Custom Lee Sizing Stem Needed

[newton]

The sizing stem I got with my .225" die measures at .220" This leaves too much of the base unsupported and causes a crescent shape in my gas checks. I contacted Lee about it, but they said its supposed to have a .0025" clearance on all sides. I don't understand, but it is what it is.

Anyone here do custom seating stems? I would like to see if a .224" would do the trick. I made a stem of sorts by taking a piece of brass and sanding it down to .224", but it is incredibly hard to get the end of it absolute perpendicular to the rest. Without that the checks seat crooked. I am about to the point where I am going to buy myself a lathe and be done with it all.

[Tackleberry41]

Try NOE, but they have a 22cal stem, they do not sell ones in increments. As for Lee, well I imagine its a whole lot easier and cheaper for them to have such large tolerances vs machining them closer.

A lathe is the solution, you can make them however you want, its what I do.

[Retumbo]

If you were closer...

[dudel]

Try Buckshot. He makes custom Lee push through sizers. His quality is something Lee should strive for.

[Tackleberry41]

Yea but what does Buckshot charge vs Lee? He probably puts a little more effort into things. I just use the Lee stems from the push thru sizers I already had with the NOE sizer. Just had to make one for 40 cal, the 9mm one I had worked but you could see where it wasn't right on the base of the bullets.

[newton]

Lee quoted me $30.......redonkulous.....

[newton]

I'm going to try some copper gas checks first, just to see if its the aluminum being too soft or something. If the same thing happens with the copper gas checks, then I think I might just send it back to Lee. They said to send it in with bullets and gas checks.

It may or may not do me any good, but at least they will have an opportunity to take a look at a product they put out.

I may go with a NOE sizer in the end. I know they are more expensive, but to be able to size the noses might be worth it.

[EDG]

Try a gauge pin in any diameter you want. They are about $3 for a precision ground pin about 2 inches long. You might be able to use it loose or braze a disk to the base.

[newton]

Try a gauge pin in any diameter you want. They are about $3 for a precision ground pin about 2 inches long. You might be able to use it loose or braze a disk to the base.

Never thought of that. Good idea. Thanks. Only downside is that I think you would want the stem to be of softer steel than the die itself.

[Retumbo]

Do you lube you bullets before you put the through the die.

I never got moon shapes but I did get a few checks which looked sheared.

I now put a tiny bit of lube on the check and have had no issue.

I think the dies need a bit of polishing sometimes.

[newton]

I didn't lube them, but I have polished it to a mirror shine.

I like to seat my gas checks before powder coating. I feel the powder coating gives an extra hold on the checks. May or may not be needed. But if I put any kind of lube on them before then the powder coating will not do good.

i will try powder coating then seating checks. The powder coating is quite slick, so that may help.

The die being rough does seem like it would cause this issue, but I polished it very slick. The boolits slide through with almost no resistance. Maybe there is a small catch in there that is causing a momentary hang up, which causes the stem to press harder in one area than another.

Something is happening for sure. But it doesn't make any sense not to support the whole base of the boolit when sizing.

[JWFilips]

Place a gas check on your stem and run it through your die: most times it will take up the slack! Works for me

[gunwonk]

I made a stem of sorts by taking a piece of brass and sanding it down to .224", but it is incredibly hard to get the end of it absolute perpendicular to the rest.

If you can spin your homemade .224" stem in a drill press -- or even a drill -- it should be pretty easy to file the end square.

[newton]

Place a gas check on your stem and run it through your die: most times it will take up the slack! Works for me

I actually tried that before, it did not work on this though.

[newton]

If you can spin your homemade .224" stem in a drill press -- or even a drill -- it should be pretty easy to file the end square.

You can get it close, but one slip and its over. lol

[newton]

With all that said, I took a closer look at the die. I had done the customary polishing of the die and the cut in the picture below really stands out. I can see how a gas check could catch slightly on it and give enough resistance to cause the fining and crescent shape on the bottom.





The gouge is about 1/4 of the total circumference. I sent Lee the pictures, I hope they don't try to jack me around and just send out a die body that they first take a look at.

[newton]

I still think a larger diameter stem is needed though. But maybe if the die was not jacked it would not matter.

[newton]

Checked my emails and Lee sent out a new die body. Fantastic customer service if you ask me. I emailed back and asked if they took a look inside the die to make sure it didn't have the same flaw. That would really stink. I assume it was a flaw in the metal as it is only isolated to one area. But I suppose a chip could have been caught by a tool for a fraction of a second to cause the issue. Its just that its so deep.

[fredj338]

IF you have access to a lathe, you can get a cheap Lee pin & turn it down yourself. Though I think you will run into issues with only 0.001" clearance.

[Tackleberry41]

There are several reasons Lee has such tolerances, one is its cheaper. And the other is variations in presses. If things were to tight, and things were not perfectly aligned, a bit of use and you would have wear issues. The 40 cal one I made, is tighter than Lee makes them, but I made the base a little smaller so it would be able to move and align itself. I stopped using the Lee sizers, they are not so great at making things the right size. My .430 sizer is actually .429, where my .224 sizer doesn't even touch a cast bullet, its a bit bigger then .224. The NOE ones work perfect. Well worth the money to buy the set and the inserts, also have way more options. Take up a bit less space than a bunch of the lee ones.