Nueces
10-30-2008, 05:05 PM
Lee is now offering new collet-style factory crimp dies in several bottleneck pistol versions, to wit, 7.62 Tokarev (oal 0.98”) and 357 Sig (oal 0.865”). You’ll notice that these lengths are much shorter than Lee has said they could make in their standard F/C dies. But, these are a new design, which I discovered by looking at the service parts links. They show different parts descriptions than those for the original F/C dies. Because these new dies were for short cases, I ordered one of each to see if I could make them work for the 32 H&R and the 38/357.
But my heart was aflutter, because I saw the possibility of Lee offering these new-design F/C dies for all our straight revolver cases. I just got off the phone with a guy at Lee. Sorry, don’t have his name, but a nice fellow, who confirmed that I could make the 357 Sig die work for the 38 by just turning an actuating collar to match the longer case. Any longer straight case of similar neck diameter could be accommodated in this fashion. Same deal for adapting the 7.62 die to the 32. Hooaah!!
So. I asked if it were Lee’s intention to offer this design for straight revolver cases. My question mystified him.
Why would I want this? Well, to gain the same benefits for my revolver rounds that I got for rifle rounds.
But, have I tried their factory crimp dies for revolvers? Yup, don’t like the carbide ring dragging over a case neck stuffed with a fat CB.
Well, why don’t I just use the standard F/C internal bits in a powder charging die body, thus avoiding the carbide ring? Because various combinations of boolit diameter and case neck thickness often result in poor performance from fixed-dimension crimp dies. I (a bunch of us) want collet crimp dies for our revolver cases, because I (a bunch of us) treasure the performance of Lee’s collet factory crimp dies.
Then, the shocker. He said I was the first ever to ask for such a thing. Thud, sound of jaw hitting desktop. I told him there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth on the forums for these dies. Hmm, he never heard of it. I offered to spread the word and he politely requested that I not start a massive letter campaign, because they get more than enough of that already.
He also reported that Lee was in the enviable position of dealing with more product demand than they could meet. They’ve added plant, machinery and staff to attempt to meet this demand. This is one outfit that is not participating in any recession. So, they are not immediately in a position to bring out new dies. However, pending my investigation of these new dies, it may be really easy for Lee to modify their dies to do what we want. They just haven’t thought about it, because they have been unaware of any demand (so he said). It may require no more than a simple tubular bit for each case length, which would greatly reduce time to market, if they become convinced of a demand. A basic die could be offered in 32, 38, 44 and 45, with actuators available for the various case lengths.
It appears that we have the 32 and 38 cases covered now, with any one of us with a lathe able to supply actuator collars. We need Lee to make collets in 44 and 45 (oh, yeah, and for 41).
So, to get the word to Lee, without burdening them with a sack of letters, what do y’all think of our getting together one letter from this board, with ‘signatures’ from all those who would buy Lee collet F/C dies for straight revolver cases? I know some of you spend time on other boards, and we could include any of those guys who’d like to sign, too. I’d be happy to write the letter and present it to y’all for your ideas. Could one of you boolit-gods (moderators, ya know) put together a sort of group buy page for accepting signatures?
Your thoughts?
Mark
But my heart was aflutter, because I saw the possibility of Lee offering these new-design F/C dies for all our straight revolver cases. I just got off the phone with a guy at Lee. Sorry, don’t have his name, but a nice fellow, who confirmed that I could make the 357 Sig die work for the 38 by just turning an actuating collar to match the longer case. Any longer straight case of similar neck diameter could be accommodated in this fashion. Same deal for adapting the 7.62 die to the 32. Hooaah!!
So. I asked if it were Lee’s intention to offer this design for straight revolver cases. My question mystified him.
Why would I want this? Well, to gain the same benefits for my revolver rounds that I got for rifle rounds.
But, have I tried their factory crimp dies for revolvers? Yup, don’t like the carbide ring dragging over a case neck stuffed with a fat CB.
Well, why don’t I just use the standard F/C internal bits in a powder charging die body, thus avoiding the carbide ring? Because various combinations of boolit diameter and case neck thickness often result in poor performance from fixed-dimension crimp dies. I (a bunch of us) want collet crimp dies for our revolver cases, because I (a bunch of us) treasure the performance of Lee’s collet factory crimp dies.
Then, the shocker. He said I was the first ever to ask for such a thing. Thud, sound of jaw hitting desktop. I told him there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth on the forums for these dies. Hmm, he never heard of it. I offered to spread the word and he politely requested that I not start a massive letter campaign, because they get more than enough of that already.
He also reported that Lee was in the enviable position of dealing with more product demand than they could meet. They’ve added plant, machinery and staff to attempt to meet this demand. This is one outfit that is not participating in any recession. So, they are not immediately in a position to bring out new dies. However, pending my investigation of these new dies, it may be really easy for Lee to modify their dies to do what we want. They just haven’t thought about it, because they have been unaware of any demand (so he said). It may require no more than a simple tubular bit for each case length, which would greatly reduce time to market, if they become convinced of a demand. A basic die could be offered in 32, 38, 44 and 45, with actuators available for the various case lengths.
It appears that we have the 32 and 38 cases covered now, with any one of us with a lathe able to supply actuator collars. We need Lee to make collets in 44 and 45 (oh, yeah, and for 41).
So, to get the word to Lee, without burdening them with a sack of letters, what do y’all think of our getting together one letter from this board, with ‘signatures’ from all those who would buy Lee collet F/C dies for straight revolver cases? I know some of you spend time on other boards, and we could include any of those guys who’d like to sign, too. I’d be happy to write the letter and present it to y’all for your ideas. Could one of you boolit-gods (moderators, ya know) put together a sort of group buy page for accepting signatures?
Your thoughts?
Mark