can lee hand press size 444 marlin?

[mickb]

Hi gents, rather than buy another press I was wondering if the little Lee hand press can handle 444 marlin reloading. Im fairly strong for a middle aged old fart, no probs punching out 44 mag on it.

[straightshooter]

Unfortunately I have only ever used my Lee hand press for neck sizing and bullet seating.
I presume you use a carbide 44 mag FLS die which requires less effort due to the sizing pressure being applied only over a narrow area of the case at any one time by the carbide ring.
Not having a fired 444 case at the moment I can't give it a try.
One thing to understand with full length resizing is all the problems happen when you try to remove the case from the die even though it may have fully entered the die quite easily.
This is how I would go about it.
First, and this is important, I would use Castor Oil as the case lube and nothing else. It's readily available in supermarkets or pharmacies. Just because it's not sold in gun shops does not mean it is no good for this purpose. It has the lowest co-efficient of friction between brass and steel of any lubricant.
Lightly lube the case and and try sizing about half way and get a feel for how much effort was required to go that far and how much effort is required to withdraw the case. Re lube the case and this time go a little further. Keep repeating incrementally until that case is fully sized. This process will ensure the die has a thin residual coat of lube for the full length of the die.
Now with a fresh lubed case try to do it in a single pass. It should work OK but I have no idea how much effort might be required.
Paper towels are needed to remove the Castor Oil from the brass. That's it's only drawback.

[wrenchman]

my son does a 4570 I hope it helps

[mickb]

Thanks Fellas, forgot I had left this here, to be precise I thought I had posted this on another forum. Getting oldtimers disease lol. I'll be loading some up shortly

[bigpete]

I size 35 whelen with mine

[Billo]

I've done 45/70, 444 and 500S&W on my hand press

I generally find it's the small long necks that give the most trouble, where lube is hard to get inside the neck

[mickb]

I got the dies and ran some through no dramas, thanks gents.

Billo stop bragging about the 500SW please mate, jokes- I'm eternally jealous here