I've been getting ready to start firing my .17 cal. rifle cast bullet project. I hope to kill many paper groundhogs with it, in the near future, if it is successful. I had bought NOE sizing equipment in.17 cal. about a year ago and other than setting it up and seeing how it operated, I had never used it. I had 2 different alloys in my cast bullets. I had both PB & GC bullets. One alloy was wheel weights plus 2% tin. The other was wheel weights. The 2% tin bullets were the ones I wrote about in my powder coating discussion, that I had heck getting them to accept powder.I first sized the wheel weight bullets both gc and pb with not much problem. Then came the 2% tin bullets, they seemed so much harder that the ww bullets and I mean, much harder. The wheel weight bullets, both the pb, going point first, and the gc ones going base first sized without much effort on the lever. Then, it was time for the 2% tin ones. It took much more effort to size them, the pb bullets sized well with quite a bit more effort required that the ww bullets. I started sizing the gas check bullets and could not believe how much more lever force was required. After a couple of bullets I stuck one and after solving that problem, I stuck another. Trying to solve the problem I started sizing the gc's with out a gc point first and then I put on gas checks and run them through base first and never stuck another but if I hadn't done the two process route, I would have stuck them all.
Now here is how the NOE sizing equipment worked out. My first problem is the smallest tube that goes inside the die body is .22 caliber and believe it or not the little .17'a would wad up and hang in the tube and I ruined a couple of bullets before I realized what was happening. I solved this problem by rolling up a thin piece of slick cardboard and inserting that in the .22 tube, it worked fine. I finally did away with the tube and the Lee bullet catcher and just left the die body open and when It got pretty well filled up, I would unscrew it and pour the bullets out. That body will hold a lot of .17 bullets, believe me. The other problem with the NOE equipment is the steel driving rod for plain base bullets worked well but I can't say that for the little aluminum hollow nose bunch for the sharp pointed bullets. The hard bullets that I was speaking of expanded the thin edges of the aluminum nose punch. I rolled them between two flat pieces of steel and got them back to where they should be. All in all, I like the NOE sizing equipment except the aluminum pointed nose punch. I will solve the .22 tube by making a small insert to keep the little pills going up straight I will probably buy more but will be cautious as to what they are made from..
Here is an attest to how tough powder coating is. When taking the stuck gc bullets out, I chucked them up concentric and level in the mill vise and selected a drill bit just a few thousandths smaller that the lead of the bullet. When I drilled the lead out the powder coated jacket stayed intact around the drill.. When I pulled it off the drill, I couldn't believe how tough the little powder cylinder was, it felt like a copper jacket.
Mashburn
David a. Cogburn
