Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Lee collet die question

Was loading up some -06 that were sized with a Lee collet die and noticed a wide variation in how much force it took to seat the bullets. I had the die set up correctly and used enough force to size the brass. I checked bullet diameters, neck thickness and diameter and found no variation. I think the problem was that the brass hadn't been annealed in several loadings which caused the necks to not size properly and spring back after sizing?
I annealed the batch but haven't tried seating any more yet to see if that solved the problem.

From my experience I would agree with you on the annealing. When I don’t anneal for more than a few firings, I find the same inconsistency with bullet seating no matter what type of sizing die I’m using.

Since the collet die is built around sizing "just enough" it does seem plausible that work hardening differences would manifest as seating force differences.

Sand the mandrel a touch thinner by chucking it in a drill, that is common for these dies

But would that account for the variation in neck tension? Like I said in the OP some bullets almost fall in and others definitely have neck tension. After checking the bullets and brass demensionally the only variable seems to be brass hardness.

You will just have to trust me on this, it works
You are right about the springback and brass hardness

You can order an undersized mandrel from Lee. It nice to have a regular sized and an undersized for different conditions.

OK I'll get an undersize mandrel.
Thanks!

Go to the hardware store and find the steel machine bushing drawer.
One of them fits pretty well over the brass on a .30 cal.
For under two bucks it will give you a good rough comparison between casing necks.
I think the ID is about .342"

No it would not account for what you are experiencing. Load and shoot what you have, anneal before you load again. You might consider annealing every firing or every other.

A few years ago I had a .22 Hornet which I shot a lot, sized with a Lee LCD but never annealed the tiny cases. Eventually I noticed that I was feeling a lot of variation in the force required to seat the bullets and some could be twisted in the case after seating. I annealed them and consistency returned.

Annealing would be a quick, easy and cost-free experiment, try it on the offending brass.

I finally got around to reading the directions. They state that if you experience variations in neck tension you should anneal. If that doesn't solve it, hone the mandrel down .001. If that doesn't solve it, buy a .002 undersize mandrel. I measured the mandrel and it is .305 so it doesn't need to be any smaller. When all else fails, read the directions!

I recommend against their adjustment instructions however

You're the first I've ever heard of that had absolutely perfect components.

OK, I should have said no significant variation. Bullets miced within a tenth, necks were within a thou.