Neck tension

['Freak]

I don’t leave the expander/de-cap stem dangling loose, not forever. With the stem’s lock ring loose and whilst pulling the neck (use a known to be concentric case) back down over the expander ball, stop about half way through leaving the expander ball stuck ~ midway still within the neck. Using the ram, put a little upwards pressure on the stem via the stuck expander ball to shove the stem upwards until it tops out in the play in the threads of the stem and die, the upwards pressure on the stem will also have it tend to settle centered within the threads. Holding what you got, now snug tighten the stem’s lock ring (or nut) to keep the stem topped out in the threads’ slop and centered and square within the die. Floating carbide replacement expander balls help too.

Doing the same sorta deal to the die body before putting the snug on its lock ring will help to center and square the die within the press’s threads. If in adjusting the die it ended up backed out too far away for the ram/shell holder to shove upwards on the die’s base, place a known to be flat, flat washer on top the shell holder making up the difference so it’ll be able to reach to the base of the die.

Trash any die body lock rings that thread straight up against the die threads to lock it in place. Replace them with the cross bolted style of lock rings.

Trashing the ram’s shell holder retaining clip in favor of an o-ring will allow the shell holder the freedom to better align itself, and so the case, with the die.

 

[Jay Christopherson]

^ looks like you are squeezing too hard with your collet die.

These are not my cases, these photos came from another website and the collet is rough along the cuts in the collet. These rough areas grab the case neck and cause it to pucker and cause the lines on the outside of the neck where the sharp edges dug into the brass.

Bottom line, Lee needs better quality control and to polish the insides of the collets "after" the cuts are made. My Lee collet dies are not being used and there are better ways to "uniformly" size case necks and control runout.

If you think you are doing a good job with your Lee collet die then turn your necks and use the collet die a few times sizing the necks and then turn the necks again. Your turning tool will be cutting the tops off the puckers (speed bumps), now ask yourself where does the brass go when you compress the neck.

I'm calling B.S. on your last statement. Lee DOES need to improve the finish on their collet dies, but it's trivial to resolve it yourself (still no excuse) and produce quality ammo. If you can't manage it, the failing is yours. I've shot a lot of cleans at ranges from 300 to 1000 yards with ammo produced with collet dies.

 

[bigedp51]

I'm calling B.S. on your last statement. Lee DOES need to improve the finish on their collet dies, but it's trivial to resolve it yourself (still no excuse) and produce quality ammo. If you can't manage it, the failing is yours. I've shot a lot of cleans at ranges from 300 to 1000 yards with ammo produced with collet dies.

Actually I spent over half my life in maintenance overhauling aircraft with access to all our repair shops and the only BS here is yours. The last Lee collet die I purchased was a .223 and it will be my last because the collet was so roughly made. And since I'm retired and no longer have access to a machine shop my statement stands. The Lee collet dies are very poorly made and I'm not going to spend hours cleaning up and polishing the collet when there are "BETTER" and higher quality ways to control neck tension and runout.

The fact of the matter is I prefer full length resizing over neck sizing and if I was forced to neck size the "LAST" die I would use would be a cheap Lee collet die. And I'm getting far better results with my Forster full length dies with the high mounted expander.

If you like your lee collet dies then good for you, I have higher quality standards and call it like I see it..........the Lee collet die is a cheap poorly made die.

^ looks like you are squeezing too hard with your collet die.

Never happen, I have too much duct tape and string for that to happen. : And I would rather pick fly shit out of pepper than neck size and use a cheap Lee Collet die.

 

[CatShooter]

[...] The last Lee collet die I purchased was a .223 and it will be my last because the collet was so roughly made. And since I'm retired and no longer have access to a machine shop my statement stands. The Lee collet dies are very poorly made and I'm not going to spend hours cleaning up and polishing the collet when there are "BETTER" and higher quality ways to control neck tension and runout.

^^^ What Edward said.

My first (and last) Lee collet die wound up in the trash 30 minutes after I opened the box.

It was a cheap lesson in Lee Quality Control.

 

[Jay Christopherson]

I'm calling B.S. on your last statement. Lee DOES need to improve the finish on their collet dies, but it's trivial to resolve it yourself (still no excuse) and produce quality ammo. If you can't manage it, the failing is yours. I've shot a lot of cleans at ranges from 300 to 1000 yards with ammo produced with collet dies.

Actually I spent over half my life in maintenance overhauling aircraft with access to all our repair shops and the only BS here is yours. The last Lee collet die I purchased was a .223 and it will be my last because the collet was so roughly made. And since I'm retired and no longer have access to a machine shop my statement stands. The Lee collet dies are very poorly made and I'm not going to spend hours cleaning up and polishing the collet when there are "BETTER" and higher quality ways to control neck tension and runout.

The fact of the matter is I prefer full length resizing over neck sizing and if I was forced to neck size the "LAST" die I would use would be a cheap Lee collet die. And I'm getting far better results with my Forster full length dies with the high mounted expander.

If you like your lee collet dies then good for you, I have higher quality standards and call it like I see it..........the Lee collet die is a cheap poorly made die.

^ looks like you are squeezing too hard with your collet die.

Never happen, I have too much duct tape and string for that to happen. : And I would rather pick fly shit out of pepper than neck size and use a cheap Lee Collet die.

