Lee has started making the expander plugs in their powder thru expander dies in an M style! I ran across a couple videos on Youtube by a guy called Viejo talking about these. In this video he shows a list of the calibers they have been producing them in (as of about a month ago).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdmTi4ITv3E
Unfortunately they do not have a different part number from the "old" style expander that just has a flare on the end. Right now the only way to ensure you get the new style is to order them directly from Lee. If you order from other vendors you have a good chance of getting the old style until the vendors old stock is sold out. Lee has not made any press releases or advertising about them. They aren't even advertising the dies as "new and improved".
As it happens, in December or January I ordered a set of Lee dies for my new 360 Buckhammer and a 38 S&W powder thru expander die so I could load .358 bullet in 9mm without the 9mm cases squeezing the boolits down to .355 or .356. I haven't loaded any 9mm with the die yet and had not pulled the expander plug out of either of the dies until after seeing the videos. When I pulled them out, and sure enough, they are M style expanders!
I went on the Leeprecision website and ordered expander plugs for 9mm (to use with jacketed bullets), .38 special and .45 colt to replace the expander in the dies I already have. We will see, but these should be the new style. If you want to order the plug only, go to Leeprecision.com and go to reloading dies, single dies, handgun powder thru expander dies, and select the die you want. After you select the die "Click here to view parts" will appear under Product Information. There you can select the individual parts of the die.
I also ordered an extra .38 special complete powder thru expander die so that I could set up a set of dies for .357 mag and won't have to readjust one set of dies when switch between .38 and .357. I do already have a .357 powder thru die, but the expander plug is shorter than the .38 die, so just an extra .38 expander plug won't work in this die and I did not see a .357 expander on the Lee website to order just the expander plug. I don't remember where I got this die and maybe Lee has discontinued it? Anyway, after making the order I got to thinking "I wonder how the .360 Buckhammer plug compared to the old .357 expander"? Took the plugs out of the dies and they are identical in every way except the 360 is the stepped M style and the .357 is the older flared style! So I could have ordered just the plug for the .360 to replace the plug in the .357 powder thru expander die and not the whole .38 die. Oh well.
Just thought this might be of interest to everyone here since Lee has been silent about this improvement.
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