For years, I loaded only on a LCT with Lee dies. When I removed dies from the press, the o-ring lock rings on the dies would stay in place on the die. When I re-installed the dies, I could simply tighten down the die until the lock ring hit the press, and then snug the whole thing up. I didn't have to go through the process of adjusting the die's depth unless I was fundamentally changing something.
Recently, I moved my highest volume cartridge to a Dillon. Dillons have tall toolheads, and Lee dies are short compared to Dillon dies. The Lee o-ring lock rings are simply too tall to work; there's not enough spare thread after the dies are adjusted properly. So I had to use some Dillon lock rings. These lock rings don't have any locking mechanism (such as an o-ring or a collet set-screw) of their own. They only work by pressing against the toolhead and die; once you start to back out the die, the lock ring spins freely on the die's threads and will not hold a setting when the die is off the press.
Suddenly, I wondered whether this explained some products and preferences among reloaders that I had never understood. For instance, the use of non-indexing turret presses always bafffled me... when batch processing brass, how hard is it to unscrew one die and replace it with another? The answer, I suppose, is that it's pretty hard if you're having to truly set up the die's installation depth every time you put it in.
So here's my question: Do the lock rings on your dies hold their setting when you take them off the press?
Recently, I moved my highest volume cartridge to a Dillon. Dillons have tall toolheads, and Lee dies are short compared to Dillon dies. The Lee o-ring lock rings are simply too tall to work; there's not enough spare thread after the dies are adjusted properly. So I had to use some Dillon lock rings. These lock rings don't have any locking mechanism (such as an o-ring or a collet set-screw) of their own. They only work by pressing against the toolhead and die; once you start to back out the die, the lock ring spins freely on the die's threads and will not hold a setting when the die is off the press.
Suddenly, I wondered whether this explained some products and preferences among reloaders that I had never understood. For instance, the use of non-indexing turret presses always bafffled me... when batch processing brass, how hard is it to unscrew one die and replace it with another? The answer, I suppose, is that it's pretty hard if you're having to truly set up the die's installation depth every time you put it in.
So here's my question: Do the lock rings on your dies hold their setting when you take them off the press?
