Reloading 30/06 prob!

Red Dawg

Red Dawg

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Hey guys.

I have a problem with my sizing/depriming die (Lee). Whether military or commercial brass, both are very tight to go in and come out, alot tighter than the 303 I've reloaded. It's even come to the point of breaking off the rims at the seats of 2 shells (which caused me alot of grief getting out). I've also used the lee lube excessively on a few shells to see if I wasn't putting enough lube on. Nothing seems to work! Any ideas????

Thanks!
 
Are your dies install properly?

New or used?

How much and where are you lubing?

Are you using the proper shell holder?

What press?
 
are you cleaning the necks? I do the out and insides with 000 steel wool, shiny and smooth

check the inside of your dies and expander ball and make sure they are clean and smooth.

is this brass from a semi auto? they are usually bulged at the base more then a bolt gun, can take some extra Umph to sqeeze them down if FL sizing.
 
I have had same problem.Lee dies have a long expander plug.It is necessary to put generous lube on inside of neck.It will still take more effort sizing than other dies with short expanders,but it will reduce chance of damaging rims.
 
Pretty much the only thing you can do without spending more money is to run a brush into the neck, and lube. The collet dies are REALLY sweet, provided that the fired brass originated from your rifle. Otherwise, you run the risk if them not chambering.
 
Take out the decapping pin and clean out the the die.

I've used steel wool on a .223 patch holder and it take's a couple second's.

Look inside before you start and as you go just to watch your progress.
 
hakx said:
Pretty much the only thing you can do without spending more money is to run a brush into the neck, and lube. The collet dies are REALLY sweet, provided that the fired brass originated from your rifle. Otherwise, you run the risk if them not chambering.
Click to expand...

Thanks hakx. I always forget to point that out when I'm talking about collet dies and it's kind of an important thing not to leave out :redface:
 
Hey guys -

The sizing ball is quite rough.. came that way with the die - however, I tried taking the de-primer pin out just to see if it was still tight, and yes, it is still tough - using a lee press and yes, everything is installed correctly - the die worked well a while ago when I used them before, and there isn't really any reason at all why the die isn't working very well now!
 
Red Dawg said:
Hey guys.

I have a problem with my sizing/depriming die (Lee). Whether military or commercial brass, both are very tight to go in and come out, alot tighter than the 303 I've reloaded. It's even come to the point of breaking off the rims at the seats of 2 shells (which caused me alot of grief getting out). I've also used the lee lube excessively on a few shells to see if I wasn't putting enough lube on. Nothing seems to work! Any ideas????

Thanks!
Click to expand...


Try a better set of dies, RCBS neck sizer dies work perfectly.
 
If you can afford it, but a set of RCBS or Hornady dies, and get a better press. The RCBS Rock chucker is good value for the money. When I first started reloading, I was using my brothers Lee press, and I "broke" it, and I was only loading 45ACP at the time......
 
If you're not loading for a semi-auto, you can set the die up to neck size only if and only if you're using the brass in the same rifle it was fired in. Full length resizing is required for a semi-auto and for new(on the first loading) or once fired brass from another rifle. Change the lube and clean the dies(use the same stuff you use to clean a firearm).
Milsurp brass is a bit thicker than commercial and usually has crimped in primers too. The primer crimp has to be removed to re-prime.
 
Red Dawg said:
Hey guys -

The sizing ball is quite rough.. came that way with the die - however, I tried taking the de-primer pin out just to see if it was still tight, and yes, it is still tough - using a lee press and yes, everything is installed correctly - the die worked well a while ago when I used them before, and there isn't really any reason at all why the die isn't working very well now!
Click to expand...

Take them apart and clean them. - dan
 
If you are using a collet die, then there shouldn't be any resistance since the neck should be stretched (from being fired) to a diameter larger than the calibre of bullet.


If you are full length sizing, look at this article:
w ww.surplusrifle.com/shooting/homestretch2/index.asp

Is the expander the old or new style? It seems the new style would make things significantly less difficult for you.
 
This happened to me once and I switched away from the lee lube to the RCBS goop. Problem solved, and I have never used the lee lube since.
 
Try measuring the bottom of your case after firing.Some chambers can be excessively large and make full length resizing difficult.I found imperial sizing wax was works the easiest for full length resizing.Some rifle I have based on the -06 case can vary up to .005 of an inch.The larger chambers makes resizing noticeably more difficult.I have found the hornady dies resize easier as well. Good luck!!
 
Red Dawg said:
- the die worked well a while ago when I used them before, and there isn't really any reason at all why the die isn't working very well now!
Click to expand...

My guess is that the collet that holds the decapping rod in place on the Lee dies has slipped allowing the entire decapping assembly to be pushed further up into the die. If the expander ball is too close to - or actually inside - the neck constriction portion of the die you will have problems exactly like you are experiencing.
 
'Boo said:
My guess is that the collet that holds the decapping rod in place on the Lee dies has slipped allowing the entire decapping assembly to be pushed further up into the die. If the expander ball is too close to - or actually inside - the neck constriction portion of the die you will have problems exactly like you are experiencing.
Click to expand...

It should be obvious to tell if this is what happened since the top of the decapping rod will be visibly higher than the collet. Lee instructions say they should be flush.
 
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