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trouble seating with LEE die?

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31 March 2004, 05:41
EXPRESS
trouble seating with LEE die?
I have been trying to seat flat base matchking in .222Rem cases that have been sized with a LEE collet die.

It seems like the collet reduced the neck too much and now the bullets won't fit in.

Most of them are ripping or curling over at the base of the bullet.

Do I have to fin the right pressure with the LEE collet die in order to be able to seat bullets?

At first I thought I had the seater down too far and was forcing a roll crimp onto it, but I came back a full turn and a half again so that isn't the problem.

I think I might have to fiddle with the collet till I find a setting that gives me the correct tension. But that's a pain, or is it likely to be something else?
31 March 2004, 07:15
DeltaHunter
I don't think there's any fiddling with the collet die that will work. The size of the mandrel determines how much the neck is sized. You may want to order a slightly larger mandrel from Lee.
31 March 2004, 13:45
Ricochet
Did you chamfer the case mouths?
31 March 2004, 16:45
mho
Quote:

It seems like the collet reduced the neck too much and now the bullets won't fit in.



What is the size of your mandrel?? The undersize mandrel Lee sells ( Lee Collet .222 Rem Spare Parts) is .2225". So you should probably not go too much below that. Did you polish/sand/grind your mandrel down in size?? I have never experienced the problem you mention.

As the man asked above: did you chamfer your cases? Were these .224 cal bullets (sorry about the far fetched questions )

- mike
31 March 2004, 17:29
EXPRESS
Yes, I did champher the case mouths, and the bullets are .224cal Sierra Matchkings...



I need to take some measurements of the mandrel.



The strange thing is that the first time I passed the bullets through this die, primed, charged with powder...placed a bullet on top and it fell in.

Case mouth too big.



So I readjust the die to I get that little bump at the end of the stroke a little more positive and try again. Case mouth too small.

You can actually see the bulge in the neck once the bullet has gone in, and the other thing which I forgot to mention is that they are also very very askew, visibly off out off center.



Hence thinking I need to fiddle and find a setting that will give me correct tension, but that doesn't sound very practical, nor will it neccessarily resolve the concentricity issue.




31 March 2004, 22:43
mho
Quote:

The strange thing is that the first time I passed the bullets through this die, primed, charged with powder...placed a bullet on top and it fell in.
Case mouth too big.

So I readjust the die to I get that little bump at the end of the stroke a little more positive and try again. Case mouth too small.



Yeah, I've had cases not sized enough to hold bullets. I have fixed it (as you did) by either turning the Collet die in a tad further - observing the set-up instructions. Or in certain cases by using an undersized mandrel. Unfortunately, the extra information you have provided does not sound like you have sanded down the mandrel too much, that would have been easy.

When you take out the mandrel for measurements, make sure you polish the die (I usually do inside die body, outside of collet, and mandrel). I just use a fine steel wool with a bit of oil. I also make sure the collet is not totally dry (just a tad of grease or oil) on the outside when I reassemble. Then go over the set-up instructions again. One important issue: have you got a press that "cams over" or not?? The setup instructions are different depending on press type.

Hope you get it all sorted out.
- mike