Turret Press belling

[truckmsl]

Regarding the Lee auto-indexing turret press - Is there any way to bell the case at the powder die station for bottleneck cartridges? It doesn't appear that the powder- through rifle dies have this capability for bottlenecks. Has anyone found a method or modification to make this happen? I'm trying to avoid belling as a separate step.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Hi, I understand your question and the answer is yes, but with several limitations depending on your setup. I have modified several Lee expanders to work in their expanding die bodies for some bottle neck cartridges. The die body may be too short for the length of the cartridge (and sometimes too small in diameter so one from a larger cartridge may have to be used) and the body may have to be operated from a greater height in the press or else in the extreme you may have to fit a stop for the ram or do it by feel. It has always consisted of turning down one of their larger size expander plugs which is hollow. Of course you are limited to how much metal you can take off before there is no more and you are "in the powder drop hole". The process works for me with 30-06, 30-30, 348 and 35 Whelan. The 6.5mm Swede didn't work....couldn't get any expander down to a dia. that size. I do not use a Lee powder measure so I cannot attest to whether the expand feature will activate an automatic drop of powder from their measure. I keep the hexagonal Lee nut in place on top of the die to hold the expander in place, but I made an adapter for my RCBS measures, by drilling a hole thru a 9/16 threaded bolt whose threads match the interior of the RCBS measure's body drop tube...after the green plastic drop tube is unscrewed/removed. I rounded the head of the bolt so that it fits snug into the interior diameter of the Lee nut that accomodates their powder funnel. So the RCBS measure drops any charge of powder...activated by hand only...whenever the case is raised and the expander is in the neck. I made a similar arrangement for the 405 Winchester ( a straight case). A lathe or a drill press makes it simpler, but if you can "chuck" the expander some other way all you need is a fine file and some fine sandpaper...and of course a decent micrometer to guide you. The lower end of the expander plug has to have some taper so that it enters the case mouth and does not catch on it as that will crinkle/ruin the case. It all may sound like a lot of bother, but it really isn't rocket science and will work successfully. Hope that this helps you some. LLS

[GP100man]

what caliber ?? how about lymans powder thru die , from what i read it`s 7/8x14 on the top.
sorry just looked in the catalouge mostly for pistol.

as i understand it maybe a sleeve could be fitted on the charge die ???

GP100man

[truckmsl]

Le Loup, thanks for the great info! I'm currently loading 7.62x39 on an old All American turret and was considering the self indexing lee as a means of reducing some of my brass handling motion without manually spinning the turret head.
this option seems like a nice compromise between turret and progressive.

[TAWILDCATT]

you can get lees universal expander die.you would need the 4 hole turret or take the shell out and do it on a single stage.the only othere way would be to make a adapter that would replace the factory one.turn the piece to go in the case with a
shoulder to flare.the trouble is the tube is universal.so you would have to make a cal specific tube.got a trade school near with machine shop.:coffee:[smilie=1: