45-70 help please

[howard NZ]

Howdy,
I have a H&R 45-70, been using lee dies and 300gr Hornady hp bullets,
I have bought a Lee bullet mold 457-405gr hollow point single cavity mould and cast my first bullets, look okay but are oversize for my resized cases and no way are going to be able to be seated, in fact they are a tight fit in fired case, what is the story? Are my dies faulty or is the mould oversize, do I need to put the bullets through a sizer?  When I seat the 300gr Hornady bullets they are a tight fit and bulge the case on one side slightly, hasn't been an issue as reasonble accuracy is achieved. Your help appreciated,
regards Howard.

[John Traveler1]

If your as-cast bullets do not fit into a fired case, it's most likely that the cast bullets are either oversize or slightly out-of-round.

The easiest solution is to tumble-lube the bullets and push them thru a .458"-.459" Lee sizing die before loading.

Factory jacketed bulltes are .458" diameter, and the cast ones are usually 0.001" larger.

[ron haralson]

Are you using your M-die? that should have solved the tight bullet problem. Just set the die deep enough to let the bullet base in - that way you don't un - necessarily wear out your case necks. If you still have problems, check the bullet diameter - I've had some of my Lee molds suddenly go badly out of round and oversize, although that's usually been after 10+years of frequent casting. Up to .004 or so oversize will usually work fine unless your chamber throat is tight. The other fellow had good advise too - sizing is likely a good idea.

Ron

[howard NZ]

Thanks for the replys, who makes the M die?, presume it as you say opens the case mouth enough to get a bullet started and run in straight into the case, the 45-70 is the first straight walled case I have reloaded.
Regards Howard.

[cooper]

Both of the replies above are correct.  You can solve the problem by expanding the case larger, sizing the bullets smaller, or a combination of both.

As far as expander dies, Lyman makes the "M" die, RCBS makes a case expander die, and Lee also makes an expander die.  

I'm not sure I can remeber the differences between the three, but as I best recall:  the Lee die comes complete with 2 different tapered expanders which are good for many diameters of cases.  For the RCBS, you can buy extra expander plugs for various diameters, and for the Lyman, I think you have to buy a new die each time you want a different diameter.

However, if you have a small lathe, or maybe even a drill press, you can turn your own expander plugs from mild steel for the Lyman and RCBS die bodies.


One thing to remember - if you expand the case to accept the bullet, you wil lmost likely have to crimp, at least a little bit, to remove the slight flare that the expander die put on the cases.  If you don't, the cases won't chamber.

[howard NZ]

thanks for your help,
I have ordered a Lyman m die and hopefully this does the trick,
Regards Howard.

[Leftoverdj]

Howard, Lee includes an expander die. It's the one with the aluminum nut on top. Correctly adjusted, it should expand and bell the case mouth to the point that you can seat your cast bullets.

You can minimize or eliminate the bulge you mentioned by backing out the sizing die about a quarter inch. .45-70 is a tapered case and running the case in less will leave the case mouth larger.

[howard NZ]

Thank you for your advice, I will let you know how I go, should be shooting the gun this weekend,
Thanks Howard.