Looking for a Neck Sizer in .223

[Conservidave]

Hello all,

I am looking for a recommendation on a good neck sizer in .223. My lee unit
has stripped the threads on the aluminum cap (from a heavy hand on the press) trying to get a descent neck tension like the FL sizer gives. The other Lee dies I have do a fair enough job so no complaints there.

Any recommendations and advice is appreciated.

Dave,

 

[steve4102]

The Lee Collet die is an excellent Neck die. Adding more and more pressure will not increase neck tension. It can't the case neck is squeezed around the Mandrell, adding more pressure will not reduce the size of the Mandrel.

To increase neck tension with the Collet die you can do two things.
You can order a reduced mandrel from Lee for $5. Or you can chuck the mandrel in a drill or drill press and polish it down to your desired size. I choose the later.

 

[jcwallace84]

The Lee Collet die is an excellent Neck die. Adding more and more pressure will not increase neck tension. It can't the case neck is squeezed around the Mandrell, adding more pressure will not reduce the size of the Mandrel.

To increase neck tension with the Collet die you can do two things.
You can order a reduced mandrel from Lee for $5. Or you can chuck the mandrel in a drill or drill press and polish it down to your desired size. I choose the later.

I Have done both of the methods steve4102 mentioned. If you put the mandrel in your drill you can use 400 or 600 grit sandpaper and move up and down the mandrel and measure your progress with a caliper.

You can also polish up the contact points of the die to make it work more reliably.

http://www.opticstalk.com/got-my-lee-collet-die-today_topic33866.html

 

[greyling22]

and before you toss your current die you can probably order the part(s) you need from lee to fix it. I had to turn down my 257 die using the drill and sandpaper method. And while you could argue that you shouldn't need to, lee stuff is about half what everybody else's is so I cut them a little slack when dealing with thousandths of an inch in a mass produced item. Especially when the fix is so easy.

 

[ranger335v]

Lee's collet neck die will provide all the "neck tension" that matters. Making the neck smaller acccomplishes nothing except to increase seating resistance because the base of the bullet has to be it's own expander and that's NOT helpful to bullet runout. And properly used that top cap will never strip. It's designed to do so if the user tries to reduce the diameter of that solid steel center mandral tho.

Otherwise, it hardly matters what brand of conventional neck die is used. On average, there's as difference between individual dies of the same brand as there is between brands.

 

[Conservidave]

Thanks for all the great advise. I had actually spent an afternoon turning down the mandrel from .223ish to .221 and I was still able to easily push a bullet into the case. I noticed if I give an extra "push" on the ram and turn the case and press again I could gain an acceptable (to me) tension. That's when the cap gave up the threads. Either way i'll fix the Lee die and save it for another day but i'm still in the market for another.

Dave,

 

[Otto]

Check out Reddings Type S Bushing Full Length Sizer. It can be used to only size the neck if you choose to. I think it's the best die for the AR15 platform.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/676249/redding-type-s-bushing-full-length-sizer-die-223-remington