Yep, just hone out a Lee die with some sandpaper on a split rod in a drill. Keep pushing bullets through and measuring or test firing them until you get to where you want to be. I'd go for .228" or even .229" but the rifle might have a preference. Or just buy some 7/8"-14tpi black bolts and make sizing dies from scratch.
I have a very old .227" bullet mould that I believe was made for the Hi-Power. But CBE offers .228" moulds -
https://www.castbulletengineering.com.au/products/rifle-moulds/228-calPowdercoating I find is quicker than tumble-lubing, and you can start loading ammo right away, you don't have to wait for lube to dry. While you are casting bullets when you have a good fist full, toss them in a tub with the powder, shake for a minute, dump into a tray and pop them into the oven for twenty minutes while you continue casting more bullets. In twenty minutes pull them out and toss in another handful - really doesn't add much time at all. I would avoid sizing unless you have to, test shoot them and see how they go first. I would also push a slug through the bore to be sure of it's dimensions before ordering a mould. It's very easy to make fat bullets skinny, not so easy making skinny bullets fatter - more coats of PC might get your there.
You don't need load data for the cartridge, work up your own using modern powders that you can get. Donnelley's Cartridge Conversions lists the capacity as 36.7gn H2O, about 6-8gn less than the .223Rem, so just start with .223 data (.223 appears to be a slightly more potent cartridge but they're pretty close). I would use AR2206H (H4895), but AR2207 (H4198) or AR2208 (Varget) would also be good choices. I wouldn't bother with pistol powders unless you're wanting to load heavily-reduced loads.
Your biggest problem might be getting large rifle primers.
drone wrote:1st off, many thanks for your interest, I find it really stimulating. Some of the solutions suggested I'd thought about and discounted for a couple of reasons, except the one re honing out an undersized boolit sizing die, I actually bought a 0.228" tungsten carbide tipped reamer and am waiting for the lee 0.225 sizing die to get tome to ascertain if the TC is harder than the lee die.
I'll share with you some of the ideas still under consideration before going on to the final solution.
MP Dies sell both a 229 sizer and a 4 cavity die at 0.227. This is a fairly expensive solution and time consuming in that I have to both cast the boolits then powder coat them then size them. The cost for the dies, mold and postage from Czech republic is circa 135 GBP, quite an outlay.
My final solution is to pay a British foundry, Shellhouse Castings, for them to hard cast 55 grain boolits that fall from the mold at 0.2265" (he measured a large sample) and 55 grains weight, then powder coat these.
In the past this added about 1.5 thousands of an inch to the diameter. These can go straight into the reloading process for 30 GBP per 250, a considerable saving.
I'm quite happy with the lighter boolit as it means less powder and this, also, is a big issue as all the data that I can find has old powders that I no longer have (Rl 7 was a good one and I've literally just used the last of my 1990 stache).
Currently I'm using CFE 223 and working up but at some point I'll have to change stream and use a different one. Those I currently have ample supplies of and which are in the same burning range as one of the "old" brews are Lovex D073.5, Hodgdons Hlever and those that are freely available to buy are Ram TAC and Vihtavuouri N-130. There are somepistolpowders that I can use in place of Unique viz Hodgdons Universal and Lovex D036 plus I have about a pound of 2400. I suppose the issue is that each of these will require working up tofind both a safe and accurate level.
There, I've spilled my guts to you all and you have my full SP now, any comments you have will be greatfully received and considered.
to the use of a lens in a shooting frame.
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