Lee "Dead Length" seater

[rtracy2001]

I picked up a set of collet dies for my 243 off eBay the other day and it came with what the instructions called a "Dead Length" seater die. In comparing this die to the seater in my "deluxe" Lee die set, I can't see a difference. I even took both apart. So is Lee just putting the "spin" on the seater die that came with the collet die, or is there some difference that can't be seen with the naked eye?

[1hole]

The same seater is in all of Lee's rifle die sets. Used correctly, they do very well.

[Rick459]

rtracy 2001,
the difference between the regular Lee seater die K-4 and that of the dead length seater L-4 is tha the dead length seater does not crimp and the case will sit deaper in the die for more support while seating the bullet. adjusted correctly it will produce accurate ammunition. is it as good as a Redding or ForsterComp seater die? i will soon find out as i have both a Lee L-4 and a Forster comp seater and after reading this post it has me curious. will post results here shortly.
Rick

[largom]

The only problem I have with Lee dies is with their seating die. The seating stem aline's it's self to the boolit rather than being centered and alineing the boolit center. May not hurt anything. I only have a couple of Lee dies and do not use their seating die anyway. I think the Hornady seaters are the best buy for the money. Just my opinion.
Larry

[1hole]

Rick, you're right about the seater differences as concerns the crimp ring, forgot that. Glad you caught it.

How well ANY seater works depends a great deal on how snug the bullets fit the "throat" of the die. And that varies a tad from die to die, no matter the brand or how the seating plug is made. I've found most Lee seaters to be very snuggly fitted so letting the bullet position the floating 'stop' plug usually seems to work quite well. Most bullet run-out comes from bent necks anyway and no seater can correct that.

Hornady's (and RCBS' VERY expensive "comp/gold metal") seaters must have the necessary "slop" needed for the sleeves to slide down inside the die body from gravity. The short sleeve seaters are quite easy to use but I don't care for 'em in principle because of the required floppy sleeve fits.