Lee Classic Turret 9mm questions?

[PNW_Steve]

Hey Everyone,

I am slowly getting things rolling. Two months after ordering them I finally snuck out of town and shot my two new 9mm's.

Now I am working on resurecting my reloading bench. I can't believe that it has been over 20 years since I took it down..... I still have 1000 rounds of .45 on the shelf that I loaded on that press.

I have purchased a new Lee Classic Turret press and Lee "Ultimate" 9mm dies. Setup was very straightforward. Not much has changed. Tonight I set out to decap some 9mm and throw it in the tumbler.

The first round that I ran gently into the sizing/decap die the decap pin pushed up out of the die. No problem, reset it and snugged it up real good. One round ok. Second round pushed the pin up. Reset the pin and REALLY cranked on the retaining nut. Ran about ten rounds through and pushed the pin again. Time to step away......

I did verify that there were no obstructions in the cases. I had a similar situation with my old Lee 1000 that firmly snuging the retaining nut resolved. I am afraid to use much more force on this one.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

S.

[Misery-Whip]

Sounds like your primers are crimped. I loctite my decaping rod to the collet.

Still slips from time to time.

[trails4u]

I agree.... Sounds like crimped primers. But FWIW...I crank down pretty hard on that retaining nut just in general. It'll slip when it's supposed to...but I still torque it pretty good.

[onelight]

I would crank it down some more , they work good but you have to really crank them down hard. You are doing it the way I do if it slips tighten more and try it you will hit the point where it stops slipping.

[mdi]

One hint; remove decapping stem and clean with brake clean, or other suitable solvent to get all the oil off the stem. Also clean the collet. Re-tighten. I've never had problems decapping military crimped primers with my Lee dies (9mm, 45 ACP, 5.56, 30-06 or 7.62x51) but I have had off center flash holes and I might have found some "small diameter" flash holes...

[PNW_Steve]

Thanks for the input. I will remove, clean and reinstall using as much snug as I can muster.

I don't think that the primers are crimped. I'm pretty sure it's range pickup and it has mixed headstamps. I bought the brass from a member here. I will ask him.

[Kenstone]

Thanks for the input. I will remove, clean and reinstall using as much snug as I can muster.

I don't think that the primers are crimped. I'm pretty sure it's range pickup and it has mixed headstamps. I bought the brass from a member here. I will ask him.

I would lightly grease the threads on the nut.
A very small amount of grease will allow you to get the nut tighter in the tapered threads.
works for me,

[ulav8r]

Sometimes range pickup brass has been washed before being sold. Even non-crimped primers will often be hard to remove. I deprimed a batch recently that had sticky primers, many came out after the center was pushed out quite a ways. Also had three that had undersized primer holes that stuck on the depriming pin. If it had not been for all the sticky primers I might would have realized what the problem was before the pin stuck. By pushing the ram as high as possible and then pulling up hard I was able to pull the case off the depriming pin. Those cases then got the flash hole drilled out to normal size.

[Rizzo]

Been there myself and like others have stated you need to really tighten that nut.
Your decapping pin/shaft is moving for a reason, the nut is not tightened enough.

[gwpercle]

Use two wrenches... a big open end on the die body flats and another , smaller wrench , on that top nut that holds the decapping rod ...Big Hint...Remove the die from the press to do the final tightening ...that way you can get both arms into tightening it , push with one arm and pull with the other .
Sometimes I clamp the die body in a vice and then can really suck down on that nut ...otherwise you just tighten the die body into the press frame and you don't get that pesky top nut tight enough to hold the rod .

This is the only feature I don't like with Lee Dies ... it takes an act of Congress to get it NOT to slip .
Gary

[PNW_Steve]

Thanks Gary,

Other than taking the die out of the press that is pretty much what I did.

I remember having the same trouble with Lee dies back in the '90s but I don't remember having to use that much force. Maybe it's me. I don't have the strength that I used to.

I am going to pull the die, lightly lube the threads on the retaining nut and put it back together as tight as I can.

I will see how that works out in the morning.

Thanks Everyone.

[onelight]

I would lightly grease the threads on the nut.
A very small amount of grease will allow you to get the nut tighter in the tapered threads.
works for me,

That's a good idea , can't believe I haven't done that.
Thanks.

