Supply Request

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BJung

New member
Does anyone have any valve grinding compound and lapping compound where they can sell me a dabs worth? I don't want to spend so much money buying two tubes of it where I won't be using it again afterwards.

My project is enlarging the my Lee .311" sizing die to .312" and my plan is to drive a jacketed bullet through it with the compound on the outside.
 
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Unclenick

Staff
That's the proverbial "slow boat to China". I can tell you from firelapping experience that will take 20-50 bullets and the result may be inferior because the roundness of the bullets can't be guaranteed to be perfect when pushed through by a ram. What you want to do is take a 1/4 inch wood dowel and saw a slot into it and put some 240-grit wet/dry sandpaper into it and chuck it in a hand drill hone the hole out by moving that spinning paper back and forth in it. checking the diameter frequently. When you get close to final diameter, you want to progress through finer grades of sandpaper until you get to 1200 grit and, at that point, replace the sandpaper with a strip of rag that has some DICO stainless steel buffing compound or some Blue Magic Metal polish on it and go for a mirror finish with that.
 
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Geezerbiker

New member
I bought some 320 and 600 grit lapping compound with the idea to open up a Lee .430 mold to .432 for use with an over sized barrel.

I put a lot of effort into the project and I don't think I made it more that .0001" larger. What I ended up with was a very shiny mold that drops bullets out very easy and also very smooth...

BTW, I ended up selling that rifle. Round nose bullets are not my first choice for my Super Blackhawk but the do shoot well..
 
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noylj

New member
Why not call Lee and ask if they can supply what you want? They are very reasonable with custom orders.
You don't have to DIY.
 
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BJung

New member
I contacted Lee over a month ago. First, they are back logged making molds so aren't servicing custom orders. Also, the person said that the sizing dies cannot be enlarge due to the hardness of the metal. I thought I should try it anyway.

Tony. Can you tell me more about your honing project on that mold? I'll open up another thread for it.
 
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T. O'Heir

New member
"...drive a jacketed bullet through it..." That won't make the mold(it a bullet mold or a sizing die?) bigger. A jacketed bullet is lead cored and will just compress. AND it's highly unlikely you'll end up with a round cavity.
 
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BJung

New member
Yeah. I'll give Uncle Nick's suggestion a try. What's your opinion on enlarging an aluminum mold? I posted a separate thread for the topic.
 
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Aguila Blanca

Staff
burbank jung said:
What's your opinion on enlarging an aluminum mold? I posted a separate thread for the topic.
Click to expand...
Since that is a separate thread, we won't discuss that topic in this thread. This thread is about honing the sizing die.
 
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Unclenick

Staff
If there is trouble with getting 220 or 240-grit silicone carbide wet/dry to open the die enough, diamond compound will certainly do it. But I think you'll succeed with the less expensive wet/dry paper. Put a little light oil on it to help keep the grit on the paper from clogging up. No steel is as hard as silicone carbide. It can be slow, but as long as you see the abrasive marking the surface of the steel, it is cutting it up.
 
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