Lee Dies anyone have a problem with the expander being too soft , for the Remington Nickel brass ? Lubed the neck's of 100 - 30/30 new Winchester brass ran them through the LEE FL Sizing Die , trimmed them etc.. - Loaded them , some bullets seated a little tight but OK - Had another 100 30/30 Nickel Brass , so ran them through the size die , went to trim them , pilot would not fit inside neck , pulled expander and put the dial caliper on it - .297 Ouch ! Wrote LEE will see what they say , I could see the wear on the expander , know the nickel brass is hard but could not even get through 200 rounds ; ( NOT GOOD. Had plenty of lube inside neck . Any ideas ?

Buy RCBS.
I have only used the Lee collet dies so I can`t truely comment on their FL size dies. I have been satisfied with the collet die though.

I've had some problems with the old style straight sided expanders, but the newer tapered expanders are really nice and don't seem to have as many different problems.
Good luck getting Lee to replace the expander. They are good dies, and I use them a lot, but Lee ain't no RCBS when it comes to service.

Checked with LEE , expander is only $3.00 each for the 30/30 , ordered a couple , will clean up inside of case neck's with fine steel wool to get any plating out , and will stay away from the nickel cases from now on , too much trouble and not worth the extra effort for me ; ) If I have any more trouble , will just get a RCBS Die set , liked the Lee Factory crimp die , that came with the set that is the only reason I bought the Lee Dies

If you stay away from the Nickle rifle brass you wont have so many problems. I bought 50 New Remington 300 Win MAg unprimed brass full length sized them with my Redding deluxe set and they wont let the bolt close. I have not had any problem with the same dies and non nickle brass.

I will give LEE Dies an A + for Customer Service , they are OK , have the old worn expander to run through the cases to get them to where I can chamfer the case mouth I.D as recommended in an e mail from LEE , the Remington brass was beat up around the neck (but not as bad as some of the Winchester brass I have been getting ; )- This is the e mail from LEE ---- I will send a replacement decapper/expander to the address below. New, unfired nickle plated brass usually has a burr around the inside edge of the case mouth, and that is what I suspect caused the wear on the expander. If you chamfer the case mouth I.D. (or load and fire the cartridge cases) it will remove this sharp burr.