Lee collet neck die

[rscott5028]

like said before the die really works great if you will give your self time to learn it.in my rock chucker press I have put an index mark on two moveing parts of the press to help me out, ( with the same pressure each time )even takeing the die apart and cleaning the rouch edges and polishing it then a little grease it will then work better for you.

like one said before I think Jinx said it put marks on Lapua brass.I too have had this to happen.but after opening up the collets of the die ( by springing the fingers out a little ) it has yet happened again.

I have had 15 years wth these dies and found out all kinds of tricks to do to them.the two best are the ones I just told.other than polishing a little off the mandrel to get a tighter neck.and that it just takes time with the die to really get the feel of what the die is doing.trust me you can feel the die moveing the neck back to specs.you can even feel it better when you deprim the brass first.I can move my necks back to specs with just one to two fingers on all my brass.when I resize 223 brass it just take a nudge with one finger to make the collet work.

yeah one more trick for ya.annealing in some kind of time order with your brass helps alot.

With the Forster Bonanza Co-ax press, I adjust my collet dies for a full and clean stroke. There is no need to rely on feel or marks or muscle memory and it is very consistent.

I also remove the mandrel and use a K&M expansion mandrel as a separate step. With lightly neck-turned brass having even thickness, you can precisely control the amount of sizing without over-working the brass and without leaving marks.

-- richard

 

[7 loader]

Love mine for 22-250. Took my cheapy H&R Ultra varmint and helped it shoot now 3/4 in. groups at 200 yds. All I need is a good body die now for it. Please don't over think it. Follow the instructions and things should be good.

 

[teampete]

Thanks for all the help guys and yes my original question was anwered.

Hondo, how do you set the die up so I can make a complete stroke instead of trying to judge my stroke every time. This seems like the way to go.

Thanks,
Dennis

 

[rscott5028]

Thanks for all the help guys and yes my original question was anwered.

Hondo, how do you set the die up so I can make a complete stroke instead of trying to judge my stroke every time. This seems like the way to go.

Thanks,
Dennis

Before I went to the Forster, I would set the die too high and run the T-Mag a full stroke allowing it to cam over. Then check/measure the brass and adjust the die a quarter turn down if necessary. Repeat until the brass is sized correctly. Then run a few more pieces and measure just to be sure.

 

[Johnboy]

if its not a co-axe press do this.

1.run the die in till it just touches the shell holder.
2.put an index mark on top of the die cap.
3.now with ram down run the in one full turn and lock it down
4.now run a deprimed case into the die ( this helps out alot )
5.while running the deprimed case into the die with you none good arm/hand and fine sharpe in the other hand feel for the small movement of the collet pushing the neck in with a stop
6.now just add a little more push to the ram and mark the two parts of the press that can be seen really easy ( this may be at the cam over point of your press if it does cam over )

now you are able to run case after case wit the same amount of pressure time and time again.and it works for me with 223 and 308 set up,but will not work when resizeing for my 300wm.the stroke is alot longer.

hope this helped even more

 

[Hondo64d]

Thanks for all the help guys and yes my original question was anwered.

Hondo, how do you set the die up so I can make a complete stroke instead of trying to judge my stroke every time. This seems like the way to go.

Thanks,
Dennis

1. Run the ram all the way to the top so that the handle is at the bottom of the stroke.
2. Screw the collet down to the shell holder.
3. Size a case.
4. Try seating a bullet in the fired case by hand. If it goes in easily, turn the die down a small amount, maybe 1/8 turn and repeat the process until you have satisfactory neck tension.
5. Set your lock ring. I replace all the lee lock rings with Forster rings. For me, unless I index mark the die and the press, The Lee lock ring allows a little too much movement when I screw the die into my press, making how far I screw the die down not repeatable from one time to the next.

Bullet should not be able to be seated by hand and I don't like it if I can move the bullet by holding the case in my hand and pushing against my bench top.

Another way is to measure with a caliper the neck diameter of a loaded round and keep running the die down until the neck diameter on a sized case is .002" smaller than the neck diameter on the loaded round. That should provide enough neck tension.

If you are having to apply too much force or collapsing cases in your efforts, first make sure the collet fingers are not collapsed. If they are, spread them with a round punch or something similar. Don't get over enthusiastic with this. If that doesn't fix the problem, you may need to polish down the mandrell a little bit using a drill and emory cloth. If you are afraid to do this, Lee will supply you with an undersized mandrell polished to your specs for a very reasonable fee.

John

 

[rscott5028]

1. Run the ram all the way to the top so that the handle is at the bottom of the stroke.
2. Screw the collet down to the shell holder.
3. Size a case.
4. Try seating a bullet in the fired case by hand. If it goes in easily, turn the die down a small amount, maybe 1/8 turn and repeat the process until you have satisfactory neck tension.
5. Set your lock ring. I replace all the lee lock rings with Forster rings. For me, unless I index mark the die and the press, The Lee lock ring allows a little too much movement when I screw the die into my press, making how far I screw the die down not repeatable from one time to the next.

Bullet should not be able to be seated by hand and I don't like it if I can move the bullet by holding the case in my hand and pushing against my bench top.

Another way is to measure with a caliper the neck diameter of a loaded round and keep running the die down until the neck diameter on a sized case is .002" smaller than the neck diameter on the loaded round. That should provide enough neck tension.

If you are having to apply too much force or collapsing cases in your efforts, first make sure the collet fingers are not collapsed. If they are, spread them with a round punch or something similar. Don't get over enthusiastic with this. If that doesn't fix the problem, you may need to polish down the mandrell a little bit using a drill and emory cloth. If you are afraid to do this, Lee will supply you with an undersized mandrell polished to your specs for a very reasonable fee.

John

Note that the expander mandrel will limit your minimum neck ID.

You should not need to go below that diameter as it is usually slightly more neck tension than the preferred .001-.002" below caliber.

-- richard

 

[Hondo64d]

Usually. But I had a .308 collet die where it simply would not squeeze the neck down enough with the supplied mandrell. For just a few bucks, Lee sent me one that was slightly smaller and it worked perfectly. My .260 Collet die seems to work fine as it came from the factory.

John