Why Only Lee?

You are misquoting me. I never said the lee die was working corectly, i said it was working as designed. You may wish to accept this or not.

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Please inform me as to how its possible for me to misquote you when I copied and pasted your post?

What is your logic here, makes no sense whatsover.

As JohnM said, and I'm quoting

What a total waste of time that was!

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One thing that I've noticed with Lee dies on my Dillon RL450B press is that I have to adjust them so far down that there is barely enough room for more than a thread or two of the die to be contacting the lock nut. The instructions say to adjust the die down to the point where it touches the raised shellplate. Once I get it that far, there's only a couple of threads sticking out above the top of the press for the lock nut to contact. Has anyone else noticed this problem?

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Cointenly! That's when you put the lock ring on the bottom. Ya know, under the tool head? Lee has made a few of his dies a bit longer so they will work better in thick tool heads like the dillons. Or, so I've heard.

It appears that some have made their mind up that nothing lee makes is any good. I can understand anger at one thing that failed, or was made to fail, causing someone to not buy another thing from that company. A fair decision if they tried to get it made right, and they blew you off. But lee bends over backwards to get things replaced.

I have one of the auto primes, actually it was my first one. The primer punch got the face damaged, how I don't know. It left an impression in the face of each and every large primer. I emailed lee with my gripe, including my mailing addy. A couple of days later a small envelope arrived with a new large primer punch in it. No hi-how-are-ya, argument, or other salutation, just a new part. No proof of purchase, or how old is it, just a new part.

I've had a similar experience. When I purchased my Lee Breech Lock Kit from Cabelas, The drop tube for the Perfect Powder Measure was missing. I called Lee and they sent me the part immediately, no hassle no receipt etc. A pleasure to deal with. When I asked about dies for 30 Rem. they told me to buy a 30-30 die, and sold me the appropriate shell holders for 30 Rem, for a couple of bucks. No hassle, just honest courteous service each time.

JohnM said:

Looking at this along side a few earlier ones turns all statements made by you into so much nonsense. A lot of us were seriously trying to figure out what the problem was you were having with a die set.

What a total waste of time that was!

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Im sorry that you wasted your time, however i was not asking for help. i know the limitations of my lee dies and have figured out how to use them relatively successfully.
I was merely adding an honest unbiased ( I use mostly lee dies) opinion about the lee shell holder question the original poster requested.

snuffy said:

Cointenly! That's when you put the lock ring on the bottom. Ya know, under the tool head?

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Nope, no luck... There's either ZERO threads sticking out on the bottom or maybe one or two at most... I'm wondering if the Dillion RL450B has a thicker tool head than the 550... Could someone get their micrometer out and measure the thickness of the toolhead on their 550 and post it so I can compare it to my 450?

I just measured the toolhead on my 450 and the micrometer says that it is 1.080". When I wrote Lee and asked them what was the thicknes son the toolheads on their presses, they replied "approximately 1"... The dies do work this way, but just from an engineering standpoint, I would prefer to see another 1/2" of screw threads sticking out so that it would be possible to have more adjustment options and the ability to put another stop nut on the die to lock it at a particular depth.

How much to send me your dies?

CollinLeon:
If you don't need the o-ring, simply remove the lock nut, remove the o-ring, and put the lock nut back on upside down. This will give you more than enough threads.
You only need two or three threads.

noylj said:

CollinLeon:
If you don't need the o-ring, simply remove the lock nut, remove the o-ring, and put the lock nut back on upside down. This will give you more than enough threads.
You only need two or three threads.

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Yeah, I know we only need 2 or three threads, but I like to see threads sticking past the nut on thinks that I'm putting a nut on... The die works, so I can't really complain about it, but just on a general principle, I think that it should have a longer threaded portion so that it could be more adjustable... I nearly have to bottom out the die to get it to work in my press... Probably only have a couple more turns that I could make in depth adjustment (if I removed the nut or replaced it with a shorter nut).

I prefer Redding dies with the micrometer bullet seating die and separate crimping die. Sometimes I use Lee's FCD since I can adjust the crimp w/o messing with the locknut.

I have a bunch of Lee ides but they're not my favorite. I find different brands work better for different calibers. For .357 Sig I like Dillon dies. For 5.7x28 it's Hornady.

