Lee Loader 7.62x54r

[fish0123]

Everything I needed to cast and load for my mosin nagant arrived yesterday and I was excited to get some ammunition made to go shooting today. When I started to try and seat the boolit in the case using the lee loader tool, the boolit won't fit through the tool! It is a Lyman .314 200 grain mold but I am measuring them at .313. They have an aluminum gas check made with the Freechex 2. Has anyone else run into this issue? I opted for the lee loader because I don't plan on shooting the mosin nagant very much and I wanted to neck size my brass only. The lee loader was the cheapest option that still had everything I wanted.

I experimented with the lee loader trying to get the .313 boolits to fit through and they will pass through the die with some force, but I am basically sizing the boolit. I also have no idea how the crimp feature on this lee loader works. I was really looking forward to saving some money by using this lee loader but so far I am not impressed. If anyone can give me some suggestions I would appreciate it.

Sorry for putting this in the wrong section, I just realized there is a hand tool section.

[Dave Bulla]

What you have is a problem that is applicable only to cast boolits in the Lee Loader. I've run into it with my kit in 35 Remington. The Lee tools, even with all the public perception of being cheap (or at least, economical if stated nicely) are really quite precise in size. A jacketed bullet will likely slip right through but cast being oversize will not. This is to ensure minimal runout when loading.

To get around the problem is simple. When you seat the primer and add powder, instead of dropping the boolit in from the top, lift the die off of the round and set your boolit on top of the case mouth then lower the die back in place over it. Seat normally and crimp.

Well, you'll also likely need to flare the case mouth a bit or at the very least champher it slightly so that your lead boolit will slip in without shaving lead. This may not be an issue with a gas checked boolit but it's certainly an issue with plain base cast regardless of the type of loading die.

As for the crimp feature, it's pretty simple. After you seat the boolit, remove the round from the die and reinsert it upside down in the die from the other end. Only the bullet will enter. The case mouth will stop when it hits the edge of the hole. Place the decapping chamber over the case head to protect the primer and align the "stack" (die, loaded round and decapping chamber) as best you can and give it one good tap with the mallet. Check your crimp and repeat if needed. After a few rounds, you will get a feel for how hard to hit to get the crimp you want. Some prefer to do it in one whack, others with a series of lighter taps turning the round 1/4 to 1/2 turn between taps. The hardest part is keeping the stack straight and striking squarely with the mallet. If your mallet is not square to the die when you hit it, the crimp can be heavier on one side.

[Dave Bulla]

On a side note, I've had issues with getting poor crimps with some of my kits (45-70) so I had a machinist friend make me an adapter bushing to align everything and set the space for the amount of crimp. It worked great and I have since made one for my 35 remington also. I wasn't the first to make one but I did have plans to make one before I ever saw one that someone else had made. I think it was a guy from this sight who posted first about it. He made one for his 30-30 and tested for accuracy improvements before and after. I think he shrunk his groups by about 30% if I recall correctly. Anyway, I'll see if I can find either his post or one of mine about the adapter and maybe you could make one or have one made yourself.

[Dave Bulla]

Here is the original post. It is a sticky on the "casting and reloading hand tools" section. Go to page 8, post #158 to see where the part about the adapter starts. The entire post is worth reading though.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?7764-Lee-Loader/page8

[fish0123]

Thanks Dave, I never thought of simply taking the charged case out of the tool and putting the boolit into the case that way. As for the flare, I have a lee universal flare die in a single stage press the I will use for that. I will experiment with making an insert in order to make my crimps more uniform. Thanks again for the help!

[fish0123]

Here is the original post. It is a sticky on the "casting and reloading hand tools" section. Go to page 8, post #158 to see where the part about the adapter starts. The entire post is worth reading though.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?7764-Lee-Loader/page8

Wow, very helpful!

[Rory McCanuck]

A big part of the problem you are having is likely due to the Lee Loader being designed for .308 bullets.
Trying to put a .313 pin in a .306 hole is bound to have complications.
Either use it for .308 bullets, or open it up with some emory cloth on a dowel in a drill.

[Dave Bulla]

Trying to put a .313 pin in a .306 hole is bound to have complications

Trying to put a .308 bullet in a .306 hole wouldn't be easy either!

I think the hole is about .310 but not certain.

[Rory McCanuck]

Well it has to have some neck tension to hold a .308 bullet, so its going to be less than .308"
I don't know why Lee feels that a Russian gun needs to be Americanized, but my Lee dies come with a .307" expander for the 7.62x54R. I had to swap the expander out of a set of .303 Brit. to use correct sized bullets.

[Dave Bulla]

Hi Rory, sounds like you are talking about conventional dies. The kit we are talking about is the one sometimes jokingly referred to as the "whack a mole" type. You use a mallet to drive the case into the die and to seat the bullet, primer etc. There is no expander and the case is only neck sized from the outside. It's not undersized and then re-expanded like a conventional die. The part of the die that the OP was referring to as being tight is only there to guide and align the bullet during the seating step and to act as a funnel when adding powder. Also, since it is sized from the outside, you have to account for neck wall thickness which would shrink your hole significantly.

Anyway, ya might not even care but if interested, just look up "Lee Loader" or go to the stickies on the reloading hand tools section and see the first post about Lee Loaders. Seems like guys love 'em or hate 'em.

[mdi]

I hadn't thought of a Lee Loader in 7.62X54R! I'll have to get one for my Mosin Nagant. But, if I experience the same problems you have, I will open up the "chamber" in the die body to accept .313" bullets (I still have to slug my MN though). As a lifelong machinist/mechanic that was my first thought...:mrgreen:

[Rory McCanuck]

Sorry, I was talking about the Lee Loader, I have one, but drifted off onto dies :veryconfu
I just think Lee uses the same specs for all their dies, for use in a press or with a hammer :)