Zendude
Member
I usually don't have to start from scratch with the Lee dies and lock rings, but I always end up making small adjustments each time.
The only thing I need is a good wrench for round lock rings. My slip joint pliers have really chewed them up.
I don' understand why people do this (I'm also not doubting that they do it either). I use Lee dies with Lee rings on Dillon 550 heads and all mine (rifle and pistol) are screwed in from the top just fine. Maybe it's the air here or something...Just a note, I'm told you can use your Lee lock rings on the Lee dies if you secure them under the tool-head instead of on top. I don't load on a Dillon but I have read that many times.
I don' understand why people do this (I'm also not doubting that they do it either). I use Lee dies with Lee rings on Dillon 550 heads and all mine (rifle and pistol) are screwed in from the top just fine. Maybe it's the air here or something....
I think this poll is badly flawed.
Pistol shooters do not have die settings that are nearly as critical setting wise as the setting of a bottle neck FL die for a precision rifle.
It takes a good while to set a a FL die to exactly match a chamber or to push the shoulder back .001.
The size die for straight walled pistol rounds could be set to plus or minus .020 and it would work.
For straight cased pistol rounds absolutely not. (Haven't played enough with bottle necked)Do you feel that even the Hornady or other rigid lock-rings are insufficiently precise/repeatable to allow dies to come off the press and be re-installed without going through the whole adjustment process again?
Interesting point. I'm definitely much more of a pistol loader than a rifle loader, and when I load rifle cartridges, I'm just setting everything back far enough to fit a case gauge (i.e., all the way).
Do you feel that even the Hornady or other rigid lock-rings are insufficiently precise/repeatable to allow dies to come off the press and be re-installed without going through the whole adjustment process again? (If so, this would at last explain to me the appeal of having a non-indexing turret press loaded up with various different rifle sizing dies.)
Put a piece of lead shot under the brass screw on RCBS dies. Works great. Locks far better, easy to adjust, just loosen the screw and tap on it. Instant loose.Most of my dies are RCBS and they are so old that they have the old solid set screw rings.
Sometimes the rings will wedge down as the lock screws are tightened.
Put a piece of lead shot under the brass screw on RCBS dies. Works great. Locks far better, easy to adjust, just loosen the screw and tap on it. Instant loose.
True, I have some similar rings with factory included nylon or some such piece under the screw. I have also used a spitball in a pinch.Nylon balls are much superior to lead shot because they are elastic. Just back off and the ring is loose without banging on them.
Also true.Even so rings will often bind a die in the press when you tighten the lock/set screw.