YMMV.

"Once I get it that far, there's only a couple of threads sticking out above the top of the press for the lock nut to contact. Has anyone else noticed this problem? "

I have noticed but I never thought of it as a 'problem.'

ranger335v said:

"Once I get it that far, there's only a couple of threads sticking out above the top of the press for the lock nut to contact. Has anyone else noticed this problem? "

I have noticed but I never thought of it as a 'problem.'

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Well, basically it means that there is not much room for adjustment. The FCD sits especially low in the toolhead.

I have only bought Lee dies. Some of these dies have seen many thousands of rounds through them. I have never had a problem with them.

I like getting a shell holder with my Lee dies. I also like having the dipper so I can work up a bug out load if needed. And know I can make ammo on the move from a very compact system.

I also like the locking nuts. I can set them up in my breech lock single stage and do my load work up's. Once done I transfer the dies to a Classic turret head complete with a Pro Powder measure and I'm ready to go after the finial turret setup. They never change. Don't even remove the die's from the head to clean them up.

The only time I have ever seen anybody have a issue with a crimp/bullet seat die is when folks don't set the dies up off the press's lever stop and try to have the die in question be the stop. That never works and makes junk ammo. I have never seen a bullet seater back out on any body's die.

jcwit said:

Waiting to see the answer to this one also. At the most it sounds like a fluke to me.

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here is a picture of my typical Lee bullet seating dies that did not come with, nor am i aware of a lock ring that will fit and lock the bullet seating depth.

It doesn't need one.
The O-ring down in there on that adjusting stem with stay wherever it's turned to and the bullet seating stem inside it, will continue to push the bullet to the same depth, as long as it's not adjusted to a different position.

Only reason it couldn't is if there is a defect.
Bad threads or bad O-ring.

thats the theory, but its a bad design. all 5 of my lee die sets walk out to different degrees. periodically i change o rings and it helps some. But they always walk out without some duct tape around the top.

Strange. I only have one, but I loaded a batch of about 500 rounds a few days back and all bullets were within a few thou of each other.

Constrictor said:

here is a picture of my typical Lee bullet seating dies that did not come with, nor am i aware of a lock ring that will fit and lock the bullet seating depth.

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Although I have never had that problem, it would be easy enough to create a block that would fit over the die and lock onto the two knurled sections so that no movement would occur... It could be made out of wood even...

• Take a block of wood and drill a hole through it slightly less that the diameter of the upper knurled section of the die.
• With a drill that is slightly less than the diameter of the lower knurled section of the die, drill halfway through it along the same axis as the first hole.
• Drill a hole on each side of the block so that a bolt can go through each side. Even better might be to have a bolt on the top and bottom of each side.
• With a thin saw blade (hacksaw, band saw, etc), cut the block in half along the axis that you drilled. It will kind of look like two halves of a mold at this point, except that the hole goes all the way from top to bottom.
• Using fine sand paper, smooth the edges so that you do not have any splinters or rough edges of wood.
• Insert appropriate sized bolts in each side of the block.
• Place flat washers on the end of threaded ends of the bolts that is sticking through the block that you created.
• Use wing nuts instead of hex nuts to allow for adjustments without the use of a wrench.

The wood will be soft enough that when you tighten it down with the side bolts, it is going to grip the knurled sections. If you have the machine shop tools to do it, you could make this out of metal. A really soft metal would be able to grip the knurled sections. A harder metal might need a softer insert inside of it between the metal halves and the knurled sections of die. A strip of thin rubber glued into the inner surface would work. A soft metal like lead could also work for the gripping surface. I don't think that I would use anything harder than lead though.

Your choice of material for the block is going to affect its thickness. It's going to be thicker if made out of a block of wood than if it was made out of a block of aluminum. Depending upon how you have your dies setup, you might be a bit pressed for room with it made of wood. You could probably made it a bit smaller if you made it out of oak than if you made it out of pine.

Something like this could work if you could increase the inside diameter of one half of it...



Oh well... It's just an idea... It shouldn't take very long to build... I don't have that problem with my dies and it seems that no one else has that problem, but if you can't get the dies to work right, this might help... If you try it out, post some photos and tell us whether it works better for you...

Good luck...

