.303 Brit Collet Die. Neck sizing issue or confusion

[doug strong]

I have been successfully reloading for the .303 British since last summer. Everything has been going well and a buddy of mine gave me a free set of Collet dies for neck sizing. I had hoped that this will extend the life of my brass since I always shoot the brass in the same rifle and it is fire formed. I went through and used the neck sizer ( Lee Dies 90717)

It was awesome. Fast and easy. Now comes the issue. Boht my cast load and my Hornady commercial bulets are way too loose in the neck. Now I have two questions

1. What did I do wrong?
2. How can I fix the problem with 150 cases. (I know that i am stupid for doing them all at once!)

[docone31]

Using the Lee FCD die will tighten that up.

[462]

Doug Strong,
If you still have a full length sizer, run a case into it just enough to squeeze the mouth back down. Install the neck sizer per instructions and size it. Only this time, use less down force. Initially, you may have had the die screwed in too far, and used too much force.

If it's still not right, docone31 has the answer. I've never had a problem, though.

[doug strong]

462. That seems to work. Thanks for the help guys.

[doug strong]

150 rounds loaded. no problems. Thanks for the help!

[GBertolet]

I took the mandel rod out and put it in a drill press, and with emery cloth turned it down about 1.5 thousandths. It works great allowing the little bit of extra sizing needed. By the way I use this die for the 30-40 Krag with .311 cast bullets. As Lee doesn't make a collet neck sizer for the 30-40 Krag. The case dimensions are almost identical.

[Bloodman14]

GBertolet did what I did; no problems any more!

[462]

Doug Strong,
You are most welcome. Glad it worked.

[doug strong]

I took the mandel rod out and put it in a drill press, and with emery cloth turned it down about 1.5 thousandths. It works great allowing the little bit of extra sizing needed. By the way I use this die for the 30-40 Krag with .311 cast bullets. As Lee doesn't make a collet neck sizer for the 30-40 Krag. The case dimensions are almost identical.

That is a really useful piece of info. I do not have a Krag (yet) but I am in the hunt for one

[Mallard57]

I've turned dwn the mandrell rod which helped immensely. Something else that helps when your brass gets work hardened is to anneal your brass case mouths.
Jeff

[HABCAN]

In addition, you might 'Beagle' your mould to cast a hair larger.