Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Lee Collet Neck Sizer

Been trying to neck size some .30-06 cases with the Lee die and 75% of my cases have the neck pushed into the shoulder. Lee's instructions say the collet is closed and needs to be pried open but try as I may I can't figure out how to open it. What the hell am I doing wrong? Help!!!

George

You unscrew the nut at the top of the die, everything will slide out then.

Your experience is the exact opposite of mine. I had to put some shims to get the collet small enough to size the necks. They need to try them before they send them.

The collet is sticking closed. Unscrew the top, take everything out and polish it with some fine grit sandpaper or lapping compound. Clean it up real good and put some gun grease on the parts that contact. Once you have it apart it'll become obvious how it works and you'll see what you need to polish. They're great dies, but unfortunately Lee seems to think it's okay to send them out of the factory half finished. If they'd take a few moments to machine them a little better and polish them up then people wouldn't have nearly the amount of trouble out of them.

This. A Dremel tool with some Flitz or just 400 then 800 silicon sandpaper.

Worthwhile viewing, particularly the first one. It addresses what may be your issue with the cases as well as covering polishing the die.

Just a general comment but I use them almost exclusively for every caliber I load and have found a technique that works fairly well.

It depends on your press but you definitely don't need to apply too much pressure to the die. I screw mine in one turn past initial contact with the shell holder like they say but often turn it in another quarter. That puts my press handle about 75% down when the shell holder contacts the die so it's got some good leverage but not its highest leverage.

I run the case in gently until I feel the old primer push out and then with the shell holder firm up against the collet I give the handle a short hard press - NOT like I'm trying to bend steel but I lean on it quickly with my upper body weight. Unless your rifle chamber is super tight (so the case neck barely expands) you can readily feel the case neck squeeze against the mandrel. That's all you need, when you feel it stop against the mandrel it's not going any farther. More pressure is not going to squeeze it tighter, it's just wasted effort and possibly damaging to the case.

After that first sizing I retract the case and give it about a 1/3 turn and run it up into the die again. You won't feel the neck squeeze any more but this is supposed to produce straighter necks. It seems to work since cases sized with the Lee usually show .000" to .001" neck runout - the only measurement you'll read is whatever non-concentricity there is in the case neck walls.

Anyway - the trick if there is a trick to it is to find how much pressure is needed but without using more than needed.

I thank you guys for your input. After ruining about 30 old pcs of brass I finally got it to work. I don't know why but on my Forster press the die works best if the die never touches the shell holder. As a matter of fact I'm about 1/4 turn from touching. Seems to work just fine this way. Again, thank you for the input.
George

The die body should never touch, just the end of the sliding collet sleeve. Were you screwing it in enough for the die body to touch?

One thing when working on brass -never man handle or force anything -you'll wish you hadn't as soon as you look at the brass.
I came very close about an hour ago and remembered this advice.

Another thing with Lee collet dies -if your not getting good neck tension -it's not the Die and more pressure on the handle won't help.
Your brass needs annealed.

Another possibility is an oversize mandrel. I know from experience.

+1. While I like and use the Lee Collet Dies, every one I have used has needed the mandrel polished to a smaller size.

John

+2...all my mandrels are polished down at least. 002.
Once the mandrel is polished down it takes very little leverage to size the neck and you have some flexibility in how much grip you have.

I have used them fro years, and then had problems with one for a .22-250. The mandrel was too large (.225) and I could not get enough neck tension. I finally called them with the measurements and they sent me a new one. I temporarily solved the problem while waiting by using the mandrel from my .223 collet die.

I had the same experience. Once I get them polished and set, however, they are sweet. Shame you have to jerk around with them to get them "right" when they're new, but that never stopped me with rifles.

I have quite a few sets of collet dies and even 4 sets of custom collet dies. It took a little for me to figure it out but I order a custom mandrel .002 undersize now for each die. I am not sure why lee persists in the mandrels it ships with the dies.

I would rather size with either a collet die or a bushing die and adjust the shoulder with a body die than any other set up.

+1

DF

I've been using the Lee Collet neck sizing dies for quite a few years and have even had Lee custom make me dies for the 300SAUM and 7mmSAUM.

I love them and the vast amount of time they save in reloading cases due to the lack of time needed to lube cases and then get the lube off alone makes a huge difference to those of us who's time is valuable or that have limited time to handload.

One thing you NEVER want to do is to close those collets without a case in the die. That's the only time I've ever had collets get stuck.

I also disassemble dies every 200-300 rounds loaded or so and clean them which only takes a few seconds once you've done it a time or two.

Bob

Lots of good advice above.

I like the Lee Collet neck sizing dies, but I now:

1) take a new one apart, and smooth every surface and break every internal edge with 400 grit wet-or-dry abrasive paper.

2) clean the parts well with a rag and a little Break Free CLP

3) wipe dry and lube with a little grease on the outside of the collet

I wish Lee would do a better job finishing these dies, but it only takes about 2 minutes to do this yourself -- and their price is pretty low!

I used to use a Redding bushing die for my .222 Rem, but I had many brands of cases, and I needed to either turn all necks to the same thickness, or buy even more bushings.

The Lee neck sizing collet die loaded ammo (with all brands of cases, and all unturned) that was just as accurate -- about 0.3 MOA (about my limit). I therefore sold the Redding die and bushings for more than the Lee die cost.

By the way, the Lee die is particularly great for my .375 H&H -- that expensive brass lasts forever if sized with the Lee neck sizing collet die. I run the cases through the rifle prior to loading for a hunt, but I have not had to full size any cases yet to get them to chamber (even a fairly mild .375 H&H load is fine for moose so my loads are not max!

John

When mine stick, I just disassemble and wipe the stem off with a rag, do a light lube of Amzoil WD40, and reassemble.. that solves the problem for the next 500 neck sizings...

never even bothered with the .002 undersized...

mine work fine just the way they are...

but then, I am a real low tech ( Fred Flintstone type low tech) sort of guy at the reload bench...