Lee collet die in a Dillon 550

[curiousgeorge]

As I've gotten a 'little' older I have experienced some arthritis in my hands. I'm looking for ways to load cast bullet rifle shells with fewer handling operations if possible.

Does anyone use a Lee collet die in a Dillon 550? I've got the dies coming in 30-30 and was thinking about how I could use my 550 if possible.

1st station- collet die & reprime
2nd station- M die
3rd station- pull case from press, add powder, and then seat bullet.
Station 4- factory crimp die
Still will trim cases, but maybe not quite as often.

If the collet won't work on the Dillon I'll do that step on the Rockchucker first, then go to the Dillon.

Any experience with this, comments, or suggestions?

[oley55]

I don't have a 550, but I assume the shell plates for my 80's 450 are the same. I found that the outer diameter of the collet dies impacted the the cutout slot in the shell plate and would not allow the collet part to engage. It isn't pretty, but I took the grinder to mine and took off enough outer material to allow the die to bottom out.

I'll take a pic if that doesn't make sense.

edit for pics. didn't have one in the press so I just took pics of the die and shell holder (for 357 mag). The last pic is showing the underside of the shell plate:

[curiousgeorge]

Thank you sir. Die arrived today and saw exactly what you're saying.

Maybe plan 'B'

Collet die on Rockchucker
Station 1- M die and prime
Station 2- drop powder (Unique / Red Dot- less than full power loads only)
Station 3- seat bullet
Station 4- factory crimp die

No lube & no wiping off lube
No hand priming
No setting up a powder measure every time

Has to be better on my hands.

[oley55]

My pleasure.

The only material removed was just the top of the threads. I am certain I did not in any way weaken the die body. Any stress the collet die endures is up inside where the collet is pressed upwards. The collet is press fit into the die body and is easily pushed out/down with a punch or even a wooden dowel. I disassembled mine for cleaning and then smeared a tiny bit of never seize on the top edge of the collet.

I really like the collet crimp die over the factory crimp die for straight walled pistol cases needing larger diameter cast bullets. In my experience the carbide ring on the pistol factory crimp die swages the bullets below my target diameter. I am not familiar with how the factory crimp die functions for a 30-30 rifle cartridge.

I know what you are saying about arthritis. I am suffering from thumb joint deterioration and any extra hand movement results in searing pain later in the day.

[rbuck351]

Why do you need an M die? Make or have a powder through die made the size of the M die and your set.

Doesn't an M die remove any benefit of the lee collet die?

I assume you are talking about the lee collet neck sizer and not the collet crimper as there isn't much point in using a crimp die first instead of last.

[oley55]

Why do you need an M die? Make or have a powder through die made the size of the M die and your set.

Doesn't an M die remove any benefit of the lee collet die?

I assume you are talking about the lee collet neck sizer and not the collet crimper as there isn't much point in using a crimp die first instead of last.

good question, I glossed over the order of things and assumed a collet crimp die.

[W.R.Buchanan]

How about Plan "C"

Station 1 Neck Size and Deprime/Reprime.
Station 2 Charge Case.
Station 3 Seat Bullet
station 4 Crimp using Collet Crimp Die.

The Collet Neck Sizing Die will size the neck to the proper size all by itself. You can get different sized Mandrels to tailor your neck size to what you want for your boolits. With plain based boolits you will need some chamfer and maybe even some flare on the case mouth. With Regular Bullets or Gas Checked Boolits all you will need is some chamfer on the case mouth.

The beauty of the Collet Crimp Die is that it crimps the bullet in the same place even if the case length varies. This comes in handy when loading volumes of .223's where you are not going to be able to reload the cases a second time due to not being able to pick the spent rounds up. So you want to do a s little as possible to those cases before you load them. You find your longest case and set up the bullet seating die to push the bullet in until the case mouth is even with the top edge of the cannelure on the bullet. Shorter cases will still get a full crimp.

Hope this helps?

Randy