Lee Collet Dies

[truck driver]

Just how good are the Lee collet neck sizing dies and do they make a difference with accuracy over a full length die?
I have read where the bench rest crowd has gone back to full length resizing but with custom made dies just for the chamber of their rifles.

 

[Dr. Vette]

I use the collet dies whenever I can. I have found that there is less neck and cartridge runout, and they are extremely simple to use.

If you buy one, disassemble it and polish inside the collet so that you don't get 4 lines on the neck when you crimp it. You'll see what I mean. I use a Dremel tool to do this and it works great. Reassemble and start to use.

 

[jimbires]

I have a couple collet dies . I use them with a redding body die set up to bump the shoulder about .002 or .003 . I only neck size to get my brass fully expanded to check water capacity , and set up my dies for shoulder bump . after I get this info , no more neck size only .

 

[Polaris]

I use them in a couple of metric calibers that are very difficult/expensive to get new brass for. Accuracy is very good, they are simple to use and brass life is phenomenal. I'm over 12 firings on some of my 7,5 Swiss with zero failures in the neck or other areas. I've only had to trim once over these firings and have not had to bump the shoulder back. I don't worry about the 4 lines, they iron out in the chamber and don't seem to affect anything other than cosmetics.

As for accuracy difference, I can't compare as I've never really test fired for accuracy difference in these calibers as they wear military iron or diopter sights, and any small difference would be hard to quantify. NS seems to improve my groups slightly, but hard to nail it down with the sights I have. As for neck sizing in general, I've found it to make a significant difference in some rifles, and very little in others. I've never seen it make accuracy worse. The most dramatic I've seen was in a Mosin Nagant sniper rifle. Went from a best of 3MOA with FL or new brass to 1 MOA with neck sized (RCBS dies). Depends on the individual rifle I think. It does definitely simplify the loading procedure by eliminating case lube and lube removal and does reduce need to trim and extend brass life.

 

[truck driver]

I use them in a couple of metric calibers that are very difficult/expensive to get new brass for. Accuracy is very good, they are simple to use and brass life is phenomenal. I'm over 12 firings on some of my 7,5 Swiss with zero failures in the neck or other areas. I've only had to trim once over these firings and have not had to bump the shoulder back. I don't worry about the 4 lines, they iron out in the chamber and don't seem to affect anything other than cosmetics.

As for accuracy difference, I can't compare as I've never really test fired for accuracy difference in these calibers. As for neck sizing in general, I've found it to make a significant difference in some rifles, and very little in others. I've never seen it make accuracy worse. The most dramatic I've seen was in a Mosin Nagant sniper rifle. Went from a best of 3MOA with FL or new brass to 1 MOA with neck sized (RCBS dies). Depends on the individual rifle I think. It does definitely simplify the loading procedure by eliminating case lube and lube removal and does reduce need to trim and extend brass life.

How often do you anneal your brass when using these.

 

[Polaris]

[
How often do you anneal your brass when using these.

I don't. Note, these are not full-house high pressure loads, they are rather sedate loads for target shooting, probably in the 45K psi range.

 

[truck driver]

So because my loads are 58Kpsi -60Kpsi they would still work harden and need annealing?

 

[Polaris]

So because my loads are 58Kpsi -60Kpsi they would still work harden and need annealing?

Depends. I think annealing is overrated outside of the BR crowd. I'm in the "when it need annealing, scrap it crowd." At your pressure levels, you can definitely expect a shorter useful life out of your brass and may need to bump the shoulder from time to time.

 

[truck driver]

So because my loads are 58Kpsi -60Kpsi they would still work harden and need annealing?

Depends. I think annealing is overrated outside of the BR crowd. I'm in the "when it need annealing, scrap it crowd." At your pressure levels, you can definitely expect a shorter useful life out of your brass and may need to bump the shoulder from time to time.

Hmmm Okay thanks for the help.

 

[Dr. Vette]

I use a body die to bump shoulders when possible, especially in Weatherby calibers. The 35 Rem, for example, just gets reused as there doesn't seem to be enough shoulder there to cause any issues.
I try to anneal every 3rd or so. There are times I go a bit crazy with the Bench Source Annealer and just anneal every piece I can that has been used once I get a caliber set up. :grin:

 

[kraky1]

I'm another collet die and redding body die lover.
There's a couple of tricks you can use the collet die for.... if you have pulled bullets on brass you can take the mandrel out of the collet die n very carefully set it to size the neck down without even taking the powder out of the case. You can also use them sometimes to resize cases that are longer than they were intended for by putting a washer on top of a shell holder. I use my 2506 and my 270 win die on 257 Weatherby and 270 Weatherby doing this.
And as long as I'm talking about tricks you can use the redding body die to do something I've done it quite a few times. You can actually resize fully loaded ammo and bump the shoulder back so that it'll work in a different gun.

