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By Ed Wosika, Sacramento, CA,

the product development guy for THE HANNED LINE

In his excellent article on concentric lubri-sizing, in Issue 143 of The Fouling Shot (The Caste Bullet Association’s Journal), David Southall presented some really great tricks for overcoming the tendency of the RCBS- and Lyman-style lubri-sizers to size your CBs off-line (non-coaxial). He developed this fine approach after noting that CBs sized base-first with his lubri-sizer often didn’t shoot well, and (on designs amenable to such observations) showed higher sizing marks on one side of the nose than the other. I’ve been working with some experimental tools recently that have taught me some lessons along this line. I’d like to take this chance to use them to expand and modify the method that David proposed..

Review — First, let’s review his method to fix misalignment and improve the top punch’s nose-fit on an RCBS/Lyman rig. File a flat on the round shaft of your nose punch, so that the setscrew can hold it in the same position each time you use it. Using a hard CB that you have sized nose-first (e.g., through a Lee push-through die) sized to the same size as your RCBS/Lyman sizer die, you seat it leaving the die’s lock nut loose. The die has some lateral slop, so centers itself. You tighten the die’s lock nut in this centered position. To improve the fit of the top punch’s nose cavity, you have greased the CB’s nose prior to seating it. You now remove the top punch, degrease it, partially fill the nose cavity with epoxy cement, reinstall it in the press (minding the orientation flat), and then let it sit gently atop the CB. The grease on the CB acts as a release agent. To use it in the future, you insert the top punch, tighten the setscrew onto the flat face, seat a hard CB that has been sized nose-first, then tighten the loose die nut.

Epiphany — Recently, I’ve been working with some experimental gas checks by THE HANNED LINE, plus an updated version of their Noze-First top punch that avoids touching the sprue. The lessons these experiments taught me relate directly to David’s proposal. I’ll first tell you what happened, and then use that information to expand the scope of David’s proposal and to put out warning signs for the edge of the performance envelope.

The experimental gas checks had a sharp rear edge and were for .30 caliber. They gave fits to everyone on our design team except for Mustafa Curtess, who can make anything shoot… in fact, he preferred them to the Hornady checks. What bothered me was that I often saw a "fin" of copper extending rearward from one side or the other of the rear of the check, when sizing CB’s with the modified Noze-First top punch. These fins were not evident with rifle-type (two-diameter) CBs, but were very common on Loverin and pistol (single-diameter) bullets.

I’ve been using the Noze-First top punch for all my CB work for years, "knowing" that it always would produce more coaxially-sized CBs than if sized base-first. Most of my recent work has been with large-bore revolvers using sharp-rear-edged PBCBs, and I’ve never seen any such effect. Now, here I am with smaller (.30 caliber) CBs and I’m having horrible trouble! The reason finally hit me.

As it turned out, these little devils were starting into the die somewhat tilted. Once started, the die’s grip locked them off-line, so the CB had to bend progressively as it was inserted into the die. The last little bit (with the sharp-rear gas check) was still off-line when enough, it entered the die’s forcing cone, that part of the check on the "off" side was pinched and smeared.

I experimented with it by intentionally starting the CB tilted slightly in a given direction. The result was a fin on that side. However, it can get even more out of hand. I tried a few by starting them well off-line, with the result that the CB was bent clear over center and the fin formed on the side opposite to which I had tilted the bullet. It is even possible for this to occur in a way that the base of the bullet ends up straight up, thereby providing no hint of a problem, even with a sharp-rear-edge gas check.

Note that although this fining effect would not show up with a radiused-rear Hornady check, the CB would be just as ruined… you just wouldn’t see it. Furthermore, the ruined CB would have a pretty even size line on the front drive band. This is the kind of problem for which we MUST develop an antidote.

Comparison — There is one flaw in the ointment, regarding David’s approach. Most lubri-sizer dies have a rubber "O"-ring to seal them. This provides resistance to one’s pushing the die off-center when trying to get its bore on-center. Therefore, I feel that, in all cases where a nose-first approach will work, one will get the better, and more consistent, results by using the Noze-First top punch to do the sizing, then doing the lube stroke using an aligned, cast-cavity nose punch and die, as described by David. Yet another problem is how to achieve these advantages with a SAECO lubri-sizer?

