LEE sizing die defected out of box??

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luckey

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Hi, not sure if you have seen this issue.

I bought 6 sets of lee deluxe carbide 4-die set. already setup 45acp and shot the first test batch fine. 9mm was also fine. then the sizing/decapping die in the 40S&W set keeps giving me trouble. Two symptoms,

1. the decapping pin keeps protruding a little bit even with an already deprimed case
2. maybe related to 1, the case is not resized all the way, but have a belly at near the bottom of the case, about 30 thousands of an inch.

I did try to reset the pin as per LEE's instruction with no effect. It keeps popping up a little bit.

I did have the pin popup issue with 45ACP die as well, but only once and once reset, it's fine since, also never had the case belly issue. The 9mm setup was in minutes without any incident.

is the sizing die defected out of box?

Thanks
 
If you could take a photo or two it would help. Just making a guess from what you're saying, is that you are "maybe" not tightening the collet tight enough, and "maybe" the pin is going too far into the case?
 
Thanks. I guess I was a bit lazy as it's time to bed.
Like I said, I did the same thing on 45 acp die once and no problem since. Now the problem on 40 started with factory tight which was really really tight and requires "considerable amount of torque" as stated in lee's manual, my hands hurt. Then to unscrew my own tighten after the first protruding, I had to use the same painful force to do it, no less than the factory tight. so, it can'T be that. Otherwise, my 45acp die would have the sam issue which is not the case. As for adjusting the die, I do them the same way as per Dillon instructions, touch the shell plate and back out a bit. No problem with the other 2 sets, only 40s&W sizing die. Tomorrow I will tumble my 357 and 44 cases to try the other dies to see if I have the same issue. Also opened a case with LEE.

saskgunowner101 said:
If you could take a photo or two it would help. Just making a guess from what you're saying, is that you are "maybe" not tightening the collet tight enough, and "maybe" the pin is going too far into the case?
Click to expand...
 
Not sure what do you mean. There is no shaft in lee's sizing/decaping die. Which part are you taking about? I did open up the whole die and did a visual inspection, but found no obvious issues with t die.

burnaby said:
Shaft holding the pin bottoming out on the case?
Click to expand...
 
See where the decapping pin is connected to the shaft. If the shaft bottoms out on the case (or there is obstacle like corn cob) it will push the shaft up.
carbidesizingdie.jpg
 
The pin is popping up because it is bottoming out in the case. When the pin pops up, don't push it back down, instead tighten the collet nut where the pin protrude a little bit, problem solved.
 
And tighten it up pretty darn snug, although maybe that's because I haven't degreased mine.

As for your 40 cal brass, it was likely glocked so you'll need a bulge buster die if your sized brass isn't feeding properly in your gun(s).
 
I did this, also like I said, I had to adjust the one on 45 acp without any challenges, on top of that, the 9mm set was also heavily greased, but incident free.

yomomma said:
This. Every new die set is oiled so it does not rust. I think most newbies including myself have gone through this.
Click to expand...
 
I didn't push it back down, but followed the manual instructions as I did for the one on 45acp. The 45 acp was OK with one adjustment, but the 40 just keeps popping

09outlander said:
The pin is popping up because it is bottoming out in the case. When the pin pops up, don't push it back down, instead tighten the collet nut where the pin protrude a little bit, problem solved.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks. I see. So technically it's also possible that the shaft was a bit too long out of factory compared to the normal ones. As per instructions, I keep the pin top flush with the top collet screw, just like I did with the 45 acp. Then in this case, I may be able to tighten it down with the pin protrude a little which lifts up the shaft. As long as the pin can knock out the old primer, which it does, that's all it matters. I will give this a try tonight. If it works, it's small factory issue, but not show stopper.
burnaby said:
See where the decapping pin is connected to the shaft. If the shaft bottoms out on the case (or there is obstacle like corn cob) it will push the shaft up.
carbidesizingdie.jpg
Click to expand...
 
