resizing surplus bullets

[happyhuntr]

do any of you resize pulled military bullets?

i can accross a can of pulled 223 bullets that have collact marks. some of the bullets are somewhat ovaled.

can they be trued by running them thru a sizer die?

i am not intending for them to be very accurate, but more for blasting and stress relief.

thanks for your comments in advance,
happyhuntr

 

[Dave P]

I don't know anybody that does this. Just shoot em, and buy good ones for accuracy.

 

[Lucky]

I'm going to have a lot of 8mm bullets, and sure would like to get them down to 7.62!

 

[taliv]

most of the places i know of that sell pulled bullets have in fact already resized them. e.g. hi-techammo resizes, and polishes them, but they still come out with pull marks. pull marks are ok. being out of round is not.

no idea how you'd go about doing this yourself. i would NOT put an oval bullet in my gun, no matter how cheap they were.

 

[dmftoy1]

I've never done it, but I don't know why you couldn't run them through a bullet sizer like cast boolit shooters do? You can pick up a cheap sizer on Ebay for about $50 and then all you'd need is the die and the appropriate top punch.

 

[cracked butt]

You can pick up a cheap sizer on Ebay for about $50 and then all you'd need is the die and the appropriate top punch.

Better yet, buy an $11 Lee push through sizer, grease the bullets and push them through.

I would just shoot the bullets first to see how they are before trying to resize them.

 

[ClarkEMyers]

Squeeze it down and the jacket will spring back the lead won't -

Squeeze it down and the jacket will spring back the lead won't - this tends to leave the bullet unbalanced. The general rule is that it's OK to expand but bad to squeeze down - and hard to squeeze hard bullets down given that the metal doesn't much compress and has to go someplace.

 

[fatelk]

hi-techammo resizes, and polishes them, but they still come out with pull marks.

They say they do, at least. I bought some from them that were not sized. I called them, they said "Oops, sorry, send them back and we will resize them for you". I opted to just do it myself rather than mess with sending them back.
I have a cheap Lee sizer. They cost less than $15 and go in your reloading press just like dies, and work great. As to accuracy, I shot some through a very accurate rifle, averaged 5 shot groups well under 2" at 100 yards. Not bad for surplus.

I'm going to have a lot of 8mm bullets, and sure would like to get them down to 7.62!

Been there, tried that, doesn't work. Sorry.
Though maybe if you sized them a little at a time it a series of dies....just can't see it being worth the effort.

 

[layusn1]

Are you expecting resizing to improve the bullets accuracy? I only ask because I have 1,000 pulled SS109s I was thinking of resizing and dont mind spending the few extra buck. Does anyone know which die to look for on Midway? Dealer discount is a good thing. Thanks.

 

[fatelk]

If I wasn't at work I would post a link (Midway is blocked).
Just go to Midway's site, should be in the bullet casting/sizing section. I think they are called a sizer/lube combo or something. The one you want will be .224 diameter (for .223/5.56 bullets, yes they are actually .224") and should cost somewhere around $11 or so.

You just thread it into your press, put the plastic case it comes in over it to catch all the bullets, put the little ram in the press where the shellholder normally goes, maybe run your bullets across your lube pad, and start ramming them through the sizer one at a time. I like the RCBS case lube because it's water soluble and just rinses off afterwards. It really won't take that long at all to size a thousand.

They won't come out perfectly round (I was a machinist- nothing is ever perfect) due to the metal springing back ever so slightly, but they will be far better than they were, and plenty good enough.

 

[TEDDY]

MIDSOUTHSHOOTERS.COM IS CHEAPER.