pellet resizing

"Slugging" is the most accurate method of measuring land and grooves for proper bullet/pellet sizing. If the barrel is choked, you will have to push the pellet in far enough to fully engage the lands and grooves, then push it back out with a dowel or cleaning rod. If the barrel is unchoked, you could just push one straight thru from breech to muzzle. Typically slugging is done with a roundball or slightly over sized "slug", but I have gotten good results from using a pellet that is big enough to fully engage the bore. Oiling/lubing both the bore and the "slug" will make the job much easier. Depending on the projectile the proper sized die can vary from the actual groove size upto +.002. I actually size my .25 cal pellets to .250 which is the groove diameter and it works the best, but that is with a diablo skirted pellet. If I were to size a bullet or slug with a flatbase or boattail, I would probably start at +.001 but that is not to say .000 or even +.002 wouldn't be as good or possibly better than +,001. Never know till you try multiple sizes. All bores are different, and what works for one, doesn't always work for another. If it were me, I would get 3 dies. Actual groove size .000, +.001, and +.002.

AZ, seems as though all your airgunning is .177? I can agree that I never had or feel I will ever need to resize .177 pellets. I don't resize .22 either but I get great results for the intended use of my .22's. However, the larger calibers have proven to benefit from properly sized pellets for long range shooting. Yrrah (Harry) has documented such and is the foremost expert on this subject. There is way to much data proving that sizing is the key to extreme accuracy at 100 yards and further. I don't size my .25 pellets for my health. I do it because it works!!

FYI....pellets can be head sized and not touch the skirt.

Why would you use the land size for pellet sizing? The land or bore measurement is the smallest dimension. You need to use the groove size and possibly + for proper pellet size. Not the other way around as you indicate.

The OP was asking about sizing .357 and anyone playing with the large bores know the importance of properly sized bullets/pellets. You stated that modern pellets can be bought in varying head sizes which they can. As long as they are .177 and .22. The larger pellets .25, 30, 35, don't have different head sizes available. You have to size if you want to try different head sizes for those calibers.

If you get an accurate groove measurement and size based on that, I have not seen any negative from sizing both head and skirt in .25.

I agree that buying pellets that are sized by head are a joke. Measuring a regular tin to a head size specific tin doesn't yield much difference.

I live in Ohio and we don't have a bear season nor I have I ever seen a bear where I live. Not sure as to your reference on that one??

The size dies I use are nothing like a Beeman sizer and I would not call head only sizing difficult by any means.

The dies I use are made with specific reamers then lapped to the size that you order. Any size is possible.

I enjoy shooting also. If I were only shooting to 50 yards, I would skip all of the extra steps I take. But, I shoot much further and sizing and other steps make shooting at long range much more enjoyable!!

I believe that Yrrah and maybe others still use a Beeman sizer? There is also one made over seas I believe by TR Robb.

I have Lee sizing dies used with a regular powder burner reloading press.

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AJ
would you give some details on how to use this sizer you are using ?
where to get the dies. etc. ? can it size pellets ?

thanks
Dick

I believe that Yrrah and maybe others still use a Beeman sizer? There is also one made over seas I believe by TR Robb.I have Lee sizing dies used with a regular powder burner reloading press.

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Strever, The dies come from LEE. http://leeprecision.com/bullet-casting/lube-and-sizing-kit/ I happened to have a Lee single die press to use for sizing. You could use any reloading press or if you don't already have a press, a cheap Lee C press or even the hand press would be fine.

Yes I size pellets with these dies. I was unsure if it would work as I was afraid that a bullet sizer would crush pellets or atleast damage skirts. I have sized thousands of .25 pellets and have not had one single issue. When you order the size you want, you will get the die that screws in the top of the press, and a base that locks into the shell holder slot. Simply hold a pellet on the base and ease it into the die. It will center itself then simply push the press arm down and pellet is sized. This will size both head and skirt. I actually made up a stop to only size the head, but found that results were best with head and skirt sized. Plus it is much faster to size the whole pellet versus just the head.

How all this started for me.... I had ordered a die to size bullets for a .25 I was working on. Before the die ever showed up, I gave up on the bullets as they didn't shoot very good at all. I figured the die would crush pellets as I stated above and even posted a question on this forum hoping that someone had used Lee dies on pellets and could reasure me that it would work. Well, no one had done this. Or atleast no one responded saying they had used these dies on pellets. Anyway, since my bullets didn't work out, the 43gr eunjins were all that was left that was heavy enough for my needs. Unfortunately, those pellets are way oversized and tend to only shoot good out of the oversized Korean .25 bores. Curiosity led me to size some 43 eunjins. One, the fps picked up due to less friction and drag and the accuracy was better than I ever could have hoped for. Later, I tried sizing some 25gr JSB's and they also improved. The gain was small as these pellets already shoot really good, but any gain regardless of how small is still good in my book. I also got good results sizing the new heavy JSB 33gr.

