Lyman 4500 top punch for Lee 459-500-3R

M88 · April 18, 2019, 06:28 PM

Wanting to start casting for my 45-70 Sharps. I have a Lyman 4500 lube sizer and just bought a two cavity Lee 459-500-3R mold (500 grain .459 45-70 bullets). Dug around trying to find the top punch for my 4500 that would not damage that cast bullet. Can't find a table that gives me that info. Does anyone here have the website for that table handy or can tell me offhand what top punch I should use?

azjohn · April 19, 2019, 07:55 AM

Closest I could find.http://castpics.net/dpl/index.php/th...an-top-punches Some members at Cast Boolits can make what you need. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/foru...8-Cast-Boolits

mehavey · April 19, 2019, 03:58 PM

See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVeb2YdJQZU at 1:10
RE:
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.p...36f0qp1d2uakm6 HTC459-500-SP-BP2
And....
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product...36f0qp1d2uakm6

Dufus · April 19, 2019, 05:33 PM

I use these:

http://accuratemolds.com/topPunch.php

**Unclenick** · April 19, 2019, 07:16 PM

I am moving your thread to the cast bullet forum where you may get more answers.

mehavey · April 19, 2019, 07:51 PM

Quote:

I use these:
http://accuratemolds.com/topPunch.php

Dufus, the Lee 500 is a sharply spire-pointed bullet. The flat top punches that Accurate sells (and I use on occasion) work only on flat-pointed/wide-metplat projectiles.

The NOE TPs mentioned the 3rd link in Post#12 are designed for those Lee spire points.

Dufus · April 19, 2019, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Dufus, the Lee 500 is a sharply spire-pointed bullet

Understood. I didn't look up the bullet mold.

I use the Accurate top punches for flat nose and round nose bullets.

I apologize if I misled anyone.

M88 · April 23, 2019, 12:22 PM

A belated thank you to everyone that took the time to help. I've been out of town away from the internet (was kinda nice actually :-). I now have the info I need thanks to this forum. GREAT resource. Now to fire up the melting pot and turn some of the one pound "bricks" of lead into something useful.

gwpercle · April 30, 2019, 07:24 PM

Don't forget ....you can custom fit a top punch , that almost fits your bullets profile , with epoxy putty . Clean the top punch so the putty will stick , grease the bullet nose so it wont stick, place a small ball of epoxy putty in the nose cavity and gently press the bullet nose into the punch...the putty will custom fit the cavity to the bullet. Let cure 24 hours , remove and trim off any excess putty ...you now have a perfectly fitted custom top punch.
JB Weld makes an epoxy putty and I've used some from the plumbing section ( leaky pipe fix)and the car section (auto gas tank hole/leak repair)
They all work just fine for making nose punches fit .

I make a lot of WC and SWC from round nose punches...I don't care for RN bullets but it seems every die set has them in there .
Gary

April 19, 2019, 07:55 AM	#2
azjohn Member Join Date: April 25, 2007 Location: Amado, Arizona Posts: 73	Closest I could find.http://castpics.net/dpl/index.php/th...an-top-punches Some members at Cast Boolits can make what you need. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/foru...8-Cast-Boolits __________________ Not cool sunglasses for the AZ sun. Last edited by azjohn; April 19, 2019 at 08:02 AM.

April 19, 2019, 07:16 PM	#5
Unclenick Staff Join Date: March 4, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 21,061	I am moving your thread to the cast bullet forum where you may get more answers. __________________ Gunsite Orange Hat Family Member CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor NRA Certified Rifle Instructor NRA Benefactor Member and Golden Eagle

April 23, 2019, 12:22 PM	#8
M88 Senior Member Join Date: February 15, 2018 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 278	A belated thank you to everyone that took the time to help. I've been out of town away from the internet (was kinda nice actually :-). I now have the info I need thanks to this forum. GREAT resource. Now to fire up the melting pot and turn some of the one pound "bricks" of lead into something useful. __________________ NRA life member. Making good people helpless doesn't make bad people harmless!

April 18, 2019, 06:28 PM	#1
M88 Senior Member Join Date: February 15, 2018 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 278	Lyman 4500 top punch for Lee 459-500-3R Wanting to start casting for my 45-70 Sharps. I have a Lyman 4500 lube sizer and just bought a two cavity Lee 459-500-3R mold (500 grain .459 45-70 bullets). Dug around trying to find the top punch for my 4500 that would not damage that cast bullet. Can't find a table that gives me that info. Does anyone here have the website for that table handy or can tell me offhand what top punch I should use? __________________ NRA life member. Making good people helpless doesn't make bad people harmless!

April 19, 2019, 03:58 PM	#3
mehavey Senior Member Join Date: June 17, 2010 Location: Virginia Posts: 6,886	See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVeb2YdJQZU at 1:10 RE: http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.p...36f0qp1d2uakm6 HTC459-500-SP-BP2 And.... http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product...36f0qp1d2uakm6

April 19, 2019, 05:33 PM	#4
Dufus Senior Member Join Date: December 10, 2014 Posts: 1,965	I use these: http://accuratemolds.com/topPunch.php

April 30, 2019, 07:24 PM	#9
gwpercle Senior Member Join Date: November 30, 2012 Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana Posts: 1,752	Don't forget ....you can custom fit a top punch , that almost fits your bullets profile , with epoxy putty . Clean the top punch so the putty will stick , grease the bullet nose so it wont stick, place a small ball of epoxy putty in the nose cavity and gently press the bullet nose into the punch...the putty will custom fit the cavity to the bullet. Let cure 24 hours , remove and trim off any excess putty ...you now have a perfectly fitted custom top punch. JB Weld makes an epoxy putty and I've used some from the plumbing section ( leaky pipe fix)and the car section (auto gas tank hole/leak repair) They all work just fine for making nose punches fit . I make a lot of WC and SWC from round nose punches...I don't care for RN bullets but it seems every die set has them in there . Gary