More uses for the Lee "Universal Case Expander"

[uscra112]

Lee has for some time been selling a "Universal Case Expander" die, which is anything but. All it does is flare the case mouth.

But the design is clever. A hollow die body with two sliding inserts that are the flaring plugs.

It didn't take long for few folks having a lathe to recognize that proper expander mandrels could be substituted for the Lee plugs. Al Nelson at NOE Molds already has a selection on his web site. Alternative expander mandrels are a good start.

The image below shows tools I made last week to help a friend with reloading the ultra-obsolete Stevens 28-30-120 cartridge for his 115-year-old Stevens 44. Brass is almost unobtainable, and very costly when you do find any. Dies ditto. Since he won't be shooting the old Stevens much, he didn't want to shell out for a pricey set of custom dies. Can't blame him.

He needed his brass full-length sized, and I do happen to have a rare .28-30 set from C4HD. But while they are high quality, the M-die style expander is worse than useless. It actually mutilates that precious brass, and is the wrong size for cast bullets anyway.

What was needed for the long skinny .28-30 case was a long mandrel with a gently tapered lead-in, to maintain concentricity. Easily done on the lathe. The two parts on the left are the mandrel and a spacer to lift it high enough in the Lee die body to get the case under it in the press. The mandrel is custom sized to the exact bullet he is using.

He should have a seater. The three parts on the right are a guide sleeve, a top punch, and another spacer to position them in the die body. Seating depth adjusted by the Lee top screw. Crucial since the .28-30 has no throat at all, just a very steep-tapered leade.

He also should have a neck sizer. In the middle is a button much like those supplied for the Hornady benchrest dies. Used with the same long spacer as the expander.

All the parts except the spacers are 12L14 steel. Since he won't be shooting the Stevens much, this will be fine. I chose 12L14 largely because I had some on hand. 41L40 would be better. Both are available online in 9/16 finished rounds, which fit the bore in the Lee die body and my collet chuck. Less machining that way. The spacers are 4130 tubing. Unnecessary, but easy to find online in 9/16 O.D.

[GregLaROCHE]

I made an insert to compress BP in a .45/70 case. Works great for NOE expanders too.

[uscra112]

LOL! I just went online to buy another die body for my friend. Guess what? Backordered everywhere, Lee themselves are out if stock. They retailed for $15 a few weeks ago. What will the price be when Lee refills the pipeline?

[Brass&Lead]

Thanks uscra112 for giving me some ideas!

There are showing in stock here:

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.c...-expanding-die

https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog...productId/8145

https://www.brownells.com/reloading/...ku=100-032-227

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1011184394?pid=140461

[uscra112]

Thanks uscra112 for giving me some ideas!

That was the plan.

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????? All 4 of those sources showed backordered on Sunday AM! Midway now showing 1 in stock. Graf's is limit 1. Lee still showing backorder. Buy while you can.

Been through all the previous ammo panics, all the way back to Clinton's first term. I cannot remember reloading tools being scarce before.

[sharps4590]

Welp, isn't that clever!!! I've had the Lee "mouth belling tool", (Yeah, it ain't a case expander), for years and never thought to try to adapt it for other uses.

Ok, I have a 9 X 19 lathe but to call me a lathe operator would be an insult to those who are. How do you turn taper if you don't have a taper attachment?

[uscra112]

I don't have a taper attachment either. For the expander, I just reversed the feed (i.e away from the headstock), and fed the cross slide in a thou at a time at intervals. Then smoothed it up with a lathe file and polished with crocus cloth. This before parting-off. As insurance, the mandrel has a 60 degree center drilled into its' tip, (did that first), in case I needed to put it back in the lathe for rework. As it shook out, I did. I deliberately cut the main diameter a wee bit large (~.001) so I could go back and polish it down with crocus backed up with a file to improve the surface finish.

The interior of the seating die guide sleeve could have benefited from using the compound slide, but I have it carefully set at 60 degrees for threading, and didn't want to disturb it. So used a series of drills to make steps, and smoothed the step edges with coarse cloth on a stick, finished with fine for a polish. Works.

The neck sizer button has a 60 degree lead-in, cut with a borimg bar, and for that I did use the compound. Had to bore the primary diameter anyway, as I didn't have a chucking reamer the right size.

So I wound up taking 1/2 hour for a part that a good CNC lathe can do in 60 seconds, but I "got 'er done".

BTW I've been making Lubrisizer dies on that same old lathe. A chucking reamer does the final diameter, and a taper pin reamer does the lead-in.

[gwpercle]

Once you have the Lee Universal Expander you can get NOE M-Die type inserts in any size you want for just a few dollars . With the NOE insert ($6.50) it makes it into a M-Die .
NOE also sells the Universal Case Expander (Lee) for $16.98 ... available on backorder ...of course .
Keep checking with NOE few people think about their other tools .
Gary

[uscra112]

For any expander that Al's got listed, I'll buy rather than make. I work cheap, but not that cheap. I can't compete with a $200,000 CNC barfeed machine! Not kidding when I said he makes these parts one-a-minute.

A week or two ago I showed Al a drawing for inserts that swage .22 ammo, like the Waltz and Paco Kelly tools do. He said he would add that kit to his line as well. I first whittled out a prototype for myself, so I know it works.

Al is my go-to for moulds. I must have over half a dozen by now.

[Chev. William]

I have two Lee Universal Case Expander sets now.
One is Stock and is rsed as Lee intended,
The second has its small expander punch machined to expand 6.7x38 case neck and shoulder out to .248 inch before I swage then down, in steps to straight walled .278 inch diameter cases for my .25 Cal family of "wildcats".
This works much better than the original idea of a piece of .3500" drill rod tapered on th eend and chucked in my drill press to do th eneck and shoulder expansion,

I can get 100% yield out of my 5.7x29 expansionm an dswaging process now. I have 3000 cases to work through as I need them for making my wildcats!

Now that I have read Uscra112 method and th estock sizes he quotes, I may make some more punches or sizind inserts fo rth eUniveral Die body.

A;so, Think about the 'Blank Die bodies sold by PT&G they are alloy and are somewhat preharde4dne but come with a reamed pilot hole to start with..
I have used a !/2-20 top adjuster tap on them and a .499 Inch reamer on the bottom to fit Hardened Alloy Steel drill bushing or Neck Sizing Bushings for case forming. some of my small diameter (.248 inch and .250 inch diameters) Long die bodies for short cases, but work OK for me. The Last batch I bought cost $20 each and are premachined with the external thread to fit presses.

Chev. William