9mm Lee Die worn out?

[Meroh]

Thin brass for sure. I have measured them at .008' in some spots. But as mentioned at the beginning of this thread, my die sizes them and the bullets slips into them but when I resize them with a friend's die, it gets tighter/smaller. The crummy part is that I have to spend an hour sorting a pile of range brass and getting rid of the Blazer while my friend can run anything through his die. They are both Lee's. Lee said I could send it in and if it is found to be out of tolerance, they will replace it. This route may be cost prohibitive though if I have to ship it from Canada to the USA.

This is frustrating. I too am using mixed range brass, and there is a lot of Blazer in my reloads; the majority I would say.
Others must be having similar issues because I did a bit of research and discovered that Lee also makes an "undersized" sizing die. X-Reload carries them: ht tps://x-reload.com/lee-9mm-luger-carbide-undersize-sizing-die.html This is what it says:

The Lee Undersizing Dies size the brass .003" under SAMI specifications to insure proper functioning in semi-automatic handguns.

Have you measured your cases out of the first die? They should measure not greater than the Saami dimension. Saami gives the max dimension for the casing OD and minimum dimension for the chamber to ensure a clearance fit. If your sizing die is throwing oversize brass, it would be a safe bet to send it back to Lee, but document it before contacting them, measure a bunch of brass from your die (10-12 pieces), measure the same amount of from your friends die for comparison; photograph your measuring method, photograph the die to show condition; they are good about warranty; they may replace it without you having to return it.

If the brass measures in spec, then the undersized die may be your next best solution. The price of the undersized die is about 2/3 the price I paid for my three die set. The price of an RCBS sizing die alone is more than I paid for my 3 die set.

As I mentioned before, I only use the expander for two reasons:

• Good copper plate like Campro and Jacketed bullets load fine without it, and I am not damaging the cases in the process.

• I currently use a very old Lyman Turret Press, that is basically a single stage press that I don't have to screw dies in and out between steps, so it saves me time if I don't use it.

• If I don't use it, that means less metal fatigue in the case mouth, which equals more reloads per casing.

I have bought a good used Lee Pro 1000 for a good price, so I will be doing progressive reloading and will be using the expander as a "powder through" die, but since I rarely load lead, and don't like polymer bullets, most of the time, I will have it set high enough that the bullets will feed, but expansion will be minimal.

Let us know how your cases measure.

Mark

 

[mb571]

Update: Lee told me that if I sent it in and it was found to be out of tolerance, they would replace it.
I had asked about the internal dimensions and got this response:
"I can tell you that we make the carbide sizing ring for 9mm Luger tapered. At the top of the carbide ring, it is .370 to .372 and the bottom is .389 to .391. These are specific dimensions and specific points on the carbide ring and most people do not have the proper tools to measure the carbide ring, or our sizing dies.
This is why we recommend sending your die into us if you believe there is an issue."

I measured mine with vernier calipers at the mouth 0.395”, and at the top of the carbide ring at .380” on my die.
It cost me just shy of $9 to send it from Canada to USA. That was a bit less than I expected so it was a pretty calculated chance.
Lee replaced the die body, and shipped it back to me at no charge. Wow. I haven't had customer service like that in a long time.

I have had a chance to try it on that thinner range brass and it works as I had hoped. Kudos to Lee Precision. I have two sets of their dies and will stick with them for sure.
Thanks Lee!
Mark

 

[snooker]

This is a reason to stay away from "used" dies.

 

[mb9]

Update: Lee told me that if I sent it in and it was found to be out of tolerance, they would replace it.
I had asked about the internal dimensions and got this response:
"I can tell you that we make the carbide sizing ring for 9mm Luger tapered. At the top of the carbide ring, it is .370 to .372 and the bottom is .389 to .391. These are specific dimensions and specific points on the carbide ring and most people do not have the proper tools to measure the carbide ring, or our sizing dies.
This is why we recommend sending your die into us if you believe there is an issue."

I measured mine with vernier calipers at the mouth 0.395”, and at the top of the carbide ring at .380” on my die.
It cost me just shy of $9 to send it from Canada to USA. That was a bit less than I expected so it was a pretty calculated chance.
Lee replaced the die body, and shipped it back to me at no charge. Wow. I haven't had customer service like that in a long time.

I have had a chance to try it on that thinner range brass and it works as I had hoped. Kudos to Lee Precision. I have two sets of their dies and will stick with them for sure.
Thanks Lee!
Mark

Glad they sorted it out for you! I have been happy with all lee products i have purchased, good to know they stand behind the product too!

 

[mb571]

This is a reason to stay away from "used" dies.

Lesson learned on the first time trying to buy used for sure. If they were a screamer of a deal, you could roll the dice. These were certainly no screamer and just glad it worked out and I learned something.

 

[bigedp51]

The carbide ring in the die has plus and minus manufacturing tolerance and you may have gotten one on the plus side. And I do not think the extremely hard carbide ring was worn larger from use.

Lee also makes a undersized dies that are .002 to .003 smaller in inside diameter and size the case smaller diameter. Many shooters use the undersized dies when using mixed range pickup brass because of the different spring back rates of mixed brass.

I have Lee undersized dies in 9mm and .40 S&W because I use range pickup brass and want to make sure I have plenty of bullet grip.