I have experience with a lee hand press and lee carbide pistol dies, .38 special. No laughing, no one can screw that up without being WEALLY WEALLY SPEEEEEECIAL
Anyway I finally got all my dies and have some issues...
.308
using Oregon true shot 170 grain cast checked rnfp
ppu brass: once fired and merely neck sized and UNSIZED but fired in rifle, has no neck tension on bullet.
to get bullet/cartridge into collet crimp I have to hold my hand press horizontal and support the cartridge case to stay horizontal.
used the factory crimp groove, and they DO crimp, however the bullet spins in place but doesn't go in or out. A lot like most Remington thunder bolts I have bought in the last 5 years.
No matter how far I seat the collet crimp die in, I have literally screwed it down until the lock collar is the only thing to hold onto. Once it gets that initial squeeze from the die, it does no more compression of the neck.
The only one that I can actually get to CRIMP and stay in place is one that I crimped by having the case mouth directly on/slightly ahead of the front band on the bullet. That stays in place really good. the case mouth is a straight tube, no roll or taper crimp, just looks like a factory JSP crimp.
Thought I might have done something wrong, so I tried doing a dummy round using sierra 150 grain fmj without cannelure. Using FLS and collet neck sizer, I GET NO CRIMP OR TENSION. no matter how far I seat that collet die in, no crimp.
Got rather angry and dug out my 8x57 die. grabbed a fired and unsized case, put in whats supposed to be a .325 cast PC and crimped bullet, put it in the 8x57 collet crimp and the thing is IT CRIMPED into the bullets crimping groove, but bullet spins freely. Seating the crimping die in further did NOTHING to tighten the neck down.
is there anyone willing to receive a few dummy rounds and bullets in the mail so they can actually tell me what the hell is going on?