After someone slapped me in the head..reminding me that I own a fair
selection of pretty good machine tools...Ive decided to build my own
lube/sizer dies, to fit the (4) RCBS/Lyman lubricators I own.

I occasionally want to experiment with oversized bullets and at $30-35
each...plus shipping...it could get damned expensive..

Some interesting things that Ive found while investigating and
blueprinting the die body OD and ID...

If the lube sizer die is marked .311..the die actually is .310-3.105.
Ive checked this on at least 5 dies, of various manufactures..and its
always Smaller than whats marked. Id assumed..evidently
incorrectly..that casting lead didnt have any "spring to it"...IE..if
I squeeze it down to a half thousand or even a thousand (more on this
later)..the lead will spring back bigger than the size of the die.

I found that rather fascinating. Either the lead springs back...or
the manufactures used damned poor QC when building those dies.

I checked a range from .266 -.457..and the bigger luber dies ran as
much as .002 smaller than what was marked.. IE..a .455 gage pin was a
snug fit.

Anyone ever make their own lube sizer dies? Any links or data?

I also noted that the pusher pin in the center..typically was nothing
more than a dowel pin. And may be as much as .008 undersize. Im
trying to figure out why that is..other than "cheap". NOW I understand
why some of my bullet sizing/lubing sessions would have lube dripping
out the bottom of the lubricator press on my foot. Not a lot..but
some.

Anyone got any idea of why the tolerences are so freaking big? In this
day of cheap centerless grinders and whatnot...that should never
happen. I understand that bullet lube is pretty thick and it might
not squirt out of the die at the very low pressures we are putting on
it...but...blink blink...come on!!.....008"??????

Ill be making some dies...the way I THINK they should be made and post
the results here. I suspect we have been falling back on the High
Quality Standards of the several suppliers..and this may have some
bearing on inconsistant results Ive had over the years. Both in
accuracy..and bullet diameters from batch to batch.

Anyone have any comments, suggestions etc?

Gunner
The methodology of the left has always been:

1. Lie
2. Repeat the lie as many times as possible
3. Have as many people repeat the lie as often as possible
4. Eventually, the uninformed believe the lie
5. The lie will then be made into some form oflaw
6. Then everyone must conform to the lie