I just resized 100 rounds of 243 W&W brass and found that 3 of them will not chamber at all the bolt will not even close not ever close to closing.
I have the die set according to the instuction,and have used neck sizing dies in the past but have never had this problem.

My question is,will FL resizing fix this or just throw them out and start with a new bunch. this is once fired brass and the first time to neck size it.

Any help with this

thank you in advance

Doc

I have sometimes had a problem of the shoulder buckling slightly. Measure the diameter at the junction of the shoulder and case body and compare it to a case that fits. A slight buckle, .001" will be enough for a once fired case not to fit.

Hart

Thank you both,Hart you are right it is .005 over the good cases,I am going to run them thru the FL die in the morning and see if that will fix them.I have a box of brass that is once fired that a friend gave me that needs to be FL resized anyway gave me a reason to get out the FL dies and do some work.

Again thank you both

Doc

Doc,

Remove the mandrel from the Lee Collet die and chuck it in a drill, and polish .001" off of it with some emery cloth. Finish with some Flitz or 600 grit sandpaper until it is mirror bright.

Chances are the mandrel extracted hard and stretched your necks. When you tried to push them into the chamber, the shoulder bumped back and caused the bulge that you measured.

If the mandrel is polished and kept clean, it won't extract hard, and therefore won't stretch the cases. Taking .001" off of it will also help with the neck tension...

Dan

In my opinion, the cases buckle because the sleeve inside the die, with the collet fingers on top, flexes as heavy pressure is applied in the resizing operation. When the shell is pushed into the die the shell holder contacts the inner sleeve, pushing it up and closing the collet around the neck and clamping it against the mandrel. Once the neck is clamped against the mandrel and pressure on the bottom of the sleeve is increased the fingers of the collet flex a little. As the fingers flex with the neck pinned against the mandrel the shoulder buckles.
This happens a lot when I size my 338 brass. I can eliminate the buckle by holding the shell up in the shell holder with a thin blade scew driver till the collet is just starting to squeeze the neck, pull out the screw driver, and finish the stroke. This is a bit of a pain to do but it leaves a few thou gap between the case head and the face of the shell holder, therefore no buckle.

Hart

[ 01-07-2003, 04:04: Message edited by: Rick from Kalifornia ]

I have a few mixed results with the collet die. I've had a couple guns that just won't rechamber (without bolt drag) after just 1 firing. (On the flip side I have some guns that will chamber the collet sized brass after many firings.) I have come to believe it has to do with the way the chamber on the gun is cut.

Also, I can't understand why they don't let you get a little more neck tension out of the standard set up. It just seems to me that some brass "springs back" and the bullets just plain seat to ez. (especially moly coated). As reasoanbly priced as the dies are maybe it would be nice if they'd send 2 mandrels and let us pick the one we like most. (Maybe charge us another $3 per set).

How are you guys cleaning the xtra .001" off the dies?? Just sandpaper and a drill?? Is it pretty soft material??

I had a problem using the Lee collet neck sizer on 30-06 cases, buckled the shoulder BAD on several cases. I sent the die and a "sample" back to Lee. They returned it with a note that the collet fingers had closed up too much and that was what caused my problem. Haven't had any problems with it since.

Never "operate" the press/die without a cartridge in the shellholder, as this will cause the collet fingers to close too much.

If you get case buckling, disassemble the die. Use a tapered round punch to expand the fingers of the collet back out and reassemble the die. A little lubrication on the OD of the collet or a little "smoothing" should not hurt anything.

Removing material on the mandrel should give you more neck tension, but that is the only thing that this should be used for.

Good luck, Bill

I purchased a set of LEE collet dies for my 35 rem and 243 win.The 243 dies work okay but i could not get 35rem cases to hold a bullet. I had to machine a new mandrel (.006" smaller) at work before it would work.I never did really like the dies anyway so i hardly ever use them anymore.Just my .02

Polishing the mandrel down will increase neck tension. Another trick that I find works very well (particularly with cartridges like the .22 Hornet) is to cut a washer to form a 3/4 circle and put it on the shell holder when using the collet die. The die contacts the washer and the collet closes early, resizing the neck ahead of the shoulder.

With the .22 Hornet, this results in the lower unsizd part of the neck acting as a pilot to center the bullet in the throat.

Send $5 to Lee and they will make you an undersized mandrel to your specs, say .001 under. Send them $10 and you can get two different mandrels, say .001 and .002 under.

They aren't stocked items through catalogs, but Lee will make them for you.

Martindog

Thank you all, helped. I now have a new set of dies and got rid of the old less collet dies and gone with redding.

Thank you again for all the help

Doc in Texas

Doc,

Did you get rid of the dies, or would you sell them at "kin-folk's" price?

Dan

I sent them to a poor freind that is getting into reloading and need a set to do some reloading with. Green 788 I will E-mail you later when I get them back.so I can think can do the Kin-folk price

Doc

Thanks, Doc. The Lee Collets are either loved or hated, it seems. I adjust mine to close simultaneous with the press arm camming over, and have always had good results. I realize the instructions advise against this, but I think this is actually the best way to go.

I've experienced no problems like have been mentioned here with mine, so I'd be willing to buy them if they ever come back your way...

Dan