Yesterday went out and fireformed about 100 375H&H to 300H&H using cast bullets. Came home, and reamed out the "do-nut" at the bottom of the neck, using a Forster trimmer.

I set up the Lee die so that once sized, a new bullet would not go into the case, ie it is going to need a press to do it. A slight "bump" at the end of the stroke felt about right.

No lube, no mess. Stuck the cases in the dishwasher to clean them off, this morning all dry and shiny clean.

It isn't supposed to be this easy, am I missing something here???

If so, I am going to get these dies for 7X64, 375H&H and 270 too....

Cheers

pete

Yep, it really is that easy!! It makes me wonder why anyone would use anything else.

Pete,

that is all there is to it.

However a new handloading technique I was not familiar with:

Put them in the dishwasher and they were done in the morning?

Have you guys in South Africa heard of another nifty little invention called a case tumbler?

I buy Lee collet die sets for 2 reasons :

1.
They come with a full length sizer as well, so I can set back case shoulders after many firings.

2.
When using the collet die, no lubing is needed, no lube remain on case to be cleaned up either. This make the die suitable for reloading at range/field.

If you find it awkward that nothing has to be done between sizing cases, you can scratch your head, or find a small comb to comb your mustache...if you have a mustache.

In my experience Lee stuff rust easier than RCBS with same kind of handling and care, so lube and store them carefully. The transparent color plastic storage cylinder that comes with Lee dies is ridiculous, it is not even trying to be airtight.

Pyrotek

I bought one for my 250 Savage. I could not get that die to work. I followed the directions to the letter and all I managed to do was shove that threaded aluminum cap up off the top of the die shredding the threads. I could not get the necks to actually size. So I called Lee got a new cap for the top and put them away. Now I use RCBS. Sean

Sean, my first experience with the Lee collet neck die was the same as yours. I bought one for my 7mm Rem Mag and I couldn't get it to work right. After a lot of frustation, I put it away. About a month later I wanted to give it another try, so I took it apart and was looking at it and I noticed how poorly finished the parts were. The tooling marks were quite visible and there were burrs left on the collet sleeve that appeared to be catching on the collet. So, I took some wet/dry sandpaper (started with 400 and ended with 1500 grit) and some oil and started polishing the collet and sleeve where they come in contact with each other. I also put the mandrel in my drill press and polished it down by .001" for better bullet grip. Before reassembling I put a dab of grease around the opening of the collet sleeve. Since then it has worked perfectly. I won't go back to using the conventional type neck dies, not even the Redding bushing type dies that I was using prior to that.

Now when I buy a Lee collet die, I give it the polishing treatment before putting it into service and so far I have had no more problems with them. I like the fact that you don't have to lube your cases, but more than that, I know I can count on this die in conjunction with the Forster Ultra seater to make super straight ammo every time.

I went this route when I lucked into a 6.5x55 Swede and it was the only die available. Delta Hunter basically wrote what I would have posted as I went through some problems with neck tension and crushed cases because the quality of machining is so piss poor out of the box. I got the Dremel type tool out and polished it down a bit, not smooth unfortunately as I simply wasn't set up to do so, and added some Imperial Sizing Die Wax and after that it worked much better. I'm still very careful to slowly run the press so it doesn't catch on a maching mark but as long as I do that it's functional.

I can't comment on the accuracy of the round it produces as I haven't done any side by side comparison in the same rifle using the same components.

It's too bad Lee can't produce the die without the poor tooling marks as I'm sure they've had many shooters encounter the same problem and rather than dig in to fix it they simply never again buy one of these dies.

Good luck.

Reed

you got good answers on prev, posts, let me add that I tried them on a 280 ackley looking to get better accuracy,(had regular rcbs) same thing, lots of troubles to get them right, but the end result is that my rifle went from 1 inch moa to better than .5 moa ,, very pleased with them, do all the prev, recomendations and you will be very happy, good luck

I don't know when the patent on this die expires, but when it does I hope one of the other companies like Redding or Forster will take this design and do something with it. It's a brilliant concept, but I think a company like Redding would do a much better job with it than Lee.

