Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer- Lee Collet Neck Die

John, I don't think I have read any comments from you concerning the Lee Collet Die.

I bought a few a while ago, and really just started to seriously use them. Although they seem to lack high quality (materials seem a little cheap compared to my Redding Dies), they sure seem to work with little muss and fuss. No lube is certainly a bonus, as is the price. I would love to see Redding come out with a similar design.

Your take?

Thanks for posting this. I started playing with these dies this season. I find a lot to like about them. My one concern is the bullet seating tension is pretty modest. I haven't been able to push the bullets deeper with my fingers, but the slight tension makes me wonder about the wisdom of using these dies for hunting rounds. (I know some folks turn the collet down .001" and that you can order undersized collets from Lee.) I'll be interested in following this thread.

Al, I had a set in .35Whelen that never gripped the bullet enough. Bought another set of dies.

I have several, and they seem to vary just a bit from cartridge to cartridge in "feel" when I seat bullets. The one for my 7x57 feels really modest. Right now I'm thinking about just going back to my Redding FL 7x57 die that is adjusted to bump the shoulder back one or two thousandths. But it is nice to skip the lubing!

I've used them since I started reloading.

In addition to being convenient (ie no lube necessary) they also make extremely concentric ammo and are extraordinarily easy on brass.

IIRC the nominal bullet tension issue can (up to a point) be helped by screwing the die a tad further into the press.

As another poster said, I've found that different cartridges offer different amounts of tension (according to neck thickness & brass hardness?) but I've never had bullets "slip" while in the mag.

I swear by these dies, but as with anything YMMV.

Chuck the mandrel in a drill and carefully cut it down with sandpaper. Easier to take it off than to put back on...

Measure with calipers and try it until it suits you.

I like these dies. Seems to me you get more concentric rounds than with conventional dies and their pull thru ball expanders. They don't work the brass as hard. One would think brass would last longer, although I've not done a side by side comparison.

IMHO,

DF

There's a nice side-by-side comparison on a 'local' board in Illinois (or Indiana? Somewhere back there in the old midwest) of brass life between neck sizing and FL sizing, and both with and without annealing each way.

Neck sizing allowed brass to last over 100 loadings in that test, whereas heads were separating in FL-sized brass after just a few loadings.

I use and like the Collet dies a lot. Had a 25WSSM one made for me, and am about to order one for the Creedmoor.

They had to have been sized too much. Bump the shoulders just a couple of thou and the brass lasts a long time.

I have switched to Lee collet dies wherever available, have some 30-06 cases fired 12 times and going strong. May have a custom one made for 375 Ruger, if it doesn't come out soon. Turn down the mandrel, or anneal, as per the instructions if more tension is wanted. Lee stuff rocks, save the fine polish for the guns and silverware.

I have several LCDs as well as other brand neck dies. The LCD works like a champ and produces less runnout than darn near any dies I run, but they do require alot of force to give the neck tension I like. I have turned the mandrel down on one of mine and that seems to work better requiring a bit less force. The main thing I've found to help is developing a habit to try and put approx the same force on each case.

I have several sets and have had sets made for 284, 338rcm, 7mm SAUM, 358win, 250AI and 300wsm

They seem to make ammo much more concetric than redding or RCBS neck sizers. While some might not wish to play with a die, it seems you have to go to something like bushing dies to match the collet die so considering the price difference, I don't mind spinning the mandrel though some emery paper for more neck tension.

I really like them for my varmit rounds. Speeds up the process and I've found accuracy to be excellent.

Yet another useful product from a company that people like to pick on.

I have used them almost 15 years and always had quality, functioning, and accurate amo. Only issue I had was with my 338, would not tighten the necks enough, Lee replaced it. I have RCBS and Lymon too, but Lee for me.

I too have several sets, and like the convenience of use quite a lot, but have noticed that you're sort of walking a tightrope between insufficient neck tension and crumpling case shoulders. May have to try reducing mandrel diameter on some of them as suggested above. Several years ago I did a test against conventional dies, several loads where only difference was the dies. Result was a small but consistent advantage for the conventional dies. The advantage waswn't enough to override the convenience of the collet units, though. I've also found that the collet dies are often usable on slightly shorter cases, .222 in the .223 die,and .260 in a 6.5 x 55, for example.

Sometimes they need to be disassembled and deburred and lubed to work correctly. I have also found that if you size the case, rotate it a quarter turn or so, and size again, that you will gain almost a thousandth. Doing it a third time doesn't help.

Don't turn the case an integer multiple of a quarter turn. Remember the collet has four fingers, and it's ideal to get the parts that were in the gaps on the first pass to be squeezed under the collet fingers on the second pass.

mathman,

You sure lived up to your name with that post! Reminds me of my college days and math classes. But your point is certainly well-taken.

yep I go 1/3rd turn...

As do I.

The LCD's quite simply rock!