back in my CBA gas check Benchrest days that was very common.We called then bump dies. The swage die was made to match the chamber dimensions of your rifles throat. it improved accuracy of bullets that previously didn't shoot well due to poor bullet fit.i still use two I have in 30 and 35 and find them a help for accuracy.Im not sure who makes them anymore but Hanned Precision years ago marketed the co-ax die that was made for that purpose.Eagan made a "T-die" that worked in a lubesizer  and you ran the bullet nose first  with a flat nose punch.It worked quite well as the taper was cut to your throat angle.

Still looking for info.
Mike

I recall a long discussion in The Fouling Shot way back when, which eventually classified a bump die as legal for CBA use.

Swaging of cast bullets was not an allowed practice, as it pressed the lead into a uniform shape that may or may not have much, if any, resemblance to the original casting.  This would violate the original goal of the Association, which was to maximize cast bullet accuracy.

Sizing of cast bullets was a long established practice, which, ideally, only uniformed the diameter of the casting to the optimum fit to the bore without changing the overall shape.  This was unarguably legal for CBA competition.

Bumping the bullet was a bone of contention, since the arrangement not only modified the diameter of the bullet, but also modified the nose shape so it was an exact fit to the leade of the rifle’s bore.  Some people objected to this because they said it moved the processing of the cast bullet into the area of swaging, which, IMO it did.

However, the change was only in the nose diameter and maybe a slight change in the ogive shape.  And this was back in the dark ages when only Hoch (as far as I know) offered lathe-bored mould cavities.  Egan was the main man for match grade molds back then, and they were cut with cherries to a standard shape.  Nobody had CNC equipment and flash drives full of programs which could be tweaked for tiny changes in configuration, so bumping was allowed, after some controversy.  I would doubt that the allowance would go today, with the vast number of offerings from Accurate, NOE, Arsenal, and other manufacturers, and the ability to modify diameters, or even order a custom overall shape.

But it sounds to me like the OP just wants a uniform diameter for his castings.  One of those Lee sizing setups would be fine for that, or even a properly set-up lubrisizer with the appropriate die and nose punch.

My black-powder target bullets all come from custom moulds, and don’t really need sizing as such.  The grease-groove castings go through dies that just touch the outside diameter of the “lands” on the bullet, while the grooves are filled with lubricant.  A custom sizer die, or even a standard offering that is actually the nominal diameter, would be all that’s needed, I would think.

Bent_Ramrod-
yup we are spoiled now with custom makers that can make custom molds for nearly nothing. Thirty years ago there were only the options you mentioned .To have NEI make a custom mold the cherry cost alone was $275 .

Mick B wrote on Nov 18^th, 2022 at 6:12pm:


I'd just design a custom bullet mould tailored to your rifle's chamber /throat, for the alloy you intend to use - which would essentially do the same without any sizing/reforming required.

Well, buying moulds and trying them isn't having a mould specifically designed and made for your barrel/ chamber/ throat.  Exact freebore diameter, throat configuration, leade angle...

Just to add a little fuel to the discussion here, the late Charlie Dell was convinced that lead alloy bullets could not be consistently cast without voids, so he made what he called “swedging” dies that squeezed the cast bullet down a bit in length while bumping them out to perfect diameter for his chamber. As I recall, there was a 3 piece die set with a top punch fit to the bullet nose, a die body precisely reamed to the bullet profile, and a base plug to push from the bottom to swage the bullet.  He would lube the bullet with one of his lube pumps so the grease grooves didn’t collapse.  To operate all of this, he used a standard heavy O loading press like a RCBS Rockchucker I believe.  I believe he passed this stuff on to singleshot (Willis Gregory) when he could no longer make them himself. 
I’m sure some of the rest of the “family” will chime in and correct me on details, but that’s how I remember it.  I’m sorry I can’t give you a source for this tooling, but I don’t think Willis is making them any more. 
Froggie