I really like my Lee collet dies but would like a little more tension on the bullet. Has anyone tried polishing the mandrel to increase tension?

I have not but have read of others successfully doing so. Lee also mentions it in their instructions. One also has to watch the depth issue pretty close as the relationship between length and Die can collapse a shoulder, so just because the mandrel is smaller does not mean you can screw the die down too much further towards the shell holder. I like mine too by the way.
dmw

I prefer a light tension, it gives them better action on the downriggers when trolling for Walleye.
They are to light for decoy anchors, unless the wind is dead calm

Thanks, I got off my ass, did a search of previous threads and found everything I need.

quote:

would like a little more tension on the bullet. Has anyone tried polishing the mandrel to increase tension?

What gets called 'tension' isn't tension, it's just an interference fit and really tells us little of the bullet grip. It's quite easy to reduce the size of Lee's mandral a thou or more BUT, when the neck gets more than 1 thou smaller than the bullet, going still smaller only makes it harder to seat but adds nothing to bullet grip. Smaller necks just make seating harder as the bullet deforms the neck when it stretches/expands it enough to enter.

Lee makes the collet die so it works the necks just enough to give the max real bullet grip possible while allowing for straighest possible bullet seating. So, without some idea of the fit you're getting now I'm not real sure that increassing your present "tension" is a good idea.

The amount of friction seating the bullet is going to be a direct indicator of the force of friction required to pull the bullet otherwise you have to believe in magic. It works that way until you force the brass past its elastic limit.

The Lee die sort of falls on its face with some cases and you cannot help it without some extra work. Some brass yields a taper over the area of the neck. The Lee die does not work well with this. I have found this to be a problem with some 6mm Rem brass.
Some cases are thicker and softer and work better with this die. The thicker Remington .243 brass that I had worked well. The thinner Winchester brass in .243 did not work as well.

quote:

It works that way until you force the brass past its elastic limit.

Exactly my point. Expanding necks more than about 1 thou DOES exceed it's elastic limit so starting tighter than that has no meaning to bullet grip and there's nothing magic about it! The increased effort seating in tight necks isn't friction, it's the extra effort to expand/stretch the neck up to it's elastic limit.

Used properly, Lee's collet neck die is as good as neck sizing gets. Used improperly, no sizer is very good. IMHO.

Harder or softer, thicker or thinner necks can have similar problems from any sizer dies, ditto those with non-concentric necks. That's why a lot of us skim turn our case necks even for factory chambers which do not, of themselves, require neck turning. And I've not noticed that varying by much in any cartridge of any caliber. YMMV.

Jim, I'm not talking much more grip. I have no issue taking my loads to the range. I would feel more comfortable with a little more grip for my hunting loads.

well then, Lee's factory crimp might be your huckleberry....

it's a 257 AI

quote:

Originally posted by delloro:
well then, Lee's factory crimp might be your huckleberry....

Yes.

Now hopefully we can have a thread about 3 pages long about how if the bullets are too loose, a Factory Crimp Die won't fix it, how crappy Lee products are, etc.

quote:

I would feel more comfortable with a little more grip for my hunting loads

Understand. What I'm trying to say is that if your present 'tension' is at least a thou under bullet diameter then making the neck smaller won't do anything for you. BUT, if your cases, your die and your method isn't getting that 1 thou then you do need to increase it. To see what effect you're actually getting now do a simple test on your case necks.

Mic a loaded neck, then pull the bullet and mic it again (CAREFULLY!) at the same place; If you find much less than a thou of difference due to spring-back then sanding your mandral down another half thou may help. But the reason Lee says there's no point in trying to reduce the mandral more than a thou is what I've been addressing; going smaller only streches the metal beyond it's elastic limit without accomplishing a thing towards a tighter grip.

I LUV that neck die. I like to use it in conjunction with a body die to "FL" size my hunting cases because that process obrtains the straighest average cartridges I've ever been able to produce.

FWIW, I also like Lee's FCD crimper for tube magazine rifles but don't use it in my bolt rifles; my own modest tests showed no improvement either way so I dropped it. That is NOT to say my very limited experience with it is the end-all fact. Actually, I'm quite sure that crimping will aid some rifles and loads. But, as Grumulkin anticipates, that won't deter LEE fans and haters from having a long and meaningless ramble on it!

Good luck!

Use the factory crimp die in combination with the collet die(unless you are seating the bullets into the lands). This gives you the start-up pressure you need and should prove to be accurate as well.

Agree with Jim in all regards here.

The LCD is quite simply an amazing die.