I ordered a .250 die and it actually sizes to .2505. Lucky for me, this size has worked great in 4 different .25 bores thus far. I have other sizes, but have yet to see a need to try any other size for the current barrels I have. I am going to order some .30 cal dies next to try on the 44gr JSB's for my recently finished .30 Marauder.

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AZ, Once the pellet is sized , it is pushed up thru the die and into a catch container. This container is actually what the die and base are shipped in then used to "catch" your bullets or in this case pellets. I use the brass punch to clear the die from the bottom when I finish a tin. There are usually a couple pellets that are still in the top of the die but haven't pushed into the "catch" and I use the punch to push them on into the container.




When I first tried "head only", I made a brass piece that went in the top and simply acted as a stop to only size the head, then you would have to push the pellet back out the bottom of the die from the top. This was a pain and the stop I had made was only good for the much longer 43gr pellets I was sizing at the time. I would have had to make one for every different weight/length pellet. For JSB's, I marked the ram and used it as the guide to only run the pellet in far enough to size the head then pushed it back out the bottom with a brass punch from the top. Again this was a pain but easier than the previous method. If I ever felt the need to head only size, I would simply mark the ram as I did with the JSB's.

Since I found absolutely no gain in "head only" sizing, I just size the entire pellet as it is much easier. It is time consuming to size, but I usually put on a movie or listen to music while I size. The results of sizing have not just been better groups at longer range, but also better shot strings which lead to better groups!! I do realize that this might all seem rather tedious and useless, but I don't look at it that way.

As I have stated before, "working on airguns is a hobby within a hobby for me". The actual work of modifying, making, or installing parts is a small portion of making a gun shoot good. Yes, I take the time to polish and "blueprint" the entire gun, even aftermarket parts get a good polishing prior to installation. In my mind, the process of "blueprinting" the gun is an attempt to reduce as many variables as possible that could lead to an inaccurate gun. Then, I move onto the barrel and have my normal routine of prepping a barrel to once again attempt to eliminate it as the possible cause of inaccuracy. Now the gun is completely reassembled and ready to tune. With firearms, handloading is your "tuning" and is the means to extract the most from your firearm. We have to "tune" the gun in the case of airguns, but the pellets are still a part of that "tune". Sizing to a proper size per your bore allows you to shoot pellets that are as close to the exact same size pellet after pellet as you can get. Much more precise than what you get from the manufacturers in a tin. I look at this as removing another variable from the equation. Again, reducing the potential for an ill shooting gun. It has become one big process that each step is dependent upon the previous step. When you put all the steps together, the only reason to miss your mark is YOU!!

If you would have seen the difference both accuracy and shot string numbers based on out of the tin 43gr Eunjin pellets vs the results after sizing those pellets, this would make ALOT more sense!! Again, even the precision made JSB's do benefit from sizing, just not to the degree that I saw with the lower quality Eunjin pellets.

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I also find this to be very interesting! Could you recommend an inexpensive press and dies? I'm not sure where to start.

Wow AJ that is amazing information. Which press from Lee do you rec. There appears to be about 4 different ones ranging from $40 to $125. This may be a stupid question but what is the best way to get the exact bore measurement. This seems to be a "must have" item for any benchrest shooter.

Doc, in the case of a "choked" airgun barrel, you have to seat a pellet from the breech end in far enough to get the head and skirt fully engaged into the rifling then push it back out the breech. I do this with the barrel removed from the action. Using calipers or a mic, measure the head and skirt. the largest measurement will be the groove size which is what you want to use. I feel mics are easier to use for measuring, but calipers work, just don't squeeze the pellet as you will get an inaccurate measurement. Measuring the lands can be useful to get an idea of your land to groove ratio, but not needed for determining what sized die you need. Again, anything from actual groove size .000, +.001, to +.002 are the 3 sizes that might work for your bore.

As far as presses and dies. I use Lee, but I also use their stuff for firearms reloading, so it was an easy choice. I believe there are a couple other companies that make similar sizing dies, but Lee is what I use. Any friearms reloading press will work, but again I already had a Lee press sitting in a box, so that is what I use. This is link to the press I use, but mine is older and not a breech lock which doesn't matter http://leeprecision.com/breech-lock-challenger-press.html
This is what I would buy if I didn't already have one as it is cheap and perfectly functional for sizing http://leeprecision.com/reloader-press.html
This hand press would also work if you don't have a bench to mount the regular bench top style presses http://leeprecision.com/breech-lock-hand-press.html
Here is the link to the dies http://leeprecision.com/bullet-casting/lube-and-sizing-kit/

Thanks alot AJ! Van has been telling me to do this for a while now. He states what you are saying, that it will tighten up the groups, meaning making a very good shooting gun shoot just a little bit better. Collectively, all the little things can add up to a major difference. 

Thanks again AJ for all your contribution on this forum. You truly make a difference for all of us!!!!

Doc

Thank you AJ for answering questions that I am working on now, Its hard to find information sometimes.