[Kenstone]

That's a good idea , can't believe I haven't done that.
Thanks.

Yes, it works and it looks like @PNW Steve has had an epiphany after reading my post too.

[PNW_Steve]

I disassembled, cleaned the decap pin with acetone, lubed the retainer threads and reassembled.

I gave it all I could and had some success. I decapped about a dozen rounds with no trouble.

I am surprised at how much I had to reef on it to get it to stay in place. We will see how it goes.

Thank you all for your help.

[mdi]

FWIW; greased and or oiled threads on a nut, especially a tapered thread, will work loose...

[Scrounge]

Thanks Gary,

Other than taking the die out of the press that is pretty much what I did.

I remember having the same trouble with Lee dies back in the '90s but I don't remember having to use that much force. Maybe it's me. I don't have the strength that I used to.

I am going to pull the die, lightly lube the threads on the retaining nut and put it back together as tight as I can.

I will see how that works out in the morning.

Thanks Everyone.

If you're getting weaker, use a cheater pipe or bar. Leverage lets you overcome the weakness when torquing something down. You do not need a 4' cheater.* 4" might well be enough. You can try another wrench, if you're using combination wrenches. Use the closed end on the die, and put the closed end of the second wrench over the open end of the first one.

*Maybe on head bolts, or something much larger than a decapping die.

[gwpercle]

If push comes to shove....clamp the die body in a vice , open end wrench on the nut , tap wrench with hammer several times ...if it still slips...bigger hammer .

I wonder if anti-seize compound on the threads would be better than grease ?
Gary

[tominboise]

All I can say is, I've set up a lot of Lee dies in my reloading room and I haven't had to put the kind of effort into tightening the stem that's described here. Seems like something is wrong, like the stem is undersized or something. You might want to measure it if you take it apart again, and email Lee to ask.

[mdi]

Some of the suggestions kinda scare me. As a life long machinist/mechanic I know a little about threads and torque. A clean stem and a clean collet will hold under all circumstances except when there is a definite problem (like Berdan primers and junk in the case). I have deprimed thousands of rounds of crimped military brass and never had a problem with my Lee dies. I would never clamp the die in a vise and hammer an open end wrench to tighten something, anything. I have never had to use a 3' cheater bar on any die for any reason. I certainly would not use thread lock on any threaded part of any reloading tool or equipment.

There was a guy we learned about in metal shop in Jr.High school; "Primitive Pete". Pete used pliers for tightening nuts/bolts. Pete used flat blade screwdrivers for prying. Pete used flat blade screw drivers for chisels. Pete used "get a bigger hammer" thinking. I once purchased an RCBS die set from ebay which was sold by Pete. When they arrived I saw that every hex socket set screw was stripped. The lock rings had gouges from pliers. The adjustment "stems" had pliers marks and the hex lock nuts had rounded corners. The die body threads were distorted from using way too much pressure tightening the lock rings and/or too tight in the press. I could have sent them back, but I took it as a challenge to fix them, and I did. I replaced all the set screws, chased/filed the body threads and cleaned up the pliers' marks.Yep Pete did a job making sure his dies were tight enough. Just because a guy can operate a reloading press doesn't mean he has any mechanical aptitude...

[HeavyMetal]

I think a step back is needed here, Lee sets these de-capping pins pretty tight. I have had them slip and need re-setting but there is always some reason way, like berdan brass, odd 9mm brass with a smaller than usual flash hole or military brass wth a very heavy crimp crimp.

So I going to make a couple of suggestions: the first is to get a Lee de-capping only die. Since your de-capping and then cleaning why size the brass while dirty? This will reduce "stress" and help you to feel case's that may be causing the issue. If your using dry media to clean case's you may want to try wet tumbling and SS Pins, just a thought.

Second: stick to one brand of case and avoid military case's like the plague! Stick to well known name brand 9mm case's made in the USA, I have 3000 plus Winchester case's and a lot of the "mystical" 9mm problems have gone away!

I firmly believe your issue is with your lot of case's instead of the Lee dies, can't hurt to clean the threads and use Two wrenches to tighten the de-caping pin in, but I firmly think the issue at hand is case related.

Keep us posted when you find the trouble.

HM