Delta Hunter, I too love the convenience of that Lee Die. My problem has been similar to yours: insufficient neck tension to adequately hold the seated bullet. You mentioned chucking the mandrel in a drill and "polishing" it. This is what I plan to do, so could you possibly provide some suggestions? What kind of sand/emery paper did you use and how long did it take?

I think the Lee instructions suggest "sizing" the neck twice and to turn the case a little for the second "size".

On those .375 H&H's made into .300 H&H's. I don't see why they need to be fireformed but cast bullets are fun.

Lee will make up custom dies for wildcats also but they charge more of course. I just turned a 243 die into a 6mm Rem Intl. die. It's easy to turn down the bottom operating ring. The hardest part is shortening the decapping pin.

Thanks folks,

Well it's nice to know I am not being lazy,

Seafire, I've had a Thumler's tumbler for nigh on 20 years now, but that night I just couldn't be bothered and I wanted to see what the dishwasher could do. Turns out ok, if a little unpolished, at least they are clean of grit and crud.

Savage,

When I size down the 375 there is most definitely a donut/thickening at the base of the neck, where thick 375 body brass has been swaged into the neck. This was RWS and PMP brass, both types behaved identically.

To get it out I fireform, then ream out the donut out of the fired unsized brass. Result is a uniform neck.

I am figgering that the repetitive sizing down/neck expanding/bullet seating/firing cycle is creating metal fatigue at the transition point between the thick donut and the "normal" neck, and that is where they will crack.

Next step is to see how this brass shoots, the normal brass in the rifle is giving sub MOA with 180gr Speers at 2850 fps.

Cheers

pete

Does anybody else besides Lee make a collet die????

I have read in other threads/other forums that some users of Collet dies have stopped using them due to problems of getting sufficient bullet grip in work-hardened cases. Is this problem resolved via the undersize mandel (either bought or polished down)???? I.e. do you find that you can continue to size with the Collet die the same cases over and over again (10-20 times maybe )??

- mike

My .02 is that I like them. I currently have 7 sets in five calibers. First thing I do when acquiring a new rifle is to order a set from Midsouth Shooters supply. I have not had to polish or debur any sizing dies yet as they have all worked as required. The neck tension issue is solved as instructed by simply turning the die 180 degrees and running through again, no effort and only seconds to do (years ago I had an expensive regular neck sizing set and they suggested doing the same thing to increase neck concentricity).
Case life in all calibers has been excellent, I do not remember a split neck or a problem crunching necks. Lee should lose the round plastic "box", it is not protective at all and I personally do not like the o-ring lock nut so I change all mine to the forster lock ring.
These dies have not turned hunting rifles into benchrest guns but they have given me demonstrably more consistent reloads with less effort along with a noticeable decreases in groups being ruined by flyers. I will buy more.

To get much more effective neck sizing with the Lee Collet die, first punch out the primers and then REMOVE the punch from the die before resizing. You can make it as tight a fit as you want.

P-17, I use a drill press, not a hand held drill. I simply chuck the mandrel in the drill press and adjust it to run at a fairly slow RPM. I use 320 or 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper with some 3 in 1 oil applied to it. I measure the diameter of the mandrel with my calipers before starting, of course, so I'll know what diameter I want to end up with. I start with the decapping end of the mandrel because you're going to have to switch the end that is chucked in the drill press and I like to finish with the other end which is more critical in the sizing process. Once I've reduced the diameter by .001" or a little bit more, I'm done. Sometimes, however, I go a little farther and polish it really smooth with some 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper, but I don't think this is necessary. The whole process usually takes less than 10 or 15 minutes. Just make sure the entire length of the mandrel has been reduced in size. It's really not very hard at all to do.

all of the lee dies i have bought in 7-8 chamberings have been very well finished, much better, in fact, than any set of rcbs and lyman dies. hornady dies are well finished, too.

Yep they are GREAT, ain't they ! And to top it off - Lee will make a custom caliber for you to boot ! All you need to do is send in two fired cases, your bullet and $50 and it will be done !