Great customer service from Lee Precision, Re: 7.5x55 dies.

kawicrash

kawicrash

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I am planning to start reloading for my K31 Swiss in 7.5x55, and in doing some research I have found that the 1911 and K31 have different chamber specs.
I sent Lee an email asking about their dies, and I got a reply within an hour answering my question! I was pleasantly surprised, as most places it seems, if you get a reply at all, it's a couple of days later and usually just some form letter type of answer, not really specific to your question. I then replied to them with a further related question, and again the same person got back to me within an hour or so with an accurate answer to my question! I was very happy with their service, and just out of curiosity, I might send some other die manufacturers the same question and see what happens.
Anyway, what I found out from Lee is that their dies are made to the 1911 chamber spec, with narrower shoulder, and the K31 has a .006" shorter headspace than the 1911, according to their data.
 
I'm not sure how long brass would last if you FL size with Lee dies, that is a lot of working the brass. I've been using their neck sizing dies for my K31 for years now, you can see how much the case and shoulder blows out during firing.
Left is GP11, right is a neck sized fire formed round.
 
:p Wow, that almost looks like the difference between between the standard 257 Roberts and my Ackley Improved.
I found a full length set on the EE for a decent price, and I plan to get the Lee collet dies from Amazon.
It seems you can only neck size so many times before the cases need a f.l. bump.
 
You could try just bumping the shoulder a little with the Lee dies. It wont bump the entire shoulder evenly though so it will still cause excess work hardening when fired. Anneal regularly and neck size as much as possible and it shouldn't be too bad.
 
Well I'm giving them a shot right now. I broke my 308 neck collet die this afternoon. I called them up and "Lain" said for me to fill out their online form and send them a picture of my stripped cap and will be sending me a new one when they receive the picture. I should of asked if I was getting a new die or just the aluminum cap.
Yes I screwed it in too tight and stripped the cap. Real quick like. One little SNAP! I first thought it was a stuck primer. Nope.

I'll keep you all posted on my situation.
 
islandkent said:
Well I'm giving them a shot right now. I broke my 308 neck collet die this afternoon. I called them up and "Lain" said for me to fill out their online form and send them a picture of my stripped cap and will be sending me a new one when they receive the picture. I should of asked if I was getting a new die or just the aluminum cap.
Yes I screwed it in too tight and stripped the cap. Real quick like. One little SNAP! I first thought it was a stuck primer. Nope.

I'll keep you all posted on my situation.
Click to expand...

I blew one of those apart too....got a few spares from Higginsons rather then go through Lee. The caps are only $2-$3 and Higginsons ships fast. Might be waiting a month for Lee to get the part to you.
 
Hitzy said:
I'm not sure how long brass would last if you FL size with Lee dies, that is a lot of working the brass. I've been using their neck sizing dies for my K31 for years now, you can see how much the case and shoulder blows out during firing.
Left is GP11, right is a neck sized fire formed round.
Click to expand...

Man...you got to love the look of those GP11 bullets, does anyone make, or make a mold for them.
 
Hitzy said:
I blew one of those apart too....got a few spares from Higginsons rather then go through Lee. The caps are only $2-$3 and Higginsons ships fast. Might be waiting a month for Lee to get the part to you.
Click to expand...

Thanks Hitzy! I'll give them a shout tomorrow. Thanks again.
 
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This is a side-by-side comparison of original Swiss GP11 Military and a once fired, neck resized GP11 case with Berger 175 gr. VLD Match Bullet (30412). Berger also makes a nearly identical bullet for hunting (30512).

TradeEx (site sponsor) sells Berger

GP11%20with%20Berger%20VLD_zpssorbsdkt.jpg~original
 
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