I don't give a crap what you did or what you background is because it has ZERO relevance to the matter at hand - no one is arguing that the product that comes in the box does not require work. And if you don't want to do it, fine. It takes 5 minutes MAX. "hours cleaning and polishing"? Are you licking it clean?

But I'll continue to take issue with your BS about "BETTER" (I won't argue quality out of the box, but again, not relevant to results on target and at $30 and 5 minutes worth of work for the results, it's worth it for me) ways to control neck tension.

Feel free to show us your results. But lame pictorials and condescending come backs to people that disagree with you are no substitute for ACTUAL RESULTS. Feel free to post your results on paper from the most recent matches you've shot where ammo produced with a Lee Collet Die, vs your "BETTER" method are clearly demonstrated. Until, then I'll continue to stick with a product and a method that routinely produces cleans on target at matches.

Until that happens, which I'm sure will be never, then I'll continue to call BS on you when you jump in on threads like these.

I await your latest pictorial masterpiece that will somehow take up half the page explaining how I'm wrong, yet somehow not provide any actual real-world results.

 

[LHSmith]

Feel free to show us your results. But lame pictorials and condescending come backs to people that disagree with you are no substitute for ACTUAL RESULTS.

+1

 

[bigedp51]

[...] The last Lee collet die I purchased was a .223 and it will be my last because the collet was so roughly made. And since I'm retired and no longer have access to a machine shop my statement stands. The Lee collet dies are very poorly made and I'm not going to spend hours cleaning up and polishing the collet when there are "BETTER" and higher quality ways to control neck tension and runout.

^^^ What Edward said.

My first (and last) Lee collet die wound up in the trash 30 minutes after I opened the box.

It was a cheap lesson in Lee Quality Control.

CatShooter

I trust your opinion but I'm a cheap bastard and hate to throw anything away. As you know I much prefer full length resizing and only neck size when forced by circumstance. My Lee collet dies are too light to use as boat anchors and if I use them as fishing weights the bottom feeders just carry them off. Do you by chance have any plans to build wind chimes using the collet die to ring the chimes. Or maybe they could be use as floor jacks when changing the wheels on skate boards. Let me know what you think, its your turn to get chewed out by the forum administrator.

P.S. Sorry for the late reply I had to cut the grass today and when I checked the mower blade before I started you will never guess what I found. The cutting edge of the blade was as rough as the cuts in a Lee collet die. So I had to spend some time sharping the blade and a few hours in Yoga meditation trying to forget how rough a Lee collet die can be.

 

[josebd]

lol,wow!!!!!

 

[BenPerfected]

Big Ed...where did you get the stand for your dies....nice.
Ben

P.S. Sorry for the late reply I had to cut the grass today and when I checked the mower blade before I started you will never guess what I found. The cutting edge of the blade was as rough as the cuts in a Lee collet die. So I had to spend some time sharping the blade and a few hours in Yoga meditation trying to forget how rough a Lee collet die can be.
[/quote]

 

[bigedp51]

In the photo I posted above the only collet die I used was the one on the far left and it is for the .303 British. I worked on this collet die and smoothed it up but for neck sizing I prefer to use standard RCBS neck sizing dies fitted with a Forster expander and spindle unit.

The above posting is my brand of dry GI humor, but to be truthful I just didn't like the Lee collet die, its finish and quality. As you can see I tried to like four of the collet dies but just didn't like how they operated and how they were made. To each his own and no one will ever change my mind, I simply prefer full length resizing with minimum shoulder bump.

My problem is CatShooter is a diehard neck sizer but I can't get him to buy or trade for my unused or very little used Collet dies.

 

[bigedp51]

Big Ed...where did you get the stand for your dies....nice.
Ben

You can buy the Lee collet dies individually in the rectangular plastic case in the center of the photo or in a round plastic case with a full length die and the Collet die and a seater die. The top round die covers were removed for the dramatic photo.

As you can see below the plastic cases are Calvin urine yellow.

I will trade the collet dies for any useful full length resizing equipment. (or even some clean top soil)

 

[XTR]

I use Lee collet dies, and for me ammo loaded with them has won a gold medal at the 2012 F class nationals (F-TR), the 2014 F-TR midrange TN State championship, the first midrange match at the 2015 Berger SWN, and a few other trinkets in between. I don't turn necks.

They may not be as nice as others, but if you take the time to learn to set them up they make straight bullets with consistent neck tension.

Results on the target are what matters. There are other people who have won more doing different, but if I don't win, it's not the bullets.

 

[Joe R]

bigedp51,
where did you get those round yellow die holders?

 

[bigedp51]

bigedp51,
where did you get those round yellow die holders?

A single Lee collet die comes in the rectangular case and a three die set comes in the round case with cover not shown.

 

[Joe R]

Thanks,

 

[BenPerfected]

Thanks,

Order Lee die case/stand here:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/294649/lee-3-die-storage-box-red?cm_vc=ProductFinding

 

[Joe R]

BenPerfected said:


Quote from: Joe R on Today at 05:11 PM

Thanks,


Order Lee die case/stand here:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/294649/lee-3-die-storage-box-red?cm_vc=ProductFinding

Awesome.