How do you know your dies are working? A tale of beginners woe

[Three44s]

It was an issue of the dies coming with the instructions being written for a lee turret press. I remembered the aggravation from my pistol dies, and read the lee hand press manual.

BIG difference, the lee hand press manual has the little mention and photo drawing that shows a 1/4 inch gap when using NON CARBIDE dies, so I did that with my 8x57 dies, and PPU factory new brass resize really well.

Only hitch I had was that the FLS doesn't let a .325" cast and powder coated bullet slide in. Then I used the wrong expander in the lee universal expander, but it really let the bullet in well. And the FCD did a really good job on taking out most of the over generous belling on the case mouth.

Ok, I read the part in the online instructions ........ I don’t own that press so I got it off the net.

Lee has a diagram showing 1/4” gap from the handle to the press frame. That would seem to me that they are advocating shell holder to bottom of die contact plus’s.

Does your instructions say that?

Three44s

[crankycalico]

I got the 4 die set, the paper work just gives the "close ram till shell holder hits die, lower ram then turn die so many more turns down.."

Had to dig my hand press instructions out. Helped so much, LEE really does forget they sell certain products, or just assume bad things about customers.

[1hole]

On average, Lee's dies are as good as anyone's common dies and slightly better than some big names.

Lee's collet neck sizers and collet crimpers are the best dies of their type, period. There is a learning curve to both that people who insist on simply pushing cases into their dies as far as they can go and pulling them back out will never learn.

Die instructions and photos are generic, they do NOT show how much every die for every cartridge is supposed to work. And Lee only suggests how to adjust dies to be useable on their own presses; that seems reasonable to me. No matter what press and/or dies are being used the "instructions" can only get us in the ballpark, getting to that last bit of perfection requires a bit of personal experimentation.

Once Lee's collets, size or crimp, are fully closed no amount of additional lever pressure can do anything but damage the die or press. It really doesn't take a lot of ram pressure to fully reduce thin case necks, or to crimp them.

I'm unsure what sizing sequence you're using. Are you only neck sizing or both FL and neck? Either way, your seated bullets should be plenty tight if they are crimped or not. ?? If your case necks are actually sized correctly and bullets can be seated by hand the FL expander OR the neck sizer mandrel has to be oversized OR the bullets are undersized; there isn't anything else at play. And crimping won't fix that.

Whatever you do, please don't discard your Lee dies. A lot of us will happily pay the postage to get and use them.

[Three44s]

I got the 4 die set, the paper work just gives the "close ram till shell holder hits die, lower ram then turn die so many more turns down.."

Had to dig my hand press instructions out. Helped so much, LEE really does forget they sell certain products, or just assume bad things about customers.

If you are turning your die down several turns past contact you are likely reducing your leverage with your press, and as a hand help unit you need all the advantage you can muster.

I read from the Lee site that you want your press handle separated from the frame by 1/4” at contact with non-carbide dies. That is likely so one can optimize leverage.

Three44s

[EDG]

"On average, Lee's dies are as good as anyone's common dies and slightly better than some big names."

I disagree. There are no BIG names in reloading dies although Lee would like to be. Lee is still learning how to design dies that are not cheaped out.
Lee tends to focus too much on appearing different and appearing innovative when they still need to master the fundamentals..
1. Rubber O ring on 7/8-14 lock ring does not hold precision setting if you install and remove the die.
2. The round die boxes were a mistake and a joke from day one. If you want to pay the postage I can ship you 4 or 5 empty round die boxboxes.
3. The Lee expander in pistol dies is too short.
4. The Lee expander design in bottle neck rifle rounds was proven to be stupid. The long cylindrical section was a poor feature that has been changed.
5. The decapper having a slip nut is also poor. I hate a design that requires major force on 2 wrenches just to clean out the die.
6. The Lee seater has almost no length to the bullet guide diameter.
7. While it does not concern me I have read of many guys that complain of Lee die bodies being too short for some progressive presses.