You have 5 sets that all do that? I figured it was you doing something wrong until now. Now I know it is you & if you can't see it then nobody can help you.

This is all beyond me.
On the one I have the keeper/locking O-ring is compressed so much by the threads it takes a fair amount of force to turn the knob to change the setting.
Once set it never moves unless I make it move.

kingmt said:

You have 5 sets that all do that? I figured it was you doing something wrong until now. Now I know it is you & if you can't see it then nobody can help you.

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Yes all 5 of my calibers do it, some worst than others. my 9mm are the worst. and AGAIN i might point out i didnt ask you for help or a fix, i said they are working just as designed, and by adding duct tape to the top they are working acceptably for me.
While i thank you for your help, i dont need it. I was replying to the thread my opinion of lee dies.
It is posible that you guys are satisfied with looser tolerances, or just dont load as much as i do.
I cranked out 2,500 rounds of 9mm this weekend.

Oh and i like Lee providing a shell holder, if i dont need it ill pitch in the extras drawer.

mdi said:

Well, in almost 30 years of reloading with Lee dies (with Lee lockrings) I've never had a die work loose. Mebbe 'cause I'm a lifelong mechanic/machinist and I have used hand tools all my life, but Lee stuff works fine for me. No, I don't use a wrench or God forbid, pliers, on the Lee rings, just finger tight. I bought a set of RCBS dies that had those "real" lockrings on them and had to repair the threads on the die exterior before they could be used. Some ya-hoo must have used a 18" wrench tightening the lock ring (badly distorted threads) and the set screw on the side of the ring was tight enough to gouge flats in the threads. Used a lot of Kroil to loosen things up and had to chase the threads to make the dies usable. I now just use some stainless 7/8-14 lock nuts (thin) on my single stage, and some I customized (knocked the corners off) on my turret. If you use a wrench on the Lee lockrings you stand a good chance of distorting/striping the threads in the aluminum. In my estimation, lock rings don't make or break the quality/usibility of a die set. And yep, I've got dies from several manufacturers (Lee, RCBS, Hornady, Pacific, Herter's, Lyman)...

BTW McMaster-Carr sells one piece split threaded collars 7/8-14 for $4.89 each http://www.mcmaster.com/#locking-rings/=fflnjx

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6438k28 - black oxide - $4.89
6438k89 - stainless - $18.03

Thanks! This may be a great group-order type thing?

Constrictor said:

Yes all 5 of my calibers do it, some worst than others. my 9mm are the worst. and AGAIN i might point out i didnt ask you for help or a fix, i said they are working just as designed, and by adding duct tape to the top they are working acceptably for me.
While i thank you for your help, i dont need it. I was replying to the thread my opinion of lee dies.
It is posible that you guys are satisfied with looser tolerances, or just dont load as much as i do.
I cranked out 2,500 rounds of 9mm this weekend.

Oh and i like Lee providing a shell holder, if i dont need it ill pitch in the extras drawer.

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Have you tried making an index mark on the two pieces of the die with a marker so that you can see that they really are rotating? Otherwise, it *could* be something else in your setup that is causing a change in depth... I take it that the bullets are getting seated less the more bullets you reload? If so, that would seem to preclude that it is just a buildup in bullet lube in the seating die...

Lee's instructions for setting up some of the dies says to screw in the die until it just touches the brass and then to back it off or increase it (dependent upon the die you are talking about) another half turn. Since the dies do not have index marks, getting exactly a half turn is a bit hit or miss. I use a Sharpie permanent marker to put index dots on my dies so that I have a point where I can see what is rotating.

Waiting to see the answer to this one also. At the most it sounds like a fluke to me.

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thats the theory, but its a bad design. all 5 of my lee die sets walk out to different degrees. periodically i change o rings and it helps some. But they always walk out without some duct tape around the top.

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All I can say now is that I reload for close to 40 different calibers and most "not all" of my dies are Lee and they all have the "O" ring keeper/lock for the bullet seating stem. In my 50 some years of reloading I've never had this problem, I'm not sure just when I started to use Lee dies with this set/up but I can assure you its been decades ago, and yet I've yet to experience this problem even with Lee dies.

Of course I do realize I lead a perfect and charmed life. Have to go now, time to change more lead into GOLD.