Is it LEE'S fault?

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I'm loading some 55 grain Winchester FMJ's using my Lee die set. When I use the bullet seating die I adjust it so that the bullet is seating so the bottom of the cannular is barely touching the neck of the case. As I motor through my group of reloads I see that some of them are seated well into the cannular and some aren't even close!

Is this because of the inconsistent length of the bulk Winchester bullets or should I expect this from my die? I don't have a set of calipers yet so I can't do any exact measuring to figure it out.
 
I found this happens as well with my Lee dies in 223. The seating depth wasn't greatly affected in mine to change accuracy. I reduced the problem by putting a dab of oil on the bullet seat of the die. This allowed the bullet to "slip" squarely in as it was being seated. One other thing is you must try to use the same force and speed in your stoke on the press lever. A little extra pressure can cause the bullet to seat a touch further. Since you cannot measure the bullets to see if they are the same length or not, I can only assume they are consistant in manufacture.

Get a digital caliper as soon as funds allow. Mine was around $30.00 at Princess Auto. You should check (measure) trim length as well as overall length so trimming or seating errors can be found quickly. Hope my 2c helps.
 
You have the die and seating plug tightened? Are your cases all the same length? Weighing the bullets will tell you how close they are to being the same.
Go to Crappy Tire and buy a dial or digital vernier calipre.
 
+1 on the princess auto caliper. Reloading without calipers :eek: As good as my eyes are, be damned if I can see the difference between 1.268 and 1.270. It'll be probably one of the most affordable, most useful tools you'll buy.
 
picked up my digital caliper fron Cdn. Tire for $14.99. It looks like the brass may vary in length as the die should not move nor the stroke change in length. Next time you reload, have that caliper handy and check the brass length. I load my bullets to suggested length from my books, not by the cannalure. Depending if you are single loading the bullet or mag loading. Cycling can be altered by too long seated bullets.
 
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I got a set of the princess auto calipers today and trimmed/chamfered 30 cases to a uniform length. I was ready to go but then I realized that I must not have been pushing down hard enough on the collet neck sizing die because the bullets slide right through the neck into the body of the case!

Stupid newbie mistake, I should have checked them before priming them but now I have 30 of them sitting there primers in.... Can I remove the de-priming pin from my die and re-neck size them safely?
 
You can't take a lee decapping pin out of the mandrel of a Lee collet die or their full length die. Decapping live primers isn't advised, there is a one in a million chance of firing the cap with the decapping pin. If you get away with it you save a dollars worth of primers that you can't trust anymore. If you are wrong you might shoot yourself in the prick with a small but high speed projectile. Those odds suck. :p The safe thing is to chamber the cases in your rifle and fire the caps. They are loud so warn your wife first.
 
Dogleg said:
You can't take a lee decapping pin out of the mandrel of a Lee collet die or their full length die. Decapping live primers isn't advised, there is a one in a million chance of firing the cap with the decapping pin. If you get away with it you save a dollars worth of primers that you can't trust anymore. If you are wrong you might shoot yourself in the prick with a small but high speed projectile. Those odds suck. :p The safe thing is to chamber the cases in your rifle and fire the caps. They are loud so warn your wife first.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought :redface: I'll have a good time scaring the crap out of the dog too hahaha.
 
I had a similar problem a couple of months ago. 20 rounds of primed 8mm Mauser brass that needed to be made safe. So I took them out onto the deck (I live in the sticks) with my M48 Yugo and fired them off.

The fun part was that I was downstairs for a while when I walked up through the living room to the deck. I am wearing my house coat and slippers, carrying the Mauser. I catch the puzzled look on my wife's face and my son shrugging his shoulders mumbling, "I don't know" in reply to the silent request. Must of looked pretty comical. I guess they are use to it but I still catch them off guard every now and then.

tbhupe
 
This won't measure your case lenght, but a c clamp or vice etc, should be able to show you if you are consistent in length, definitely get some calipers as soon as possible.

I myself do not yet have a case trimmer but I will be getting one before all of my Once fired brass becomes twice fired.
 
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Good excuse to buy a cheapo drill press, case trimmer is more money than the drill press.

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For a normal amount of trimming this work great.

32068BrassTrimming_009_web.jpg

This NEVER gets used anymore.
 
Going back to your original question about seating depth inconsistencies, some bullet seaters won't gauge via the tip of the bullet but rather the ogive. I routinely see different overall lengths in loaded rounds using Remington Corelokts - at least with mine. I don't see it when I am loading Nosler BT or other higher end bullets. If all your cases are uniform, I would look at the bullets next.
 
Hmm my Lee trimmer didn't come with the spindle bit that runs through the body of the casing, does a person have to buy one of those on the side specific to their caliber?
 
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