Stuck cases??

blindman

blindman

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I have been to the gun shop twice to buy "Lee carbide dies". I picked up the first 3 die set for 9mm, and used it to load around 500 rounds through it before I encountered stuck cases when resizing. I brought the die set back, told them what was going on, and I was told.."This should not happen, as these are carbide dies". They gave me another set of the same dies to take home....and again only 30 rounds and a stinkin' stuck case:bsFlag: . I noticed when I got these dies home, the size die had grease inside...if these are carbide dies, why black grease inside, and why the stuck cases? The dies came in a red plastic container, so if anyone has any idea if these are or are not carbide could you let me know? Thanks!
 
What press are you using? You may not have enough leverage to pull a case out of any die.The carbide in a carbide die is only a ring at the entrance to the die and carbide dies are only for straight cases or the straight part of cases.
 
BEARMAN said:
What press are you using? You may not have enough leverage to pull a case out of any die.The carbide in a carbide die is only a ring at the entrance to the die and carbide dies are only for straight cases or the straight part of cases.
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I am using the Lee Deluxe Turret Press...with 9mm cases.
 
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BEARMAN said:
What press are you using? You may not have enough leverage to pull a case out of any die.
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A reloading press with not enough leverage to reload?:confused:

Something sounds funny with your statement....:)

I would guess you should have bought lottery tickets as you seem to have hit two factory duds in a row. Maybe a bad batch of dies? Carbide too big?
 
Suspicious indeed.........even fired and dirty (not recommended) cases should release from a tungsten carbide insert sizing die. Make sure there is a carbide insert in side the base of the sizing die, and have them checked for finished sizing dimensions. I had one Lee sizing die that WAS NOT FINISHED TO SPECIFIED DIMENSONES..........NEVER AGAIN.
 
I plan on taking the dies back again, and telling them I want my money back, then getting some other brand of dies. This will be another .45 min drive one way to deal with these Lee dies. I should be able to use Dillon dies on a Lee press, as they are the same..right?
 
Some one may not be able to remove a very oversized case resized in a carbide die if the person was using one of the hand presses that are not bolted down to a bench. I personally have never had any problems with Lee Dies. Dillon dies will work in your Lee turret but you will probably have to use the powder thru die made by Lee with their powder measure. But you may be able to make something else work.
 
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Well, my advise, is that i bought the same damn set, and it would not hurt a single bit to lube the cases a little. That's just me. I don't trust when someone tells me that the carbide dies don't need lube, that they don't.
I've deprimed and resized about a thousand .45 cases with my Lee Press, that i have to hold in my lap, (sorry, at 3:40am, i don't remember the name), but i put a drop of lube in my fingers on the outside of the cases, and still put a drop of lube on a q_tip ,inside the case,for every 6-10th'ish case, and i've been fine..........
 
The only thing that comes to mind is that you haven't tumbled the cases and they are dirty. Thus crud is accumulating inside the dies and gumming things up.

It is important tht oyur brass be "clean" before reloading.

I use Lee dies for 45ACP, 40 S&W, and 300 Win Mag. Never ever had a problem. I've reloaded thousands and thousands of bullets.
 
gobrob said:
Well, my advise, is that i bought the same damn set, and it would not hurt a single bit to lube the cases a little. That's just me. I don't trust when someone tells me that the carbide dies don't need lube, that they don't.
I've deprimed and resized about a thousand .45 cases with my Lee Press, that i have to hold in my lap, (sorry, at 3:40am, i don't remember the name), but i put a drop of lube in my fingers on the outside of the cases, and still put a drop of lube on a q_tip ,inside the case,for every 6-10th'ish case, and i've been fine..........
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But that is why you buy carbide in the first place, so you don't have to use lube.

Blindman, if you want to use Lee dies, at least get your next set from a different outlet, in case your supplier has a batch of bad dies from his supplier.
 
Clean out the die with Break Clean. If the die is carbide, you should see the carbide ring just inside the entrance of the die.

Nickle cases size harder than brass, but I don't see how the case is sticking if in fact you have a carbide die. When the case sticks, are you pulling off the case rim when you try to extract the case?
 
Simple - 9mm is a tapered case, they can get stuck in carbide. "even" some Dillon users recommend a light lube for 9mm .

So do a very light spritz with your favourite spray lube (I use RCBS, but they're all good) and load away.

And of course clean the die before using it, then re-apply an anti-rust coating to the steel bits.
 
For the few rounds of 9mm I shoot each year I find it easier to buy several hundred rounds of factory ammo rather than reload, so the intricacies of loading this round may have escaped my attention. However, I have handloaded a wide range of cartridges for some time, and why a tapered case would be more likely to stick in a die than a non-tapered case escapes me, and Blindman resized 500 cases without incident.

A 9mm case must be viewed much like a rifle case which has a neck and a body. The neck of the case is straight, and this straight, un-tapered neck takes up nearly half the length of the case. The case neck must size down to about .377" so that there is enough tension to hold the bullet. The base of the case measures about .387". This means that the carbide ring is tapered to match the short section of body which tapers from .377" to .387 outwards. The case cannot get stuck "in" the carbide because carbide is very hard and has a low coefficient of friction - which is why it allows us to resize without lube. How can the case become stuck?

One possible reason for sticky cases might be that some cases encountered by Blindman had thicker walls. After resizeing 500 cases without incident something changed As a solution, perhaps if the die was tuned out half a turn, the problem would be resolved.
 
Hi Guy's
I have used Lee Carbide dies for 20 years or so 9mm,38/357,45 acp,45/455 colt/webley and 30 carbine I us a small amount of lube 30 carb.I have never had a problem with Lee dies.
Cheers
 
I never used lube with the Lee Carbide Dies in the Red box. If they are the Green box, they are steel.

I only had hard sizing with the nickle plated brass.
 
RePete said:
I never used lube with the Lee Carbide Dies in the Red box. If they are the Green box, they are steel.

I only had hard sizing with the nickle plated brass.
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+1

Gave up on the nickle because of that. No failure to extract mind you but it felt like I was going to rip the rim off.

You could have a bad die as unlikely as that would seem...I don't know. I do know I have reloaded ~1500 rounds with mine and never had an issue. Never cleaned the die yet other than initially as well. Good luck in figuring it out.
 
Boomer said:
Clean out the die with Break Clean. If the die is carbide, you should see the carbide ring just inside the entrance of the die.

Nickle cases size harder than brass, but I don't see how the case is sticking if in fact you have a carbide die. When the case sticks, are you pulling off the case rim when you try to extract the case?
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Yup! I did see the carbide ring, but both sets of dies still would get a stuck case!! I cleaned the dies well, but still no luck. I brought them back to the place I bought them from, and now have Hornady dies to try, I just kept the Lee powder through die. I have not tried the new dies yet, but I will as soon as I go back and get a shell holder!!:redface: I got all the way home, and remembered I gave it back with the dies! So...another trip North!
 
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