Lee molds dont require sizing?

[drdarrin@sbcglobal.net]

Ninask, I beg to differ on the sizing but to each his own.

Every oversize bullet you shoot is being swaged to fit the bore. Lead, even hard cast lead, is softer than jacketed bullets. Shooting a lead slug that is no more than 0.002 over bore is not going to cause an over pressure situation unless they are being over loaded to begin with. Eg use jacketed bullet loads behind lead bullets. Even if the diameters vary slightly, you will still be ok.

[Ninask]

Ninask, I beg to differ on the sizing but to each his own.

Every oversize bullet you shoot is being swaged to fit the bore. Lead, even hard cast lead, is softer than jacketed bullets. Shooting a lead slug that is no more than 0.002 over bore is not going to cause an over pressure situation unless they are being over loaded to begin with. Eg use jacketed bullet loads behind lead bullets. Even if the diameters vary slightly, you will still be ok.

Yes your barrel will 'swage' every bullet down the pipe,
but the point is consistentcy, if one bullet is .001 over and one bullet is .002 under specs this will affect accuracy,
if you size every bullet coming out of a mold all your bullets will be consistent in size,
and should be more accurate out your barrel
N

[sghart]

I wouldn't necessarily invest in Cerrosafe or slug my barrel(or barrels). I would suggest a more practical approach.

If your gun is fairly new you can assume that the bore diameters are consistent. This is a testament to modern machining practices.

What I do with any new gun in my safe is I cast a pile of bullets. I load a bunch unsized and I load a bunch after running them through a sizing die. I shoot each group and check for leading, accuracy, etc. Most of my guns shoot great with .001" over the groove diameter. But I have gone over that to as much as .003" before I had the right sizing dies.

All of my S&W revolvers shoot well with sized bullets. These guns range in age from 60 years old to brand new. My Rugers are a different story. Two shoot as well as my S&W's but one leads a little with the same bullets. All are .357's.

To summarize, you can go through a lot of measuring, slugging, etc. and risk analysis paralysis or you can just start shooting and see what works.

[Dark Mod]

I wouldn't necessarily invest in Cerrosafe or slug my barrel(or barrels). I would suggest a more practical approach.

If your gun is fairly new you can assume that the bore diameters are consistent. This is a testament to modern machining practices.

What I do with any new gun in my safe is I cast a pile of bullets. I load a bunch unsized and I load a bunch after running them through a sizing die. I shoot each group and check for leading, accuracy, etc. Most of my guns shoot great with .001" over the groove diameter. But I have gone over that to as much as .003" before I had the right sizing dies.

All of my S&W revolvers shoot well with sized bullets. These guns range in age from 60 years old to brand new. My Rugers are a different story. Two shoot as well as my S&W's but one leads a little with the same bullets. All are .357's.

To summarize, you can go through a lot of measuring, slugging, etc. and risk analysis paralysis or you can just start shooting and see what works.

I see your point, and am a big fan of experimentation in reloading. But i need to buy all my gear to get started, and i dont want to by 3 bullet sizers for every caliber, i kinda want to buy what ill need in advance

[Whiterabbit]

then make an educated guess and just go for it.

FWIW if you have a high speed drill press or lathe, and the sizer is the wrong size, you can go up in size .0005 or .001 pretty easy by polishing the inside. or a low speed drill, but you'll be working for awhile.

[sghart]

I see your point, and am a big fan of experimentation in reloading. But i need to buy all my gear to get started, and i dont want to by 3 bullet sizers for every caliber, i kinda want to buy what ill need in advance

I see your situation. In that case I would stick with one sizer per caliber. I cast all of my own bullets for several different calibers. In your example casting a .358" bullet and sizing it down to .357" would be the same as shooting a .357" bullet as cast. That is, assuming your mold drops them round. It also assumes your sizing die is round.

90% of my molds are Lee molds. I have one push thru sizing die per caliber, also a Lee product. If you stick with the standard Lee sizing dies that are .001" over bore then you will be fine.