Lee collet sizing dies

[curiousgeorge]

I have come into several sets of Lee collet dies. I understand the principal on the collet sizer of just having enough tension to hold a jacketed bullet until it's chambered and fired at a target (usually from a benchrest).

My first thought was to sell them but thought I would ask if anyone is using for cast and if there is an advantage I'm overlooking.

Any comments or gems of wisdom as to why I should or should not use these would be welcome.

Thanks, Steve

[JWFilips]

I use Lee Collet sizing dies for neck sizing cases that are used for cast bullets......BUT you need to get custom sizer rods made because cast bullets are alway shot fatter then jacked! Lee's custom shop can make these up for you or if you are lucky you can find an old machinist that will have the patience to make you them!
I use both of those options! If I ask a machinist; I do not have him put the De-primer rod on them ( saves time and $) Most need to be .003" or .004 " bigger than the stock rods

[abunaitoo]

They are great.
Making custom sizing rods is not hard, if you have a lathe.
I have modified many into calibers that Lee doesn't offer.
Again, easy if you have a lathe.

[1hole]

There's a lot of misunderstanding about what constitutes "bullet grip." Truth is, about a thousant of actual neck-to-bullet "grip" is all we can get, anything more than that is simply the bullet acting as an expander and stretching the brass passed it's elastic limits. Thus, making a neck smaller only increases the force required to drive a bullet in, not its grip. IF you really want more grip, crimp your bullets in place.

Use Lee's collet neck sizers with anything you want to reload, they will give you all of the actual grip your cases can provide.

I've been loading .308 cast bullets for .30-06 since '65 and have never seen any reason to make them larger. After all, when a bullet has entered the bore it will be a perfect fit. My lubrasizer does a more consistent job for seating and starting my cast bullets straight than my rifle's throat.

[curiousgeorge]

1 Hole - an interesting way to look at case neck grip. Might need to hang on to the collet dies for a while and experiment.

I do remember when Lee first came out with them several of the guys from The Cast Bullet (used to be The Fouling Shot) where grinding a little off the length of the collet. One pull of the press handle and the bottom of the case neck was sized but the top wasnt touched. Still expanded enough from firing to start the bullet. Eliminated the 'M' die step. Maybe something else to try.

[1hole]

1 Hole - an interesting way to look at case neck grip. Might need to hang on to the collet dies for a while and experiment.

Tell you how to measure real bullet grip.

Use your micrometer and measure a sized neck at a marked point, then seat a bullet and measure the same point. Then carefully pull the bullet and mike the same neck point again; no matter how much "neck tension" there was before seating it will only be something less than 2 thou smaller than the loaded diameter. The rest of the first measurement will have gone to exceed the neck's elastic limit with no addition to grip.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I use the Lee Collet Sizing Die as a neck sizer, then expand using my Lyman or NOE 'M' die stepped expanders to handle different bullet diameters. I do prefer the stepped expander for trouble free bullet seating. Some rifles will feed the expanded neck, some will need a very light crimp to smooth the corner created by the expanded neck.