 

[pharmseller]

Read the fourth post, by Mathman.



http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthread ... st10862913


I followed his advice to the letter.





P

 

[TackDriver284]

There are times I go a bit crazy with the Bench Source Annealer and just anneal every piece I can that has been used once I get a caliber set up. :grin:

If that is the case, maybe I'll send you my brass if you get bored. :lol:

 

[woods]

if you have pulled bullets on brass you can take the mandrel out of the collet die n very carefully set it to size the neck down without even taking the powder out of the case.

Now why would you need to do that? Pull a bullet and reseat a new one without sizing cause you now have a perfect ID for seating due to springback. But you're right you could. Do the same with a bushing die.

For every caliber I reload for, my 4 favorite dies are the Lee Collet Neck Sizer, Redding Body Die, RCBS Gold Medal seater and Lee Factory Crimp. This combination gave the best concentricity after extensive testing. Also the most consistent bullet grip.

 

[Dr. Vette]

There are times I go a bit crazy with the Bench Source Annealer and just anneal every piece I can that has been used once I get a caliber set up. :grin:

If that is the case, maybe I'll send you my brass if you get bored. :lol:

Not until I move into the new house and everything is set up.

After that anything is possible.

 

[SJB358]

I'm sending a few fired MSM cases to Lee in order to get a collet die made up for that cartridge. I don't particularly care for fire forming new cases so I think it'll help with making the brass last even longer. Might even try it for my Newton.

I've never necklace sized before but the LCD sounds like it comes pretty highly recommended by you all.

 

[truck driver]

Read the fourth post, by Mathman.



http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthread ... st10862913


I followed his advice to the letter.





P

I just read the whole 4 pages and it is very informative.
Thanks for the link.
I can see where buying a used set of FL dies for the cartridge you are loading for and reaming the neck on the sizer die so it doesn't size the neck and using it for a shoulder bump die would be a good idea but then I wonder if just a pass threw the Lee collet die after wards wouldn't do the same thing and align the neck.

 

[kraky1]

The design of the Lee collet die is both ingenious but very simple it will not correct a neck that has been pulled off center by another die. The tolerances of the inside of the body of the die is pretty loose and all it does is squeeze the case neck to a mandrel. If the case neck is off center it will remain that way but it will be squeezed to uniform tension.
It basically leaves everything in the state it was in when it came out of your chamber except for downsizing the neck area.
Also... it doesn't do very well at expanding casenecks that are already sized.... it doesn't have a rounded expander ball on the bottom that normally does that procedure very smoothly I guess it might work but it would be rough and tumble.

 

[kraky1]

Another thing that I've done that suits me pretty well is this.
I shoot and reload for a lot of 3006 rifle... I wanted a procedure to resize and clean in a very easy way...yet maintain excellent runnout.
I bought a cheap RGB die set.... then I ground off the expander ball leaving the primer punch intact.
I take dirty once fired brass and spray it down with Hornady one shot lube and run it through the die.
The primer is now removed and it goes into my Ultrasonic Cleaner with a little lemon shine for a beautiful clean job.
Surprisingly the Hornady Lube seems to make a pretty nice barrier between the dirt and the die and it was a cheap die so all that's not important anyho0w.
Since I never dragged an expander ball through the neck it has perfect concentricity.
Once my shiny brass is dry by then have to decide how to expand the neck and I usually use Imperial dry powder.
Slowly push it up over an expander ball on a Hornady die .... I love their expanders because they are elliptical.
When you push your brass up onto the expander ball instead of withdrawing the expander through the case mouth you will find it very rarely takes it off center from there.
It sounds kind of silly but it's a cheap fast system that makes really high quality ammo and you don't even have to wipe Lube off a case!

 

[jimbires]

I'm sending a few fired MSM cases to Lee in order to get a collet die made up for that cartridge. I don't particularly care for fire forming new cases so I think it'll help with making the brass last even longer. Might even try it for my Newton.

I've never necklace sized before but the LCD sounds like it comes pretty highly recommended by you all.

you'll love the collet die . it helps my ES on velocity . I'm thinking on getting one for my 338 lapua. right now I'm using $350 - $400 redding bushing die set , so whats that tell you .