Is my Lee Collet Die working correctly? (.243 Win)

TargetNorth

TargetNorth

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Hi All, thanks for your time.

I have a brand new Lee Collet die, I've been fighting with a full length die, then a neck die... finally tried the collet.

My problem is I'm not sure if it's sizing the necks at all. Here's my set up...

1. Screwed the collet die into my lee single stage press (cheapest basicest press).
2. Fully raised the shell holder by lowering the handle.
3. Screwed the collet die down until it touches the shell holder.
4. Lowered the shell holder by raising the handle
5. Screwed the collet die down 1 full turn, then tightened the locking ring.
6. Grabbed a fired case, cleaned neck with green scrubby, put a little bit of imperial sizing wax on the neck and a tiny touch inside the neck.
7. Put the case in the shell holder and lowered the handle, sizing the case.

Now when I lower the handle, it takes almost no pressure, and I feel the primer drop out. I take out the case, and I see small marks on it from the squeezing part of the collet die (the four fingers?). I'm used to really forcing the case into the die when full length sizing, so this is REALLY easy. Here's some measurements.

Neck before:
ID 0.243
OD .277
Neck after:
ID .241 or .242
OD .274

I can push a bullet in and pull a bullet out of the sized case with relative ease, i.e. with my fingers. Is my collet set up correctly? Is this little tension OK? I have read that the collet die puts less tension on the case...but this little? The bullet definitely won't fall out, but...

Thanks everyone,
Barry
 
no, it should be tight on the bullet. try turning the die in further, say 1 more turn... skip the wax as it is unnecessary, no lube whatsoever is needed. and it takes a considerable degree of force to properly close the collet. i think its like 35 ft/lbs? more than a fl sizing die anyhow. really giver a good squeeze with no lube, and the die in further and you should get better results.
 
mikeystew is right on. Screw it down more becaue you can't be in too far with these. The shell holder actually pushes up on the collets bottom extension. There is no force on the brass just the collet closing the neck down and then the button expanding on the way out. Size the brass then lift the handle up enough to rotate the brass a quarter turn and press again. This will give 100% coverage on the neck and remove the collet marks. Like mikeystew said "don't use any lube" it'll just crud up the die. Take the die apart and clean it once in a while too.

I love these dies for fire formed brass. They extend case life and make some very accurate loads for me.
 
JasonS said:
I love these dies for fire formed brass. They extend case life and make some very accurate loads for me.
Click to expand...

x 2

I ran into the same issue as the OP, and after a little mucking around I figured it out. It does take more force than usual to fully size the case properley. If you push too hard though you can blow the aluminum cap off the top of the die, so a little care is necessary. I usually size it and then rotate it at least 2 or 3 times, and according to my runout gauge, this makes a noticable difference. With clean brass and dies (which is key) I can produce brass with consistently less than 0.001" runout. Also periodically diassemble and lubricate the innards of the die or the collect can jam closed on you. Good Luck!
 
Wow. I must be doing something wrong. Using the collet die I don't find I have to exert any great force on the handle at all to get good neck tension and 1 thou runout on my 308 cases.
 
Heh, thanks for the advice everyone. I figured it out after watching ammosmith on youtube, he shows the die indepth. When I resize them, I can hardly tell that they are resized except to put in the bullet, the tension increases. They should be good to go now!
 
I have used the collett die for some time.
The current instructions do not recommend "caming over" but I did on my first die. When reading later instructions, I set up accordingly. In the youtube he is actually "caming over", and I will probably reset all of my dies accordingly . . . after I clean and lube. This is an excellent instructional video.
 
If you think you are not getting enough neck tension disassemble the die remove the mandrel measure it with your calibers.put the mandrel in a power drill and using some 600 grit sand paper spin it in the sand paper remeasure and repeat until you have removed a .001 inches from the mandrel.you will need to put the mandrel in the drill from both ends .just becareful not to crush the flange at the top of the mandrel.you can make a sleeve by cutting the neck off a used case and sliding it up to the flange befor putting it in the drill.reassemble and see if you have got enough neck tension. you should not be able to push or pull the by hand.
 
rembolt said:
If you think you are not getting enough neck tension disassemble the die remove the mandrel measure it with your calibers.put the mandrel in a power drill and using some 600 grit sand paper spin it in the sand paper remeasure and repeat until you have removed a .001 inches from the mandrel.you will need to put the mandrel in the drill from both ends .just becareful not to crush the flange at the top of the mandrel.you can make a sleeve by cutting the neck off a used case and sliding it up to the flange befor putting it in the drill.reassemble and see if you have got enough neck tension. you should not be able to push or pull the by hand.
Click to expand...

That actually works good. Apparantly Lee supplies undersized mandrels to address this problem, but good luck trying to find one.

I wound up "polishing" my .270 mandrel down a bit too much, and I got around 002" neck tension so I bought a couple of extra mandrels in both '06 and .270 from Higginsons, 5 bucks a crack. Nice to have a spare or two to play with. I was more careful with the '06 mandrel and it turned out perfect for what I want first time though.

I don't think Lee advises to cam over with a press such as a Rockchucker. If you have everything right I don't think you need that much pressure. I can feel when the collets contact the case neck, the neck being sized, and when the neck contacts the mandrel. So maybe practice will let you feel that, providing all is tidled up just right. I find if I stand when sizing I can get a very uniform pressure and feel each time, as I am more just pushing on the handle rather than pulling. IIRC Lee advises about 25 lbs. on the end of the handle. As I said, I can feel the sizing process progressing.

I also lightly polished the machining marks off the collet fingers, and then coated them lightly with extreme pressure grease. What a difference the tinkering made. Before that I was geting galling on the fingers, I think because of trying to use too much pressure combined with poor lubrication.
 
Interesting. I just went through the same thing. The die does appear to work as the tension of the bullet in the case does increase. But I can still pull it out with my fingers, just. My problem is that this "once fired in the same rifle" brass will not chamber easily. This is just the neck sized brass, not loaded. When I tried the brass before resizing some would chamber, some would not chamber without a little difficulty. The instructions for these dies state that 1 1/4 turns additional will suffice and that more will not help. So my question is did you try chambering the sized brass? Any problems?
I did run this brass through my trimmer after the neck sizing and it didn't need it. There is another thread here where someone states this problem of once fired brass chambering and then not extracting until it is fired. Ideas/comments?
 
I've read about chambering difficulties with fireformed brass, but I've never seen it myself since I haven't yet fired a batch of 223 more than a few times. Anyway, the recommendation I've received from more experienced shooters is to keep a Redding Body Die on hand. The body die is like a FL die that doesn't touch the neck, so you use it before neck sizing to get the brass to fit your chamber.
 
Increasing the pressure on the collet die won't help as it is more than likely interference on the shoulder that is causing it not to chamber and the collet die only sizes the neck.

As agent_mango said you need the bump the shoulder back a bit.

To confirm this colour a case in with a vivid and chamber it a few times and you should be able to see where it is touching.
 
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