New guy dumb question

[pocojoe]

Just cast my first lee 405 grn bullet for 45/70. As you may know the mold is .457 dia. After casting and letting them cool off i powder coated them, they now range from .458 up to .462. The coating may or may not be a completely even coat. Does anyone know what a safe max size would be. Any advice would be great.
Thanks in advance

[venomballistics]

Shove them through a 459 or 458 die to normalize the dia
the actual safe max is dictated by your chamber.
Too large means driving them into the chamber with a hammer which would be unsafe

[e3mrk]

There are no Dumb questions.
Never be afraid to ask a question if Your not sure,Especially where reloading is involved.

[Jaysq]

Welcome from North Carolina

[Vulcan Bob]

I agree with venomballistics, my Lee 405's drop just under .458" with my alloy and just get touched up in my .458" sizing die. Lubed with SPG they shoot quite nicely in my Marlin 1895 CowBoy and I'm sure the coated bullets will work just fine at .458"-.459".

[fredj338]

I have the same mold, it drops bullets too small IMO. I have "beagled" it with elec foil just to get it to where I can size it 0.459", about the min for good lead bullet perf. I want to try to PC some, w/o sizing, they should shoot better if larger in dia.

[Groo01]

Groo here
If the boolet fits the chamber you are ok.
Some want to size,a little,a lot, some worry if the boolet is out of round.
Load it ,shoot it, your gun will tell you.
Unless you shoot targets, or long distance [100s of yds] or both
most of this worry will not even show up.
Just make them the same.

[Imissedagain]

Originally Posted by e3mrk

There are no Dumb questions.
Never be afraid to ask a question if Your not sure,Especially where reloading is involved.

Good point.
Answers on the other hand can be quite dumb and dangerous.

[DWalt]

I wouldn't worry about it. Shoot them and see what happens. Slightly oversize .45-70 lead bullets should not be a source of concern.

[Beemer-mark]

Have you ran a lead bullet thru a sizing die? Takes very little force. Now imagine what happens when you have 20,000 psi pushing the soft lead bullet thru the throat of the barrel. The lead bullet gets sized and the pressure increase is minuscule.

I have revolvers where the throats are way oversize. For example a 44 special throat is .432. the barrel is .428. For the best accuracy I size the bullets .431 (I'd go larged but thats the biggest sizing die I can find). I load on the hot side too. Ain't had no problems in 35 + years.

Don't know about jacketed bullets.

[fredj338]

Originally Posted by Beemer-mark

Have you ran a lead bullet thru a sizing die? Takes very little force. Now imagine what happens when you have 20,000 psi pushing the soft lead bullet thru the throat of the barrel. The lead bullet gets sized and the pressure increase is minuscule.

I have revolvers where the throats are way oversize. For example a 44 special throat is .432. the barrel is .428. For the best accuracy I size the bullets .431 (I'd go larged but thats the biggest sizing die I can find). I load on the hot side too. Ain't had no problems in 35 + years.

Don't know about jacketed bullets.

As long as you are working your loads up, not an issue. I have run 0.357" jacketed bullets in 357sig, no issues. Lead bullets are just more malleable, so easier to push down the bbl. A jacketed bullet resists pressure forces, why it is a better tool @ higher rifle pressures over 40K.

[rwsmith]

Originally Posted by Imissedagain

Good point.
Answers on the other hand can be quite dumb and dangerous.

I'm confident that a dangerous suggestion would be pointed out VERY quickly here.