machine pulled 152 Grain 30 cal. out of round bullets saved by Lee

[jeep]

I bought a lee 308 bullet sizer and it resized them to .308 and back to new specs. For $30 it worked great in my RCBS Rockchucker press.

Information

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[browningautorifle]

resized them to .308

Sure, that would work.

[butlersrangers]

I have about 10 boxes of 152 grain M-2 projectiles made by Frankford Arsenal in 1947. My Krag rifles and carbines shoot them well in my reloads.

Bullet diameter seems to run .3085" to .309".

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Lube?

I have been using "oil conditioner" for case forming and as a general resizing lube for several years now.

It is much the same stuff as used in the steel pressing biz. Unlike "normal" oils and greases, it stays slippery at extreme pressures..

You can find it at "automotive supply" outlets and a litre goes a LONG way. Brake cleaner washes the stuff off the sized brass; it is definitely NOT "water-based"

[dman69]

So these dies will work to resize copper (not lead) projectiles? For example - would it resize a .308 projectile to ,311/.312?

[browningautorifle]

resize a .308 projectile to ,311/.312?

It's been done but that's swaging...and one claimed they only kept their size for a while then slowly changed back a couple thou. There was a thread here about swaging them to change the back end shape from a boat tail to a flat base as well with a hollow base so they would bump up on firing.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

There was a bloke here in Oz reforming .308, 114gn BT ball projectiles to 144gn .312" FB bullets a couple of decades ago. Better than nothing; they worked. The .323" ones were probably a "swage too far" ; I never got around to trying them.

With a 20 Tonne hydraulic press you can make LOTS of things change shape!.

Corbin have been selling the tools to do all of =this and a lot more, for decades. How desperate is your need and how fat is your wallet?

With more modest machinery and the correct dies, lubes and materials (J4 jackets, for instance), you can keep yourself amused and in a supply of bullets for a long time. Going "commercial" is a HUGE jump up.

[dman69]

Frankly for the volumes i shoot, it would never be a cost saving excercise - makes sense to buy the right sized projectiles in the first place! Appreciate the advice though - what's the old saying? If it looks too good to be true, it probably is?

[oldfoneguy]

I have read quite a bit about this subject of resizing and or swaging bullets since the pickings have become so slim lately in the hope of re-purposing some of my current stock.

From all that I've gleaned from reading hard copy and internet fare is this is never a good idea with jacketed bullets. It's not an issue with lead bullets and works quite well. In fact some moulds are oversized designed for its product to be swaged once cooled. However with jacketed bullets there is no way to predict how the jacket is going to react. Some may stretch evenly some may not. What you'll end up with is a bullet that has lost it concentricity only to become an erratic projectile. There is no way to check if this has happened once resized and the proof will be in the shooting. Again I have no experience with this and am repeating some of what I have absorbed over the past few months.