Issues with 30-06 Winchester Brass and Lee Loader

The HPX is probably a little thicker than the commercial Winchester brass... and I would guess it's not sizing the neck enough. You may have to upgrade to a real press and die set to get consistent neck tension.

Charlie98 said:

The HPX is probably a little thicker than the commercial Winchester brass... and I would guess it's not sizing the neck enough.

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That would be my guess, but I don't know much of anything about Lee Loaders for bottleneck cartridges anyway. How do they size the necks anyway?
I mean, with a regular bottleneck cartridge sizing die, you run the case up in the die, which squeezes the neck down, then when you run the case back down out of the die, the expander button opens the case neck back up a little bit. How is all that accomplished with a Lee Loader? Or is it?
I'm just asking 'cause I'm curious. The only Lee Loader I've ever used was for a 357 Magnum, and that was over 40 years ago.
Thanks in advance for answering my questions.

Your Lee kit probably has a neck sizer ring that is on the larger side. Lacking measuring tools set a HPX brass beside one that has poor neck tension. Compare the neck wall thickness you should see a difference that is obvious. As mentioned a better press and regular dies will probably size the neck smaller and work for you. In my reloading fun Remmington brass has the thinnest necks in 30-06 brass. The bonus of a better press would be adding dies is all that's needed to add a caliber. The Lee hand press is probably the next less expensive option unless you can find something used. Or just stick with all military brass as that usually has the thickest neck walls.

It is obvious that you do not have the neck tension needed with the Winchester. Your fix for this is you are going to need to do full sizing on the Winchester. Lee has an inexpensive hand press that is around 50 bucks and don't know how much the dies are.

Mark, in a traditional press-mounted sizing die, the inside neck sizing comes when the expander ball comes back through the neck after the case (or even just the neck) is sized... that's what sizes the neck to provide proper neck tension for a bullet. I'm going to guess the Lee Loader you are using does not have that expander ball, although that is a guess since I've never used one. If all you do is size the neck externally... with the sizing die... the inside neck diameter is at the mercy of the brass thickness.

Mark Mahler said:

Thanks so much for the input guys! The Lee Loader neck sizes only - it's accomplished by pounding the brass into the sizing die until it's flush, then priming the cartridge, which loosens the brass from the die. There is no internal ball. I've decided that it's time to put my big boy pants on and get a real reloader and a decent set of dies. If I was only loading a few rounds at a time that'd be one thing, but I'm having a gas shooting my 1917 Enfield, and the resulting empty brass is more than that little loader is meant for. Time to level up.

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Simplicity is it's own reward... if you are just loading for a few cartridges like that, a simple single-stage press will work fine.

Mark Mahler said:

Side note - I now have 25 rounds of the Winchester brass that is primed. How do I safely de-prime the brass so I can full length size them? I guess I can load them into the rifle one at a time and pop them off.

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Once you get a bench mounted press, you can decap those live primers by gently popping them out with the decap pin. Some guys reuse theirs, I don't... up to you. I also have a specific decap die... for just that purpose. It is generic, not cartridge specific, and quite inexpensive.

With most pricer dies just remove the decap pin from the end of the expander ball and resize.
Not where I can check right now but think you can adjust the expander/decap pin ln the lee dies enough to expand the neck without punching the primer out.
I remember removing the expander, sizing without and then reinstalling it and just lifting the case enough to make the expander go through the neck without decapping the case.

Mark Mahler said:

Side note - I now have 25 rounds of the Winchester brass that is primed. How do I safely de-prime the brass so I can full length size them? I guess I can load them into the rifle one at a time and pop them off.

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Just remove the decapping pin from the die and size. No need to remove the primer if your going to use the brass.

Mark Mahler said:

Side note - I now have 25 rounds of the Winchester brass that is primed. How do I safely de-prime the brass so I can full length size them? I guess I can load them into the rifle one at a time and pop them off.

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Blue68f100 said:

Just remove the decapping pin from the die and size. No need to remove the primer if your going to use the brass.

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As Charlie98 said (post #10) you can decap those cases by gently running them up in your sizer die and letting the decapping pin do its thing - the same as popping out spent primers. However, as Blue68f100 said (post #13), there's really no need to remove the primers. It would be easier to just remove the decapping pin from the stem in your sizing die and just go ahead and resize your cases without popping out the primers. That way your resized cases will already be primed and ready for powder (as soon as you wipe the lubricant off them).

I like Lee Loaders and I have 8, including 30-06. I too have a lot of HXP brass and also Hornady brass (and maybe a few mixed). I can't remember any loose bullets but I used the Lee Loader with 147 gr pulls and Hornady A-Max bullets. As mentioned the Lee Loader for rifle cartridges just neck size the cases, very easy to use but not as slow as some claim.https://www.google.com/search?q=usi.....69i57j33.10828j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Question for you: What are you shooting those in? Depending on what it is, you may be better off without a crimp.

Mark Mahler said:

Update - I went ahead and decapped the brass using the Lee Classic loader - easy to do and I was bored waiting for the new reloading dies to come in the mail. When I got the dies, I went to my buddies place and used his reloading press to load the brass, and it worked beautifully. Now I just ordered a Lee Challenger press for myself - after going through the process, I'm wanting my own setup. I especially liked using the Factory Crimp die. Thanks again for all the knowledgeable feedback.

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Charlie98 said:

Question for you: What are you shooting those in? Depending on what it is, you may be better off without a crimp.

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Agreed, my best case for an -06 is a classic turret, no crimp if I'm in a hurry, a single stage, no crimp if I'm not.

Yeah once you get the reloading basics down pat the next step is usually going for accuracy. Working up your loads for max accuracy will involve many things but one of the simplest things is seeing if crimping your rounds actually helps accuracy or not. I find that it hurts it in most cases. Still, for some rounds you need to crimp. For 30-30 in a tubular feed rifle and in revolvers when using a heavy load are some instances when you do need to crimp despite getting less accuracy.