.311 expander for mt Lee 7.62x54r dies

lorne19

lorne19

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I just bought a set of Lee pacesetter dies in 7.62x54r. It says in the booklet that came with the die that it comes with a .308 expander only. Dose this mean I need to get a .311 expander in order to use .311-.312 bullets?
 
Yep. Case mouth won't be big enough if you don't. Measure the expander with a vernier or micrometer before you contact Lee. Mind you, their site doesn't show the correct diameter expander.
 
I have the same dies. I'm pretty sure with the instructions came the part # to order the .311 expander for like $3.00. I would have preferred if it just came with it however.
 
I've ordered one. Once you get it, how does it go in?

It looks like you LOOSEN the nut on top and can punch out the old one from the top like I think you do if you have a stuck case. So is it just a matter of pushing the old one out and cramming the new one in and torquing down the nut?
 
Yep, just loosen the nut, slide it out (no punching required). Slide the new .303 Brit one in and good to go. On the hand you can load the .311 bullets with the expander it comes with. I did and just 1/4 turned the case after pressing half way in, no problems at all.

Ryan
 
That nut is a mofo. I need some better tools to budge it. I haven't loaded any yet. Bought all the reloading gear before I even have the rifle. Found lots of brass at a gun show a while back.
 
Honestly man, buying PRVI factory ammo is the best way I found to get brass. I figure at $60/100 for brass and $100/100 for loaded ammo, if I need brass I just buy loaded rounds. My components are about 40 cents so it works out.
 
I was running speer hot-cor's (flat base) when I was using the .308 expander, works fine, but leaves a little bulge in the neck. the right one makes it much nicer.
 
Some .311 flatbase spitzers into .308 sized brass resulted in split necks. Put the .311 expander in and (not surprisingly) works great.
 
Man if your brass was splitting like that you may have some old crap on your hands. I jammed .311 flat base bullets into .308 sized brass lots before I got the right expander and had no splits at all.
 
I'll find out when I go shoot some this week. I only did one so it might not be representative of what would happen if I tried more. It seemed way too big though.
 
Could be a lot of other factors combined to cause that, no doubt though the .311 expander is whats needed. You got that now, your GTG.
 
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