Lee Universal Case Expander

[rexherring]

Just ordered one of these, curious to give it a try.
Anyone else used one?

http://leeprecision.com/universal-case-expanding-die.html

[Ben]

Remember it only offers a light bell on the end of the case mouth.
RCBS and Lyman M dies open the entire neck of the case and offer the bell with it appropriate for a cast bullet.

You may , or may not be happy with it.
Nothing to do but give it a try and see ?

[skeet1]

I have been using the Lee Universal Expander for some time now and have found it to be all I have needed for expanding the case mouth for any cast boolit. The price is right and I have been very happy with it.

Ken

[462]

I'll take the flak for calling it a universal mouth flaring die, but that's all it does, and needle nose pliers can do that, if that's all you want. But, as already stated, there are other brands that truely expand the case mouth, entire neck and the body (in the case of a straight wall case) --something that the Lee die and needle nose pliers can't do.

When using the Lee die, a reloader is at the mercy of the sizing die to create the proper amount of neck/body tension. Too little, and a boolit stands an excellent chance of being swaged to a smaller diameter and leading. Not enough, and the boolit is a loose fit. It becomes a craps shoot.

With a Lyman M-die, for instance, the reloader determines and installs the correct amount of tension, and never has to worry about case/boolit fit.

I've used them both. The Lee die has been collecting dust for years.

[Larry Gibson]

Remember it only offers a light bell on the end of the case mouth.
RCBS and Lyman M dies open the entire neck of the case and offer the bell with it appropriate for a cast bullet.

You may , or may not be happy with it.
Nothing to do but give it a try and see ?

+1.

I have multiple Lyman M dies and most often use them because they open the entire neck of the case and offer the bell with it appropriate for a cast bullet.

I also have a Lee Universal expander and use it sometimes if the case neck inside diameter is no mor that .003" smaller than the bullet diameter. Otherwise the cast bullet may easily be swaged down giving improper fit, especially with PB'd cast bullets and those of softer alloys.

Larry Gibson

[JesterGrin_1]

For the reasons stated above I would go with the Lyman M Die.

And by the way you did not mention what rounds you wish to use the die on? But they have both a Long and a Short M Die. So pick the best one to work with the length of the cartridge that you wish to neck size for cast. IE .308 Short M Die 30-06 Long M Die.

The only thing I can think of that the Lee would be good for is if you do not re size your brass and only need to bell the case mouth to accept a bullet.

[Model29-2]

Just a FWIW: I Use the Lee die. It works great for what it does. A +1 to those pointing out the expanding of the neck issue, however.

But then again, you may not need to expand the neck wall depending on your boolit diameter and the rifle and the sport. An old military rifle with a .311 bore and a sloppy chamber may expand the neck too much for your boolit. The Lee collet die can be adjusted to size down to what you need. As can other brands probably, but that is what I have on hand.

I use the Lee die mostly to make sure I don't shave lead when seating. All of my chambers are on rifles that are pretty standard stuff. If you rifle's needs are for a different size neck, then that's another thread......:)