Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles The famous Lee Collett Neck Dies.....

Quick question. I wear suspenders to hold up my pants, but without a belt, Where in the hell would you carry your knife? I wear both and it is also safer. miles

Yep, the belt holds the gear, the suspenders keep it all from sliding down.

When annealing with the torch, you are holding the case head with your fingers until it gets too hot to hold any more?

Sort of. Basically one rotation in the flame and drop it. It get's hot fast.

And let it air cool?

Yes I let them air cool.

It's amazing how much different they feel in the sizer die, after getting softened up.

Good points about annelling. Although the brass I'm using is once fired, sometimes even new brass needs annealed.





I noticed that too once I started annealing. Also, properly annealed brass seem to make for straighter necks when sizing. I speculate the brass is not "pulled" as hard when the expander ball passes through the neck.

And a couple undersized Lee mandrels arrived from Midway on Wed. Hopefully I'll have a chance to to use them this week and see how much that helps neck tension.

I'm going to start annealing every other firing - just saying .

MM - I just quit the water dunking of brass read it's a waste of time.

Ordering a Lee Collet die for my 280AI - haven't had good luck with the Redding Deluxe set - I don't like the feel of the expander ball in and out of the brass . All my ammo 221FB 22-250 - 243- 25-06 - 308 has been loaded with Lee Deluxe - Collet die set and have worked great . Just saying .

Lee claims their expander 'mandrel' (on their standard and Collet dies) puts less stretch on the case neck than dragging a ball style expander through it. Kind of makes sense.

Yes it sure makes sense , I've been amazed that the pressure put on some of the expander ball type dies didn't pull the neck and shoulder or more off the case .

Crow Hunter, I’m curious about your shoulder bump methodology...

I’ve used a Lee neck sizing collet die on my 270 WSM brass for some time now. I’m on my 4th reloading of most of my brass, after a lot of problems chambering a goodly percentage of my neck-sized rounds on the 3rd loading. As a consequence I’ve pulled the bullets on most of my 3rd loading. I tried FL resizing with Hornady dies and am back to SAAMI dimensions, but if I can avoid working the brass by shoulder bumping only I’m interested in pursuing that course.

You'll need a body die for shoulder bumping to go with collet neck sizing.

Hard workhardened brass will definitely not size well with out a smaller mandrel. Its just become too spring to stay reduced. Theres one other thing to look out for and thats rough case mouths- burrs on the outside will stop the case mouth from entering the collet and give you a cute little flared shoulder shortened case. Its especially bad with smaller thinner necks such as 223/5.56 and 204R but any case can do it. I just give everything a pass over with the xternal chamfering tool. This seems to stop the sticking and crushing.

Annealing is so fast and so easy I anneal after two firings often, same as MM but standing at the kitchen counter, pile of brass in front of the torch closest to me and using both hands...1,2,3,4,5 left...1,2,3,4,5 right, left, right, left, right and a hundred rounds done in a few minutes, I normally drop 223 case on the count of three.

I love collet dies and that is all I would use if I had a choice, it eliminates expanding, turning brass and lube <<<< FAST, it's damn consistent if the brass is not work hardened and I have never had neck tension issues. If the collet has a very light coating of grease on the compression surface they work much better and may require polishing if it becomes galled. The other benefit to me is consistent neck tension results in more consistent seating depth the first time.

Don't try them without a case, it fuggs up the fingers

And an improperly adjusted collet die sounds like a .410 going off when the aluminum cap pops out of the top

Just my opinion, if there is insufficient neck tension this is most likely due to the brass being work hardened.

Doc,

I like to combine the redding body die with the collet die. Essentially I'm sizing the body in one step then the neck in another step. I use a set of hornady headspace gauges to set up my body die in the press so it just bumps the shoulder, .001"-.002" is what I'm shooting for. That keeps the chambering from getting tight like you're experiencing. I found the same thing happening with my loads when I was just neck sizing. Once you've got the die set up to bump the shoulder the correct amount and set the lock ring in place you shouldn't need to adjust it again. By setting the shoulder back just a tiny bit your round will chamber like a factory round or new brass but you'll still have minimum headspace. If you screw the die all the way in and go back to SAAMI dimensions you're working the brass more than necessary which also causes you to have to trim more often, plus it shortens case life. Just bumping the shoulder .001"-.002" keeps the working of the brass to a minimum while avoiding the hard to chamber problem that comes from repeated neck sizing.

Here's a 270 WSM body die:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/444712/redding-body-die

Here's the headspace gauges I use:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/4...pace-gauge-5-bushing-set-with-comparator

My case prep sequence goes like this:

1. Anneal brass if I'm going to do it. I've got an annealer so I usually do it since it's easy. Not necessary every time certainly.
2. Size with body die then into the tumbler to remove lube. Note the spent primer is still in, the body die doesn't decap.
3. Size with collet die which deprimes and ensures no tumbling media is in the flash hole.
4. Check for length, clean primer pocket then prime & load.

It's not a lot more work, I find it gives me very straight ammo that chambers easily and the cases last a long time with reasonable loads. With the price of good brass today I do everything I can to get the best case life.

I havent used an expander ball in years....Bushing die, no expander....rock on.

CH, thanks a lot for that detailed reply, especially the MidwayUSA links. I never seem to get tired of contributing to Mr. Potterfield's fortunes.