Home grown sizer die

[junkman1967]

I ordered a sizing die from Midway, but its on back order until November. I am embarking on making my own. See the pictures below.

I started out with a piece of 1 inch round stainless bar stock. I trued it in the lathe, center drilled and reamed it to .310. I then contoured it using the dimensions from one of my LEE dies. Tomorrow I will thread it 7/8-14 and dress all the sharp edges. I will polish the I.D. and final dimension will be .3105. For the ram I took a 5/16, grade 8, 12 point headed bolt and turned the head down so it fit my #2 shell holder. I will cut the threads off and polish the O.D. with 1500 grit until it fits in the die. We shall see how this works, and if it does, I will probably make all my own from here out. Any comments are appreciated

Joe

[blikseme300]

Nice work. I routinely make my own sizing dies for my Star sizers and this ability allows me to get exactly what I want. The best investments I have made have been a lathe and mill to compliment my reloading tools.

[aspangler]

Exactly the way I make mine. Why pay for something you can make and enjoy making it as well as using it.

[Norbrat]

Looking good.

Starting with 7/8 x 14 threaded rod or a bolt saves a lot of thread cutting.

[Sweetpea]

Just curious...

Any reason you made the ram fit your shell holder, instead of just snapping into the ram?

[junkman1967]

The ram diameter is larger than the bolt head was. The bolt is almost the perfect size for the sizer so I made the bolt head fit the shell holder. Im going to drill and tap the bolt so I can put a socket head screw up through the shell holder to keep it centered. More work I know, but its fun experimenting.

I hadn't thought about a threaded rod or bolt, thanks for the idea.

Joe

[junkman1967]

Ok so when threading the die I had a brain fart and screwed it up I am going to turn the threads off it and make a bushing thread it into my press. I will update when I make some progress, of course by then my back ordered die will be in I am determined to get this die made one way or another.

[graphic914]

wish I had metal working skills,

[texassako]

Ok so when threading the die I had a brain fart and screwed it up I am going to turn the threads off it and make a bushing thread it into my press. I will update when I make some progress, of course by then my back ordered die will be in I am determined to get this die made one way or another.

That is why I use a length of 7/8-14 threaded rod. I suck at threading with my HF mini lathe.

[MarkP]

I have used 7/8-14 x 2.5" GR 5 bolts; When I had more time I would make out of 7/8" O1 drill rod and heat treat and final polish.

[junkman1967]

Here is the die almost done. All I have to do is machine a collar to lock it into my press. ID is .3105, which should be fine. I polished the ram with 1500 grit and faced off the threads. Im going to cast some boolits this weekend and see how it works.

[rbuck351]

I have been making my own for several years with a 7x14 HF mini lathe for my lyman, rcbs and star sizers. I have also made a few push throughs using all thread. I made one by threading on the lathe but the HF mini is just too much hassel for that big of thread. I also made a sleeve from 7/8 14 all thread that the lyman type dies fit in to adapt them to push through on a press.

[littlejack]

Good information here fellas.
I have made a couple of dies, and push through sizers with my Grizzly 10x22 lathe.
Can any of you expound on the best process to lap/polish the inside of a home made die. I am new at this, and can use all the help I can get.
Regards
Jack

[CountryBoy19]

Good information here fellas.
I have made a couple of dies, and push through sizers with my Grizzly 10x22 lathe.
Can any of you expound on the best process to lap/polish the inside of a home made die. I am new at this, and can use all the help I can get.
Regards
Jack

Finishing off with a reamer will give you a very smooth interior finish that would take very little lapping/polishing.

I'm also interested to hear what others are doing...

[1Shirt]

I envy guys who are handy with tools and can make their own stuff. I am not one of them. Guess that's why I throw clay instead!
1Shirt!

[junkman1967]

Ok so I finally finished the die and tried to size some boolits with it. It operated fine to size just the boolit, I think (Is it supposed to shave the lead or compress it?) But when I tried to run one through the die with a gas check, it just distorted the check. Since this is the first time I have designed and built a die, I may have some aspect of the design off. The entrance to the die has a sharp end versus a smooth end. This may have been a bad assumption on my part , that the design should shave the lead. Any help, or a picture of a commercial sizer would be appreciated. Thanks

Joe

[joesig]

You need a gentle taper or "funnel" at the entrance of the die.

Start at .320ish and taper in withing about 3/16-1/4" from the entrance. Polish it well. This die finish is more important than the punch (unless you are making a swage set) and could stand being polished with your 1500 grit (though I think this is overkill and have found 600 to work well enough)

Also, you don't need .3105 the entire length of the die. You only need a small section to swage and then a relief behind it so you are not pressing the full length. Run a 5/16 drill from the exit side to leave a 3/8-1/2" bottle neck should be more than enough.



ASCII:



| |
| |
| | <- .3125+
\ /
| | <- .3105
/ \
<- .32

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

If you have a tapered hand reamer, just put a small bevel the depth of the gas check on the starting end.
It will pilot the boolit into the die and gently crimp the check. Reamers are in any hardware store for fairly cheap.

[junkman1967]

Thanks guys, that's exactly what I was looking for.

Joe