Lee Collet die questions

[Johnboy]

hey Jinx do you anneal your brass.this might be giveing you the heavier marks.or if you do not anneal the brass it may be from haveing to run the ram a little hard than it takes.just something to think about I guess.

and for me I get really good results with my Lee collets for all of my rifels.even get ragged holes 5 shoot groups with them at 100.but hey this is my set up and rifels.heck I dont't even own a custom.all of mine are factory remmy's.and three are 5R's in all chamberings they offer in a 5R.so I guess they just work for me.

 

[Jinx-)]

Yes, the brass is annealed every 4 cycles, by the way I just pulled out my 270 collet die and it is not producing lines I described on 308, also I checked my 223 collet no lines like on 308, I guess I got lucky and the die for 308 is defective or... I also noticed that with 308 I have more up movement on closing... I wonder if I accidentally switched outside housing from 270 to 308 lightbulb

 

[boomtube]

"I use Lee neck die from time to time, what I noticed with mine are lines on the neck of the resized brass left by collet"

Jinx, it looks like you're using far more lever pressure than is necessary to fully squeeze the necks down, I'm a bit surprised that you don't pop the top of the die off!

IF you want to do it that hard, try sizing them twice and turn the case an eighth turn between pushes to smooth up the squeeze pads.

 

[Jinx-)]

I'm sorry to brag, but I just conclude, the problem I have with 308 Lee collet is a defect in the die , told I have very good luck getting those things. When my brass expands in the rifle chamber it has about .343" outside neck diameter thickness, the collet at rest has .332" radius, so when I resize using Lee collet die my brass undergoes terrible mutilations, to prove my point I had some brass my friend left, his chamber is a bit larger .345 so when I tried to resize his brass Lee mutilated it for good... Pictures are coming

 

[Jinx-)]

The mutilation by lee collet part 2

 

[LRHWAL]

Slight marks on the outside of the case are quite normal, depending on how your collett fingers close and on how thick your brass is etc.

The important dimension is the OD of the mandrel, but you need to check that your collett fingers are not closed and it sounds like yours are. That comes from running the ram up (Shellholder) against the bottom of the collett without a case inserted. It closes the finders and jams them that way. I'd guess that's why you destroyed the other cases, but not yours. The case neck couldn't get between the mandrel and collett fingers properly.

You need to take it apart and open the fingers with a punch (gently) and pop a touch of grease on the outside of the collett and reassemble.

Most of this is in the instructions as I recall. Do you have them?

Not saying it's not a defect as I haven't seen it, but I think that will fix things.

As an aside, I'm not a die hard Lee die fan, but when a product works I use it. The ammo produced with my Lee Collett shot a 5mm 3 shot group at 100m last week (300 WM). Most of my testing is at 200-300m and often off a bipod. 1/2 MOA is very common 3/4 MOA almost a given.

My lightweight 270 has done a best of 18mm at 300m, but that's not representative. 3/4 to 1 MOA out to 300m is regularly achieved.

I've seen badly made Lee dies and some that wouldn't work as intended, yes, but I think yours is readily "fixable".

 

[Jinx-)]

I think I already fixed it, by polishing it for 2 hours at least with 220 grit sandpaper and the drill then polishing it more with J&B, I don't have any of my fired brass to test it with but the brass from my friends rifle is going through easy...

the fingers were not closet, its just the dimensions of the mandrel they were to tight, and the lines on the neck where produced without applying any of the force just by sliding my brass through...

 

[Jinx-)]

Once again the problem with my Lee Collet die was because of the defect of the mandrel the collet finger where deforming and scratching my brass way before the collet was closed just buy puting my brass in the position do be resized, so the comment about pressure I'm applying is wrong this lines where produced without pressure applied. The collet itself was undersized to accept already resized brass. Using Reading neck sizing die the necks have 0.335" then with Lee collet putting such brass in to position for resizing would produce slight marks on the neck surface. I think my Lee Collet die suffered strain which was put on the workers of the factory, when demand on reloading equipment went up and working overtime produced such piece of an art, just look at those re-sized brass above I think they can have their place in art gallery