seat my sizing die too much?

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majormarine

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i have a lee single stage press and a set of lee 223 rem dies.

i followed what lee suggests; install the shell holder, raise the shaft of the press and screw the FL sizing die in until it touches the shell holder. now, lower the shaft and screw the die in 1/4 of a turn more. after sizing a few cases, this setting left a ring of groove on the shoulder of my cases.

i started all over again and obmitted the additional 1/4 turn. the groove on the shoulder was gone but my questions are: is this setting sounds okay? am i still playing it save?

btw, i have not lubed the inside of the case neck. i found that 223 rem cases were still pretty easy to push in and pull out from the FL die without much force, but for 308 win, either i had to rub quite a bit of lube on the body of the cases, or compensated it with more elbow grease! :p

i think in the future i will lube the inside of the case neck for larger calibers, but can i get away with 223 rem? i mean if i keep ignoring lubing the inside of the neck, will it cause any damage to the dies?

someone here on the board suggested to rub the cases with a piece of candle...i tried it and it did ease the operation!
 
Last edited:
majormarine said:
i have a lee single stage press and a set of lee 223 rem dies.

i followed what lee suggests; install the shell holder, raise the shaft of the press and screw the FL sizing die in until it touches the shell holder. now, lower the shaft and screw the die in 1/4" more. after sizing a few cases, this setting left a ring of groove on the shoulder of my cases.

i started all over again and obmitted the additional 1/4". the groove on the shoulder was gone but my questions are: is this setting sounds okay? am i still playing it save?

btw, i have not lubed the inside of the case neck. i found that 223 rem cases were still pretty easy to push in and pull out from the FL die without much force, but for 308 win, either i had to rub quite a bit of lube on the body of the cases, or compensated it with more elbow grease! :p

i think in the future i will lube the inside of the case neck for larger calibers, but can i get away with 223 rem? i mean if i keep ignoring lubing the inside of the neck, will it cause any damage to the dies?

someone here on the board suggested to rub the cases with a piece of candle...i tried it and it did ease the operation!
Click to expand...

After you have st the die with the ram up, lower the ram then turn the die 1/4 - 1/3 of a turn more.

Re read the instructions about lubing the case neck. It says to use a cotton swab.
 
I use lee dies for my 223 as well. I use their lube as well. For full length, lube the case body and the inside of the neck. Don't lube the outside of the neck or the shoulder. I found if I FL size and use the ram slower I don't buckle cases. If I ram too fast the problem arises. Since I use the same brass in my rifle I then only neck size. I only FL size if I bring home fresh range brass from someone else's rifle.
 
I think the best way to set a full length sizing die is to use a case gage. The case gage is actually quite simple. You snap a sized case in it an it shows you whether your case is the appropriate shape with the shoulder positioned in the correct place. I haven't looked recently, but I bought case gages for the calibers I was working with from Sinclair years ago. They carried the Wilson line of case gages and weren't expensive.
 
The instructions give sufficient sizing margin to allow the sized case to fit any chamber the ammo will likely encounter. You can reduce this margin (and many people do for accuracy purposes, and case life) by not screwing in the die as much. If you do this,for any given setting you should check to see if the brass chambers. Record the chosen setting, it can be used for that rifle and brass in the future.
I've always found it important to lube the case neck - you can distort the case, or unseat the expander rod if you dont. As above, use a Q-tip.
 
I only lube about 1 out of ever 4 and had no problem.

I also reset the primer rammer/neck sizer and tightend it a little bit more.
 
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