Loading Fat Bullets

[Blind Hawg]

My R92 has .433” grooves so I got a .434” NOE mould set. LLA lubed bullet (.436”) stuck in the Lee carbide seating die. It slugged at .4355”. Reckon I need to size the bullets. The price of Lee’s sizing die setup is affordable but only available as .430”. What’re my options? How about honing out the sizing die? Thanks

[Archer]

Let's start at the beginning because I'm a little confused.
What exactly are you trying to do?

The Lee Carbide seating die?
Lee 4 die sets have a carbide sizer/decapper, a powder thru expander, a bullet seat die and a Carbide Factory crimp die.

So, did you get the bullet stuck in the SEAT die or in the Carbide Factory CRIMP die?
IF you got it stuck in the seating die then let me suggest you might try using a seater designed for a larger bullet diameter say one for .45 Colt or a different brand seater say Hornady or RCBS. Of course if you get the seater for a larger cartridge then you still need to consider the crimping issue.
I personally would do the seating and then the crimping in two steps. Midway is out of these seat die options:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1011377157
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1011035763

IF you got it stuck in the crimping die then I'd assume the whole darned cartridge got stuck?
This die is designed to do two things, insure the loaded round does not exceed maximum loaded ammunition diameter and crimp the case mouth. This may very well be the wrong die for you because it may squeeze down the bullet diameter as it squeezes down the case. As an alternative I might try a Hornady or RCBS roll crimp die. Another alternative is to try using the Lee Factory Collet Crimp die. These have been available in the past. I think I got my collet dies for .44 and .357 as special order items from Lee and I think they are not doing any special orders according to their website.
In stock at Midway https://www.midwayusa.com/product/101683339
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1011035763



I really like the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp die for use with semi auto pistol ammunition but it is designed to produce generic ammunition that fits in EVERYTHING. It is not really designed to produce ammo tailored to a particular gun where the bullet may be oversized and may make the case diameter slightly larger than expected.

[Blind Hawg]

Archer, thanks for the response! It’s a 3 die set.

[Archer]

I have a couple three die sets.
Mine included the standard carbide sizer/decap die, the powder thru expander and a non-carbide seater/crimp die.

So the questions are similar,
Were you trying to seat and crimp at the same time?
Does the bullet stick in the die by itself or did it stick the case in the die?

I'd still spit the seating from the crimping step and if you are getting stuck by the seating step then I'd look at using a different seater and maybe try the collet crimper.

[Archer]

You got me looking at one of my 3 die sets and I discovered the seater has a rough spot in it that's chewing the heck out of the O-ring on the seating plug. The o-ring is apparently getting stuck on a rough spot in the steel die body's threads and either leaving a chunk there and/or getting the seating plug to cut through it as you turn it. That's the second problem I've had with this set of Lee dies.

[Blind Hawg]

Started over this morning by cleaning and resetting the die. Now it works like it should! Loaded rounds fall into the chamber. It’s time to see what she’ll do on accuracy now.

[runfiverun]

you could also use a 45 colt seating die to get the bullets in the case, and then bump the crimp on in the 44 die.