20 Practical ? Lee 204R Collet ?

[DogBuster]

Been outta the 20PT business a few yrs now......I've had 2

Setting up a young/new shooter with.....

Savage SS small shank action...4.27"...s/shot Accue trigger...Low Profile laminate stock

CBI 11T barrel...26"

Seater no brainer Forster 223 (or 204R)

Guys on a budget...can I use a 204 Ruger collet to neck size ?

I have 250 brass that are FL sized to 20 PT

THX !

 

[20 TAC]

I would measure a 204 case from base to neck/shoulder junction, then measure 20 Practical case in the same manner. My hunch is that the die will be too long to size the majority of the neck on the Practical. However, by measuring you may find that purchasing another collet assembly from Lee and removing equivalent material from the base of the collet as the difference between the 204 and Practical cases may be possible, so long as an adequate portion of collet is still below the die main body as to allow upward movement for compression of the die fingers. Hope this all makes sense. Anxious to see others thoughts on this.

 

[jpx2rk]

Would a LEE 204 collet pin fit into the LEE 223 die and work? Or the 204R collet and pin into the 223 die??

 

[RegionRat]

Would a LEE 204 collet pin fit into the LEE 223 die and work? Or the 204R collet and pin into the 223 die??

No, the Lee collet die uses the mandrel as a sizing anvil, so the anvil needs to be the same caliber and so does the collet. So you would need the 20 cal mandrel and the 20 cal collet.

In fact, the collet also needs to match the shoulder angle, and then those ideas above for making a longer collet die shorter can work.
(ETA: At least the neck-shoulder junction needs to be at or just above the correct length. The angle of the collet can be bigger and still work as in the example of using a 40-degree collet on a 30-degree case, but not the other way around.)