Nose Sizer Die Experience for RCBS / Lyman Sizers
This is my idle way to nose size bullets using idle hands and available parts. So far, I've not damaged the .501 H&I die and it could be returned to sizing service.... There are other ways to set up for a bushing based nose sizer, but this is a way I thought up. As always, questions, comments, derision, etc can be sent to me HERE

Lyman Instructions for 4500
RCBS Lube-A-Matic 2 Instructions

Beagle333 shows a custom made nose sizer
Ben started the wheels turning with Is your nose too big ? ?
Musings on the lowly Top Punch (Lyman vs. RCBS)
Top Punch nose OD (what works for nose sizing)

Using softer alloys will shrink the boolit, so if you are close to the workable nose diameter, and can accept a softer alloy, try it. Less time nose sizing = more time shooting...

While struggling with seating depth in my 6.8 SPC, I cast about looking for a simple way to nose size the 280468-S boolits. While some on Cast Bullets forum will make you a whole new die body for this, I welcomed the excuse to buy more parts and tools. Actually, you don't need much for tools, but the excuse is too good to pass up.

You will need a 15/16 wrench to remove the Locking Cap / Retaining Nut. I found a surplus 15/16" flare wrench on fleabay...

RCBS P/N 80088 Die Locking Cap - The OD of the opening above the H&I die is .590 (15mm to the dominion). Hex flat-to-flat is 15/16, the thread is 15/16-20. Yes, Virginia, 15/16-20 IS a standard thread.

Lyman P/N 2990601 Sizing Die Retaining Nut probably of similar construction.

You want the Lyman .501 (P/N 276652) for this. The newer Lyman H&I die has pairs of holes up higher than the RCBS. Best of all, the bushings from RCBS, Redding, and Wilson are all of the same diameter and height.



To paraphrase Redding: Neck Sizing Bushings are available in two styles. Both share the same external dimensions (1/2" O.D. x 3/8" long) and freely interchange in all Redding Bushing style Neck Sizing Dies. They are available in .001" size increments throughout the range of .185" thru .368"....

Heat treated steel (P/N 73185 - 73368). The interiors are hand-polished with a surface hardness of Rc 60-62.
Heat treated steel w/ Titanium Nitride surface treatment (P/N 76185 - 76368 ) to increase surface hardness and reduce sizing friction.


Dowel pins, .125 wide x .125 long. The wall thickness of the .501 will be .100 on a side, so these dinky pins will only protrude .025 into the bore of the H&I die. These dowel pins are as hard as woodpecker lips, so the ideal of buying a .125 diameter by 3/16 long pin leaves you with either grinding it off or using some cutters that can cut hardened steel.

.500" TGP steel for the new rod in the H&I. Drill the center just a skosh larger than .264", a little deeper than .430" (or you could drill entirely through, it doesn't matter)

A washer with a suitable ID (anything larger than .475" / 12mm ID is too big). The washer can be thinned and the OD can be turned down to just under .720" (diameter of the "lip" at the top of the H&I die).

The nose punch will enter the Redding bushing about .200 of an inch before the TP web bottoms out on the underside of the dowel pins.

First attempts are not bad. The ideal is sound, but my very cheap approach only works on short boolits (.800-.900 or so). When my .501 H&I die arrives I will slightly modify it to hold the neck bushing... Some ideals came to me.

This shows a 280468S being set up to size the nose to the very first band. I used the Redding bushing with the letters UP. See the distance between the base of the boolit and the punch? Now you can turn out a much shorter Top Punch, but then you will be adding MORE parts.











One of the first things I found out was the TP that works with the normal H&I die may not work with the diameter of the neck bushing being used. Not wanting to swap TPs for every operation, I just rooted about for a TP with a punch end of a suitable diameter.


Here is a shot of the super complicated ejection system. Merely turn the bushing end for end and rest it on another bushing for the boolit to be pushed down into.


Here is a 280468S boolit with an unsized nose. The tilt was not intentional, darned Lūb Monkey wouldn't hold still... Note that the boolit stops entering the bore prior to the first band and that it is still on the ogive. The unsized nose is @.272, what a difference a few thousandths make...



This is a 280468S with a nose sized to .270 inserted into the muzzle of a TC 6.8mm Remington SPC barrel. Note that it is all the way up to the first band and no ogive is seen. Effort to size the nose is far less than full diameter sizing.



Things to do yet - it appears that the short nose on a NON bore rider allows TOO much angular play when starting the boolit. I am of the opinion that moving to the H&I with a neck bushing will pretty much eliminate the OAL boolit length problem. One finesse is to use a neck bushing slightly oversize for the as-cast boolit diameter to hold shorter boolits in alignment when starting.

When my 277 H&I arrives, I will size some RCBS 7mm-145s for use with my 7-30 Waters. The bore rider nose IMHO is long enough to self-center...

Silhouette shooters were right - .277 H&I to nose size 7mm-145-SIL
I have been to the mountaintop. And it is good.
 

First is an RCBS 7mm-145-SIL as-cast of WW. Nose averages @ .278+. Second is a nose sized 7mm-145-SIL at .277+. All the way down to the first band.

Simple setup, I chose to use a common case lube pad to apply a little lub to the noses.


Don't forget that the top punch driving the train needs to match the boolit base. Using a rounded Louverin style TP will cause trouble. After I switched to a SWC profile TP, the bases were good. This boolit is melt pot bait.


A boolit to depth. The 7mm-145-SIL made a little "bump" that I could feel during sizing right before reaching the first band. Take it a bit slow.


Darned Lūb Monkey. Anyways, you can see the sizing pattern. It varies from boolit to boolit.


The boolit tip does not widen much. If anything, I would say it mostly flattens the rounded edges of the cast boolit. This will not make your boolit a WFN by any means.


A box of plumbous love.

Larry Gibson wrote: I've sized a lot of noses using a modified H&I die to take Redding bushings. I find GCing the bullets first before sizing the nose better protects the shank and also really does squarely seat the GC on the bullet.