about variations as cast from my Brook's mold. From top to bottom of the pot I get about 1 thousands. Probably due to temperature difference and I am stirring the mix every 10 bullets cast. I ran some through my Lee .430 sizer and when patched all come out to .439 or a Nat's whisker under. Patched bullet difference is well under 1/2 thousands. I account this to the slight variation in the paper over the course of cutting patches from a sheet. Uniform seating tension in my fired brass. I am going to test them next time on the range. Anyone else doing this or something similar? Trying to get as uniform as possible bullets.

[Kurt]

Eric.

My .40-65 CPA has a Douglas barrel on it and it has a undersized bore. A .399 patched bullet is a very tight fit but I can seat it. I ordered a custom push through die from Lee and I must say that's what it came at .399 and I run a patched bullet with 55 W and 55 Y through the die because with the two papers that have a lot of variances that run with the 55W from .0016"to .0018" depending where I check it on the paper. The 55Y runs from .00137 to .004+- per roll. Running this patched bullet through the die and I don't size it down more than 002" maybe 3 at the most and it does make a mark on the bullet shank that got squeezed down but it does not show on the paper as far as a accuracy problem and the patch gets ironed on with a good folded under base. But the paper is on the edge of being to thin for the groove depth that is .003" in this barrel and I do see a lead smear on the driving edge of the lands with the Hawkey scope.

[Eric Johanen]

Kurt, since doing this I see the bullets as just slightly burnished. No discernable mark on the bullets With careful examination under a bright light I can just see when the ogive breaks to the nose start. Near as I can measure my paper varies from .0019 to .0020. Patched they all come out as described above. Should work well with uniform bullet diameter.

[MikeT]

I have found that the most dependable way to have a uniform pp bullet fit to bore is to size the bullets after I patch them.
That way if the bullet is 0.001" bigger or the paper is 0.0005" thicker or both happen on the same bullet, it does not matter.

Keep on hav'n fun!
MikeT

[Distant Thunder]

MikeT has it right, it works very well for me to size after patching. If you size the naked bullet you really should lube it with something or you will get lead build up in you sizing die. Then you have to clean the lube off after sizing or you may have patches sticking to the lube. You end up adding more steps and all about keeping it simple.

[Eric Johanen]

I use a very slight wipe of Imperial lube on the bullet before I run it into the sizer. Wipe the lube off after. I'm retired so have lots of time. I am dry patching now and have problems with the patch slipping off in the sizer when I try to do it that way. (works great with wet patched bullets) Have not figured out how to do that yet. I suppose I need more paper under the base to get this to work.

[Gunlaker]

I size pretty much all of my PP bullets after patching. It's definitely made for more consistent seating pressure when chambering the ammo.

I use a Lee custom push through sizer.

Chris.