Lee Collet Necksizing Die for Win94

[Fugowii]

1) The Lee Collet Necksizing Die is not recommended for lever actions. Does anyone know why not?

2) Does anyone use one for their lever actions? I've been thinking about it for my .32 Win Spl Win 94.

[Gee_Wizz01]

Most of the lever action rifles have a little spring when fired. The case shoulders move forward a little, and neck sizing doesn't set the shoulders back. Therefore neck sized rounds don't chamber well in lever action rifles. This is not to say it wont work in any lever actions. Sometimes you neck size once or twice and they will work fine, sometimes they wont work at all, it just depends on your rifle.

G

[jonas302]

I have been using one for my marlin never had any problem chambering them but all rifles will be different

[1Shirt]

Ok for fairly mild loads in my 94 Win 30-30, but would not go for loads generating any thing near max recommended loads for obvioous reasons. Fine for TB loads in my experiance.
1Shirt!

[zuke]

For the price of the die set, try it out and post your result's.

[Fugowii]

For the price of the die set, try it out and post your result's.

It will cost me $60 + Shipping to try it out. The .32 Win Spl is a custom for Lee. That is why I was looking for some info on it. I might try it anyway.

[MtGun44]

I use it for .30-30 for Win 94 and Marlin and like it. Good crimp, small case length
does not cause issues. Never heard that it wasn't recommended for lever guns.

Bill

[pdawg_shooter]

Believe OP was asking about the neck sizing die, not the crimp die.

[Doughty]

I recently tried using the Lee collet sizing die to reload some WW brass that had been fired in one Marlin 336, .30-30 Win for use in a different Marlin 336. Brass that had been previously loaded with low pressure plinking loads reloaded and fired okay. Brass that had been previously loaded with full pressure hunting loads were difficult or impossible to chamber.

[Jeff H]

When I was growing up (mid-sixties to mid-seventies), the contemporary conventional wisdom was that any action other than a bolt-action (preseumably Mausers, Mauser variants and similar turn-bolt designs) would not have the leverage or strength to reliably and quickly chamber a round that had not been fully resized - thus setting the shoulder back to where it was when it came out of the box and reducing the diameter of the body. This was based on the general idea that a neck-sized case should necessarily offer some minor resistance to closing the bolt to achieve the desired affects of neck-sizing only.

This was supposedly true for semi-autos too sthey would not be able to chamber or extract the "better fitting" case as reliably as one that was at original specs. Note Doughty's experience. Stands to reason.

What people believe today, I don't know. I have read that neck-sizing offers no advantages at all a couple times recently but I continue to experiment for each rifle/load combination on my own and find that some of the many absolutes, of vintage or modern convention, don't always hold water. Many do and it's a place to start or something to keep in mind, but coloring outside the lines has yielded me superior results at times regardless of what is "suppposed" to work.

Obviously, as safety itself goes - no coloring outside the lines!

[w30wcf]

:D

I have been using the Lee 30-30 Collet die for 10+ years and it works GREAT in loading cartridges for lever action rifles, PROVIDING that the cartridges go back in the chamber that they were fired in.

Correction: The 30-30 FCD die can also be used to crimp .32 Special brass.

w30wcf

[rintinglen]

If you have one gun, they're fine. If the loads you are using will be used in different guns, I can just about gaurantee that at some point Murphy will raise his ugly head.

[Fugowii]

:D

I have been using the Lee 30-30 Collet die for 10+ years and it works GREAT in loading cartridges for lever action rifles, PROVIDING that the cartridges go back in the chamber that they were fired in.

The 30-30 die can also neck size .32 Special brass if one adjusts it properly.:D

w30wcf

Please tell me more. How does one adjust it properly?

[Fugowii]

If you have one gun, they're fine. If the loads you are using will be used in different guns, I can just about gaurantee that at some point Murphy will raise his ugly head.

It's one gun (not that I wouldn't like more, it's that damn lack of money thing I run up against!)

[sthwestvictoria]

1) The Lee Collet Necksizing Die is not recommended for lever actions. Does anyone know why not?