Rifle-Type CBs — For any rifle-type CB sized nose-first, the CB’s point first centers itself in the sprue-avoidance depression in the top of the die’s punch. Then, as the CB is pushed down into the die, the next part to touch the die is the forward edge of the drive band. This slides down the die’s forcing cone until it is perfectly centered. At this point, BEFORE the CB has entered the die, it has two widely separated dead-on-center locations (point and forward drive band). Like they way, "Two points defines a line." Well this is what makes rifle-type CBs get such a nice coaxial sizing using the Noze-First top punch… the CB aligns itself BEFORE entering the die. You can’t beat them apples, regardless of caliber.

If the sprue-avoidance cavity in the top of your die’s punch is too broad and shallow for good centering of the CB’s point, you may want to have Robert Stillwell fix it for you by running in a center drill, on the lathe, such that the exit diameter for the resulting conical hole is around 2/3 the caliber’s diameter. He can also grind a nice, smooth, gentle entry taper, which will help on such work as seating Free-Checs. [If you are not familiar with these beasties, you’ll hear more about them below.]

Large-Caliber Pistol and Loverin CBs — The Noze-First also works well for large caliber pistol- and Loverin-style CBs. However, they use a different alignment approach. These CBs have no "nose" and their point is quite short; therefore, they cannot make use of the alignment approach used by rifle-type CBs. For such bullets, the point’s fit in the sprue-avoidance cavity in the top of the punch is of no consequence. For all practical purposes, for these blunt-nose CBs, the first part of the CB to center is the forward portion of the drive band. This can happen even if the CB is canted considerably… the front drive band just slides down the die’s forcing cone until it is centered, regardless of the CB’s yaw. However, all is not lost.

When you begin to push it into the die, the flat bottom of the Noze-First hits the highest (tilted-up) side of the CB’s base. The CB’s large diameter places this high point well off to one side, thereby providing leverage enough to cause the CB to right itself PRIOR TO the sizing stroke. This angular correction continues until the CB’s rear end is touching evenly all around the Noze-First’s precision bottom face. At that point, it is centered on the die’s centerline. Two points still make a straight line, even if we arrive at the second point by a different means.

One way to help this work better, especially with marginal calibers like .35 and 9mm, is to apply a touch of oil, from time to time, to the precision flat face of the Noze-First top punch. This encourages the sideways sliding action of the CB so that it is completely face-to-face (aligned) with the punch prior to the actual sizing stroke.

Note that the Lee sizer is not suited for this most-common type of CB, because it provides no centering point for the CB’s point.

Small-Caliber Pistol and Loverin CBs — So what happens with smaller-caliber pistol- and Loverin-type CBs? Well, that gets interesting, and it explains why I had so very much trouble! On calibers below around .35, the CB’s rear end just isn’t wide enough to give alignment leverage when the "high" side of the tipped CB’s base touches the flat bottom of the Noze-First punch. Therefore, it will tend to NOT self-align prior to entering the die. The result is a badly mauled CB.

Please notice that, if my conclusions are correct, this problem applies to ALL non-big-bore CBs sized through a Lee push-through sizer. In my opinion, you are asking for trouble using such a rig on anything but large-bore slugs. It is an outstanding rig for them, but can give hidden problems on small-bore bullets of all kinds. We could use some CBA member research on this topic.

Free-Checs — THE HANNED LINE is also about to come out with a considerably improved line of Free-Chec dies, originally invented by our very own Paco Kelly! PB Free-Chec dies make gas checks, from aluminum beverage can material or thin used aluminum printer plates, for plain based (PB) CBs. THE HANNED LINE is currently developing an improved version of this die. Considerably later, they’ll come out with a multi-layer version for GCCBs (gas check style CBs).

Whether you use the single-layer PB or multi-layer GC version, you MUST size these all on base-first because the design requires the check’s "skirt" to be pulled upward, relative to the base, in order to provide the tension that causes an even radius around the base edge of the CB, during sizing. That throws another kink into the sizing issue, at least for rifle-type and large-caliber pistol/Loverin CBs that are best sized nose-first. I kept asking myself, "How the heck am going to get those Free-Checs on the CB’s base without messing up its nice alignment?!" Then David came to the rescue with his wonderful article.

So, what should we do to be sure that we don’t get perverto-sized CBs that look good but shoot poorly? Here are my suggestions.

