A challenge to lee precision.

[1911user]

Other than case prep, the major attention on bench rest and target loading dies is in seating the bullet. Often a very carefully sized inline bullet guide is used to guide the bullet into near perfect alignment with the case neck before any pressure is used to seat it. That alignment is held during the seating process resulting minimal bullet runout. The Hornady rifle seating dies I use have a similar sliding bullet guide. I'm fairly sure the Redding competition dies use an inline bullet seater also.

I have an old Lee collet rifle die set that has a crude version of an inline bullet guide and it loaded OK ammo.
The collet sizer die is the nice part of the set.

If you can't understand the importance of precise bullet alignment, then I can't help you. They don't all load the "same" quality of ammunition no matter how many times you repeat it. For general purpose and some target work, most die sets will produce acceptable results. When the requirements get tighter, then die tolerance, design, and construction play an increasing role in meeting tighter standards.

 

[Uncle Don]

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no expert in the area of benchresting and producing ammo for that use. However, I went through that phase for awhile and immediately bought a Sinclair arbor press along with LE Wilson Hand dies in .223 and .308.

I started keeping track and discovered that the runout which was .001 to .002 was no different than it was when I used Collet dies out of my turret press. I found this difficult to belive so I kept it up and tracked it closely. Not only did my targets show no difference, neither did the runout gauge on the bullet. However, I did note that prior to putting the bullet in, the Wilson produced less runout on the caseneck. I attributed this to the fact that any inperfection in case wall thickness goes to the inside. With the collet die, any imperfect is on the outside. I determined that this is the better option because when putting the bullet in the case, it goes into a perfectly concentric hole with the collet sized case. With the Wilson (bushing) sized case, the bullet goes into a non-concentric hole and pushes imperfections outward.

In other words, I've gone full circle because the collet dies are easier to use and they produce the same ammo - at least for me.

 

[frenchwrench]

fulloflead : no it's got a bigger footprint than the regular turret,but buy it anyway....

 

[wanderinwalker]

I load ALL of my Highpower ammo on LEE presses with a set of LEE dies. Mostly .223 for an AR-15, but sometimes .30-06, when I'm in the mood.

Guess what? The guys I've beaten on the line never complained that I loaded my ammo on less-expensive equipment. I've fired scores at or close to 100 on every target on the course. Sometimes in practice, sometimes in matches, always with witnesses.

Needless to say, I'm convinced of the load-something and practice shooting approach. 99% of shooters are not benchrest shooters and couldn't tell the difference between ammo loaded with neck dies, turned cases, trickled charges, sorted bullets and ammo loaded with an accurate powder thrower and a consistent bullet seater using Sierras or Noslers or Hornadys right out of the box. For that majority group, LEE stuff will suffice.

 

[1911user]

Nice shooting, but don't forget to put some miles on the bike. They get lonely too.

 

[stiles]

Uncle Don if you want to use a bushing style neck sizing die you need to turn the necks to get them concentric before you neck size them. If you don't want to do this kind of prep and want pretty good results the collet sizing dies work well.

 

[Uncle Don]

Uncle Don if you want to use a bushing style neck sizing die you need to turn the necks to get them concentric before you neck size them. If you don't want to do this kind of prep and want pretty good results the collet sizing dies work well.

Yep - agreed. To this point, I haven't owned a rifle in which those kind of tollerances were necessary, but I understand.

 

[YellowLab]

Getting into the technical portions of reloading is part of the hobby when benchrest shooting.

I'm sure that the people who do it BELIEVE that getting that dead on bullet runout will help accuracy... on paper it makes sense.... a straight seated bullet HAS to be more accurate than on that outs .001

But on that paper that counts (the one downrange) reality sets in and random variables (a butterly flapping its wings in china affects your bullet in flight) renders it all moot.

 

[fulloflead]

frenchwrench,

Thanks! Maybe, then, I'll buy it and put it NEXT to my other turret.
Since I have several turrets full of dies anyhow.

 

[wanderinwalker]

1911user,

Thanks! The bike is actually up for sale. For some reason I thought getting a reliable new car would be a better idea than having a so-so old car and a bike! So Toyota Corolla in, SV650S and 11-year old Nissan, out.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get to all the matches I want to this year. But first, I need to get my new AR barrel...

 

[pilot teacher]

I have the Lee Loadmaster Press for about 5 months now. It's used to load 45 ACP, .243 and 30-06. Support from Lee is excellent and they're fast with services and turn arounds if a warranty repair on any thing is needed. I'm happy with it. Some detractors say "but Lee uses plastic in their stuff"
I say so what. Plastic, nylon and like materials are used in the manufacture of guns, cars and airplanes.