The decapping-resizing die on my Lee .45ACP carbide dies gave me problems at the start.
The adjustment was over tight and the decapping pin kept popping up . I gave the dies a squirt of WD-40, waited a bit before disassembling the die.
That seemed to cure the moving decapping pin problem and I decapped 300 .45ACP cases with no more problems.
 
yes, it was darn snag. and it should not be Glock bulge if thats' what you are referring to because the belly shows up AFTER the resizing, NOT before. before going through the sizing die, they were straight as arrow. I did over 20 of them just to be sure.


Spawn-Inc said:
And tighten it up pretty darn snug, although maybe that's because I haven't degreased mine.

As for your 40 cal brass, it was likely glocked so you'll need a bulge buster die if your sized brass isn't feeding properly in your gun(s).
Click to expand...
 
I did that on my 45ACP too with no issue with one single adjustment.
however, my 40S&W is not the same issue as it keeps popping up, but still deprime fine, just not resize the whole case all the way down. LEE just replied my ticket and said that only for the pin popping issue, if not affecting depriming itself, no need to adjust to flush as stated in the manual that came with the die set, but still haven't come back with the 2nd issue as they also misunderstood it's Glock bulge case which is not. the cases were straight and fine, only belly out AFTER going through the sizing die.

sail32 said:
The decapping-resizing die on my Lee .45ACP carbide dies gave me problems at the start.
The adjustment was over tight and the decapping pin kept popping up . I gave the dies a squirt of WD-40, waited a bit before disassembling the die.
That seemed to cure the moving decapping pin problem and I decapped 300 .45ACP cases with no more problems.
Click to expand...
 
OK. After email exchange with LEE and more tests I did just now, I can confirm I have 2 separate problems with this particular LEE die. see the details below with pictures. As you can see, the case was perfect straight, but became "glock bulge" like after resizing.

problem 1. Decapper protruding. According to LEE technical support, in contradict with the manual and LEE web site post that decapper should be flush with the clamp, the protruding is FINE AS LONG AS the depriming is not affected. So, I can live with this. no biggie.
problem 2. Belly AFTER sizing. many people here and the LEE support says it could be glock bulge issue. Now I have the proof they are NOT. It's the die issue.

Here is how I did the test. First I removed the decapper pin completely to eliminate any interference, just left the sizing die. Then I handpicked a perfectly straight case, measured from top to bottom. As shown in the before/after pictures below, the before pictures, the case was 0.427" with deformed mouth. AFTER went through sizing die, you can see the case has narrow top, and a fatter bottom. funny thing is that the belly is actually up to spec @ 0.424 as exactly it should be as per SAAMI spec. the top part was too narrow and became 0.417"(should be 0.423" as per SAAMI) which makes the case looks like a glock bulge when it's NOT.

I am sending all these to LEE.

BEFORE RESIZING:
before_sizing_2_zps8workgry.jpg
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before_sizing_1_zpsi2ul184m.jpg
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before_sizing_3_zpsrrsbijdn.jpg
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before_sizing_5_zpsnv4tclsn.jpg
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AFTER RESIZING:
after_sizing_3_zpsjar34kla.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]
after_sizing_1_zpsjqck238p.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]
after_sizing_2_zpslnk3tsvm.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]
after_sizing_4_zpsra4njgyz.jpg
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Hi, I got reply from LEE which is confusing to me. So, as usual, I need help from all the reloading gurus here.

LEE said "on a 40S&W test case sized in the die, it produced an outside diameter of .418" measured with a micrometer. This is normal"...

that's why my case looks funny because the bottom where i looks "fat", it's exactly as it should as per all the reloading manuals and SAAMI @ 0.424.
so, the question is that, again, as per manuals and SAAMI, the case should be 0.423" at the mouth and 0.424 all the way down. Now LEE sized the case to 0.418". How can this be considered normal because to load like this, it will becoming a coke bottle like shape once the bullet is seated, which I just noticed on my 45ACP loads that I have shot a few hundreds already. :p
 
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