Lee dies....what type of steel

[jcm800]

Repurposed a Lee ram prime die for another project. It machines great on my small Sherline lathe. Anyone know what type of steel they use? Its the same as their pistol dies with the carbide bushings. Would like to get some more.
Thanks.

 

[Fuj]

Hard to say. I repurpose Lee bodies for my wild cat dies.
Some machine like 4140 annealed. I keep around a few
shot out 4140 chromoly barrels for die steel.

 

[wbm]

Call them and ask?

 

[jackieschmidt]

The vast majority of dies are made from some type of free machining steel and then case hardened.

when you machined the die, did it have about a .010 deep case hardenning?

 

[jcm800]

The vast majority of dies are made from some type of free machining steel and then case hardened.

when you machined the die, did it have about a .010 deep case hardenning?

No it was soft start to finish. I've noticed Lee dies are far less prone to rust when compared to Wilson.