How far oversize can you go on a bullet before it becomes too difficult to push down the barrel?

For Example...

Barrel is .540 dia

I am guessing a .548 would engrave and go down fine. Where as a .557 would be difficult?


Sizing dies....how far can you size a bullet " down " ?


I realize these are amateur casting questions I am just trying to educate myself.

Thanks

Look at TC's Maxi-Ball system. The bullet has three bands on it. The base band and middle band are just slightly under bore diameter. The top (or first band) is groove size. When it's loaded the base band and middle band slip into the bore and the top band gets engraved upon loading. Remember they are pure lead and that top band is easy to engrave. The bullet was also designed to obturate when the gas pressure hit the base. It does do this as I've recovered them in a media that didn't destroy the bullet much and measured the bands and they were up to the groove size and the overall length of the bullet was shorter. In your example I believe that bullet size you mentioned would be very difficult to load down a fouled barrel. Remember the idea behind the minie ball was to be slightly under bore size for easy loading and upon powder ignition the gas filled the hollow base and expanded the skirt out to seal the bore and take the rifling. The LEE Real bullet, although having more bands, they are little and they to can be engraved on seating.

So in my opinion if you're not talking about something like I just mentioned I'd say it couldn't be very much over bore size and load easy.

Justin, Smokin J is right... I cast my own Maxis,and they do taper, with the base smaller in diameter than the front. It is done that way on purpose, as he states.

Now, to answer your original question: anything much over a couple of thousandths larger than groove diameter will be very difficult to load, even in a clean bore. I have experimented with my 50-cal. Whites trying to determine just how much bigger I can go. I have found that anything over .506" is just too hard to load. And I haven't seen enough difference in accuracy between that and the original diameter specified for the rifle (.503") to justify the aggravation.