NOE Expander Plugs

[Hamish]

I have found the NOE expander plugs to be invaluable, but I do have one concern. I find that with some of my presses, particularly the Lee Classic turret, when loading rifle cartridges, the final step on the expander plug that the case mouth is designed to stop against, can be forced into the case mouth inadvertently with heavily chamfered brass.



When possible, I try to set a bump point with the handle against the bench as a stop point to prevent this, but, when reloading fired cases without putting them through the full tumble, rinse, inside/outside lube procedure, it's a bit tougher to regulate the force used to expand the neck. It would seem that the outside diameter of the final step of the expander die could stand to be a bit bigger for ham fisted fellows like myself.

I spoke to Al today about it, wondering if anyone else had voiced the same concern, which they had not. I told him I would post this as I was curious if anyone here had encountered it.

While I'm at it I'd like to give Al an attaboy. About 5 years ago I ordered a big handful of different sized expander plugs, one of which I did not discover was incorrect until yesterday. Al pulled the correct plug for shipment and refused payment. Not a lot of manufacturers would do so, but, Al is one of us, and I've been very happy customer.

[Rcmaveric]

I have that problem as well. My work around has be to take some sacrificial cases and tinker with them until i get a case is perfectly flared for bullet. Then i save that case.

Its now easy to adjust the flareing die to my example case. I normaly keep the adjustment plug half way screwed in. Then its just a matter of screwing the Universal die on to a case till its firm. Remove the example case and test out the adjustment. Its always been good to start running brass after that.

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[15meter]

I've had the same problem but it has only been on veeeery long cases where I can't get the Lee die backed off enough so I have reached top of stroke on the press before crunching the brass, my solution was not inexpensive but it worked quite nicely. CH dies makes custom M-dies, I spec'd the length of sizer body I needed with the necessary plug and problem was solved. It also worked on really fat cases that would not fit into the Lee die body (416 Rigby).

Go here:
https://www.ch4d.com/products/dies/expanding

It's a bit like ordering Chinese, one from column A(die body) one column B(expander plug).

They worked with me on this and they were great to work with.

For standard length cartridges the NOE expanders work great, I use a number of them.

But I'll agree, I'd like them to be longer on the largest expanding/flare diameter, it would make setup a little less finicky.

And another plug for NOE stuff, good stuff, and they are a great company to work with.

[smoked turkey]

I have several of the NOE neck expander plugs also. I have found them to be a very valuable tool for those of us who hand load cast boolits. This is especially true since Lyman does not offer any neck expander dies for the .416 caliber cases and they have a very limited selection of neck diameter plugs if we find we need a slightly larger or smaller neck expander plug. I wish Al's expanders could be used in the Lyman M die bodies or Al could supply his own die bodies. I am also not fond of the Aluminum Lee expander depth plug furnished with their neck expander dies. If Al would make a steel depth seater to replace the Lee I would buy one without any hesitation.

[15meter]

I have several of the NOE neck expander plugs also. I have found them to be a very valuable tool for those of us who hand load cast boolits. This is especially true since Lyman does not offer any neck expander dies for the .416 caliber cases and they have a very limited selection of neck diameter plugs if we find we need a slightly larger or smaller neck expander plug. I wish Al's expanders could be used in the Lyman M die bodies or Al could supply his own die bodies. I am also not fond of the Aluminum Lee expander depth plug furnished with their neck expander dies. If Al would make a steel depth seater to replace the Lee I would buy one without any hesitation.

Again, look at the CH4D stuff for the 416, I was having problems with expanding the neck on 416 Rigby's until I stumbled in CH4D neck expanders. Not cheap, cheap but not stupid expensive either.

[smoked turkey]

I did look at the CH4D info and I appreciate the heads up. I was impressed with what I saw. Also I agree that they are a little on the salty side of the money, but they fill a need. I have dealt with them before and they seemed like good folk to do business with. I plan to do some more looking into the neck sizing of .416 Rigby and .416 Remington cases when I get to it. Meanwhile I did get Al's .416 neck expander spud and will give it a good try first.

[15meter]

I did look at the CH4D info and I appreciate the heads up. I was impressed with what I saw. Also I agree that they are a little on the salty side of the money, but they fill a need. I have dealt with them before and they seemed like good folk to do business with. I plan to do some more looking into the neck sizing of .416 Rigby and .416 Remington cases when I get to it. Meanwhile I did get Al's .416 neck expander spud and will give it a good try first.

I couldn't get the NOE plug to work for me on the 416 Rigby, the case is too fat to fit into the Lee die.

If I can find the NOE 416 plug I'll send it to you for the price of the postage, maybe you will have better luck than I did. It may work well for the 416 Remington.

[Bookworm]

.... If Al would make a steel depth seater to replace the Lee I would buy one without any hesitation.

So would I.

[AnthonyB]

Do you guys using the NOE expander plugs have to lube the case necks before expanding? I have one I have used once on SS cleaned cases with no lube and went to the M die. I think expanding the necks after sizing and before cleaning is the way to go but haven't tried that yet. The M die didn't require lube.
Tony

[Kraschenbirn]

Do you guys using the NOE expander plugs have to lube the case necks before expanding? I have one I have used once on SS cleaned cases with no lube and went to the M die. I think expanding the necks after sizing and before cleaning is the way to go but haven't tried that yet. The M die didn't require lube.
Tony

I've got NOE expanders for just about every boolit/caliber combination I load and only Starline nickel cases have ever seemed to require lubing of the case necks. For those, I just dust a bit of powdered graphite onto the expander with a Q-tip, repeating as required, and that takes care of the issue.

Bill