Rifle-Type CBs — Use a Noze-First top punch to carry out the sizing stroke, then insert your prepared, oriented (flat face points toward set screw) cast-cavity top punch and, for an RCBS/Lyman lubri-sizer, loosen the die screw, insert a matching hard pre-sized CB base first, and set the die nut while you are holding the die centered with your aligned cast-cavity top punch. Note that, with either the RCBS or the Lyman lubri-sizer, you can use the same cast-cavity, aligned top punch for all sizer die diameters you have in that caliber.

For a SAECO press, the die has no appreciable sideways latitude, and the cone-in-cone fit of the top punch into the press top provides no top punch side-slop. The good news is that you don’t have to align the top punch, just always use the same gentle torque setting (just beyond finger-tight). The bad news is that you’ll need to nose-cast a different top punch for every die you have in that caliber. Furthermore, ALWAYS orient the die in the same manner (e.g., with the caliber stamp in front). In this way, you use the epoxy to cast a coaxial top punch, then always store that top punch with its matching die. You reacquire that good alignment by simply orienting the die (caliber designation forward) and tightening the matching top punch just past finger tight. Another good point for the SAECO is that you don’t need to align the die using a hard, nose-first-sized CB.

It helps to use a center punch to code your top punches (e.g., one dimple for each 0.001 the die is over the nominal jacketed bullet diameter). That way, you can tell if there is a mix-up.

So, for lubing, you lube base-first using the corrected and aligned normal top punch and lubri-sizer die. You just use a different approach to accomplish this with a SAECO press as compared to one of the RCBS or Lyman ones.

Large-Caliber Pistol/Loverin — Use the same approach as described, above, for rifle CBs. The only difference is that you rely on a different mechanism to center the CB prior to the actual sizing stroke.

Small-Caliber Pistol and Loverin CBs — Here we have a problem because the nose-first approach (using either Lee die or Noze-First top punch) won’t work reliably for producing a coaxially sized CB. That means we can’t create the on-line CB to use for casting an aligned cavity-nose top punch. Therefore, the best we can do is to set up an aligned die and cast-cavity top punch (using the method appropriate to the press brand) a rifle-type CB that has a point shape close to that of our pistol or Loverin CB. If you have no close match, point-wise, then you are back to square one… doing the best you can with an unaligned die and punch.

About the only option that comes to mind is to "roll size" a CB between two smooth-faced heavy steel plates, experimenting until you size one to just fit the die. If done with care, this should have a point that is still coaxial with the long drive band section, so could be used to cast a matching, coaxial, cast-cavity top punch.

Free-Checs — With either the GC or the PB type Free-Chec, first size the CB with the Noze-First top punch, then align the die and cast-cavity top punch, as described above for the type of press you have (for RCBS/Lyman, using a bare-butt, sized CB). Once the die and cast-cavity top punch are aligned, fit a Free-Chec to the base of a sized CB and run it down into the die. This both irons-in the check and injects lube.

THIS POINT IS ESSENTIAL: Never forget that the trick, when sizing on Free-Checs, is to remember to use your weight to initiate the sizing stroke by applying your weight downward your arm locked to your chest or belly (the height of the handle), and just lowering your body by bending your knees. That way, once the check starts to yield suddenly, you can slowly apply additional travel. This gives the check time to stretch and crimp-in. If you use arm power instead, you’ll move too quickly once the check starts to yield. This can cause the CB’s sharp lower edge to cut through the aluminum.

Paco Kelly’s lovely little invention is still one of the best ways for controlling gas bleed-by on stiff loads for plain-based bullets, and the multi-layer GC version provides an inexpensive replacement for the ever-more-costly commercial gas checks on GCCBs. Watch for the ads soon, in the FS, notifying of their availability from THE HANNED LINE. Likewise, for the improved Noze-First top punch. If you want more timely notification of their availability and you are on-line, go to www.hanned.com and click on the "mail list" option, then indicate the tools the availability of which you want to receive immediate notification (Mk II PB Free-Chec, Mk II GC Free-Chec, and/or Mk II Noze-First Mk II). HANNED’s Dennis Smith will keep you posted.

I hope this provides you with some useful insights into the possible pitfalls we CB shooters can run into when sizing and lubing our little pills. Many of these problems and solutions would have remained undiscovered, at least by me, had it not been for that sharp-rear-edge experimental gas check. There are a few drawbacks for the Lee-type push-through sizer and even for the Noze-First top punch. The trick is to use each tool in a manner in which it will not disturb your CB’s lovely as-cast alignment during the sizing or lubing operations. I wish you improved accuracy.

As always, Ed

write Ed

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