I read this here a while ago. Then i got thinking - if this is the case a fellow couldn't use a Lee Loader for any lever guns!

[w30wcf]

Please tell me more. How does one adjust it properly?

My apologies. I was thinking of the LFC die....not the collet die. My brain is not working like it should sometimes as I get older.

w30wcf

[MtGun44]

OOPS. Collet sizer, not collet crimper.

Sorry.

Bill

[starmac]

I read this here a while ago. Then i got thinking - if this is the case a fellow couldn't use a Lee Loader for any lever guns!

The lee loader I started with would do fine with my cases out of my rifle, or my cases in my friends rifle, but my rifle would not chamber cases fired in his rifle.
This was 300 savage for a M 99.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

You get to pick your own reasons for doing what you decide regarding the collet neck die or the F/L die.

But the main reason for me to neary always use the F/L die to do a partial resize is that I believe neck sizing only to the depth of the seated bullet is another tweak in the search for accuracy. This is especially important in mass production lever guns where, no matter the brand (speaking of older guns now and some newer) is that you nearly always get a sloppy chamber in some regard, base diameter, neck depth, shoulder position.

Just look at a handful of once fired cartridges closely and you will see this. Just look at loaded cases some make looking like a snake swallowing an egg due to F/L sizing, especially in 30-30. Of course the fix is partial neck sizing and using a carefully chosen "M" die to achieve desired neck tension.

BvT

[fouronesix]

Seems like there are three different dies being brought up here. The Lee FCD, the Lee Neck Collet Die and the old Lee Loader. The OP asked about the Lee Neck Collet Die for a lever action, I think. (BTW the original old Lee Loader is a full length type die system that re-sets the shoulder and sizes the neck and body. So it works well in most all actions.)

I use the Lee Neck Collet die for a few cartridges. It is one of the best dies I've found for loading accurate ammo. It shows the least neck to body run out of any die I've used and that includes the very expensive Redding and Wilson neck sizing systems. However, even when used for loading for only a single rifle (chamber) sooner or later a case will have to sized in either a full length die or body die. Even in some of my bolt guns chambering can get too tight. Lever guns will show that problem sooner. Of course full pressure loads will show it sooner no matter the action type. It's not only the shoulder that needs to be gently nudged back but the case body and taper itself will need to be re-set and sized down, at some number of reloading cycles, for smooth chambering. So, if you use a Lee Neck Collet die, have either a full length die or a body die on standby for when it becomes necessary. Some shooters loading really low pressure cast loads in tight chambers and/or in actions with zero headspace may discard their brass before needing to full length size, but that may be the exception not the rule.

[popper]

Save your money and headaches. If you must get Lee, get the 3 die set, NS/FL & seater. I FL size and my PP will go before the neck splits. 30-30 is the same case as 32 with different neck size. Check RCBS for a real sizer with changeable neck size.

[sthwestvictoria]

Here is a great article about reloading for the levers with handtools - particularly the 310 tool.

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/anderson/anderson_handtools.htm

The author talks a good deal about neck sizing only for bottle neck levers.

[JDL]

I've been using the Lee CNS die for 5 years in my 30-30s and would hate to go back to using FLS dies. I keep the cases segregated to each rifle (3) and don't have any problems with loads as diverse as 190 grain boolit with 36 grains of H-414 or a 120 grain boolit with 6 grains of Unique.

[MT Chambers]

Both dies are unnecessary in my experience, use Fl sizer, and crimp with bullet seating die as a sep. operation, what could be easier?

[Ed in North Texas]

snip

What people believe today, I don't know. I have read that neck-sizing offers no advantages at all a couple times recently but I continue to experiment for each rifle/load combination on my own and find that some of the many absolutes, of vintage or modern convention, don't always hold water.
snip

As I've not read any assertions that neck sizing offers no advantage, I'm curious as to what the allegation actually was.

The conventional wisdom regarding neck sizing was less working of the brass resulted in increased brass life vs. full length resizing of the brass at each reload. Was this supposedly not true in these articles/posts? Under what conditions? Etc., etc.

Thanks for any info.

Ed