I have loaded some 87g Speer TNT for my son’s 25-06. Accuracy is good. What could go wrong?

Now that we have started hunting and carrying the ammo around with moderate jostling and shaking, some of the bullets are sliding down into the cases. These are neck sized on a Lee collet die. Bullets are seated ¾ of a diameter (0.193â€) into the case. On most of the rounds, I could push the bullet down into the case with light thumb pressure.

I pulled the bullets from the remaining rounds and dumped the powder, carefully neck sized and reloaded. Same result.

When seating the bullets, it initially takes a reasonable force to push the bullet the first 75-85% of the way, and then gets very easy for the remaining distance.

Should I try seating longer (1/2 bullet diameter) if I have room to the lands? Any suggestions are appreciated. I don’t want to give up on this combo.

The cases. Are they new, old, resized from whatever?
Offhand, I'd say that you need some new RCBS dies and new cases. If that fixes it, toss what you have now.

With the Lee collet dies the neck is sized at the end of the stroke and sometimes requires considerable force. You may need to adjust the die down a bit, 1/4 - 1/2 turn. You could also polish the mandrel slightly. Lee will also furnish a custom mandrel if you specify the caliber and bullet diameter.

You might also check the bullet diameter. I bought a box of .308 premium bullets and 64 were sized .308, six were sized .306, and the rest were sized .307. Some of my bullets didn't seat very tightly either.

You may not be sizing enough of the neck length.

I have been there and done that....

Bully, hit the nail on the head...

To properly neck size the neck, with a Lee Neck Sizer,

If using an RCBS press, lower your ram handle until it is straight at a right angle, or parallel with the floor...

Hold it there, then tighten your neck sizing die all the way down until it won't go down any farther...

When your handle will only come down until it is parallel to the floor, you should be where you need to be....

Insert a case, pull handle all the way down until it makes solid contact, handle parallel to floor, press down on handle with some force two or three times...

This should do the trick...

If handle is not parallel to the floor, if higher than that, you are not sizing enough of the neck.. if it is lower than parallel to the floor, you are crunching the shoulder of the case...

if that doesn't work, you need to get someone to physically show you what to do...

The Lee Collet die is an excellent product and produces very straight ammo for surprisingly little $$$. But it does have its quirks - among which is the low neck tension it produces. It is at its worst when used with workhardened brass.

You can do the following to get more neck tension out of the Collet die:

1) adjust your die according to die instructions, but turn it down as far into your press as you can. How far is that? When turned down too far, the diameter of your case shoulder will increase after sizing, so just before you reach this point will give you max sizing.

2) polish down decapping mandrel .001-.002" (Lee suggests .001, but you can probably take off a bit more).

Don't give up on the Collet die just yet. In spite of their quircks, they really are very good dies and can usually be made to work.

- mike

Would annealing the necks help performance of the Lee Collet die?

Have a close look in case your case necks have split. Its happened to me but only on cases formed from a different caliber.

quote:

Originally posted by Buliwyf:
Would annealing the necks help performance of the Lee Collet die?

Yes, in so far as new (or annealed) necks do not have as much spring-back as work-hardened necks do.
- mike

Hold the phone, guys!

Mashing the Lee collet harder (past a certain point) will have no effect on the size of the neck -- that is determined by the diameter of the mandrel. You simply can't make the inside of the neck any smaller than the mandrel it is sized to. Also, overstressing the collet simply deforms the base where it contacts the shellholder and will quickly render the collet useless.

If your neck tension is inadequate, even after PROPERLY adjusting the die in the press to fully close the collet petals (not deform - peen - the collet base), then remove the mandrel (decapping pin) and chuck it in a press. Spin it briefly using very fine emery cloth to reduce its diameter. Do this carefully and monitor your progress with an accurate caliper or micrometer to only reduce it .001-.002" at a time until you have achieved the neck tension you desire.

Alternatively, you can custom order a smaller mandrel for any given caliber from Lee.

Hard case necks and nickeled cases have more "spring back" after resizing and may require a smaller mandrel to achieve the appropriate inside diameter.

Another trick is to size then turn your case 90dwg & size again. It seems to even out the neck tension in my 260ai.

Make sure the mandrel is as clean as possible. Any powder residue or lube, etc. on the mandrel will not produce adequate neck tension. Use a scotch-brite pad or steel wool and give the mandrel a good cleaning/polishing. This needs to be checked frequently.

I am assuming that your case necks are clean and dry.

I find that sizing the neck once then turning it a third (120 degrees) and resizing then turning it another third and resizing again results in the most uniform neck tension especially in nickel plated cases.

Also the upper tapered part of the collet itself needs some lubrication (light oil) from time to time for ease of use.

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:
Another trick is to size then turn your case 90dwg & size again. It seems to even out the neck tension in my 260ai.

Rotating the case for a second squeezing does make the case neck a bit tighter, and maybe slightly more uniform. However, the case should be rotated 45 degrees rather than 90 in order to put the petals of the collet square on top of the small ridges that will form where the gap in the collet was the first time. If you rotate the four-section collet exactly 90 degrees it will accomplish little as the petals will be back in the same tracks, so to speak.

Update....

The cases were just annealed. This is the 3rd or 4th loading. Haven't seen any splits. I size, then rotate the case (random amount) and size a second time (will try for 45 deg from here on).

Tonight I sized and loaded a few dummy rounds, but seated the bullets 0.030" longer (still 0.015 off the lands). I gave these a good push test and they seem very solid.

Thanks for all of the help. Sometimes it's the little things that make a difference (like keeping the mandral clean).

Did seating the bullet out keep the bullet shank within the sizing length of the neck?

Yes Buliwyf, I think most of the problem is that the shank extended slightly below the sized portion of the neck and the case rim was actually trying to grip on the tapered portion of the bullet. They were easy to push into the case, but required several sharp raps with the kinetic puller to extract the bullet.