Lee collet question

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pjifl
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Re: Lee collet question

#16 Postby pjifl » Sat Feb 22, 2020 9:25 pm

One wonders how the internal cone is cut within that collet. It must be close to the shoulder hitting the collet which is bad news.

OK - at least this is positive information.

Try the washer trick limiting case entry as a temporary experiment. Confirm that It should work.

You can then figure out what you do after that. I don't think you will be satisfied with a washer as a long term solution.

Peter Smith.

Tim L
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Re: Lee collet question

#17 Postby Tim L » Sun Feb 23, 2020 6:47 am

pjifl wrote:One wonders how the internal cone is cut within that collet. It must be close to the shoulder hitting the collet which is bad news

Peter Smith.


Is it?
Kind if takes me back to the question I posed a week or so ago.
I still figure that if you get it just right it's not so much bumping the shoulder as maintaining case dimensions.

Rich4
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Re: Lee collet question

#18 Postby Rich4 » Sun Feb 23, 2020 7:26 am

They should have clearance between the base of the neck and bottom of sizing area, however I would have thought 2mm to be excessive so I disassembled 3 of mine and found from .2 to 2mm and the 2 larger gaps were 7mm and 284 ??? #-o the washer is not a practical solution merely a diagnosis tool, either contact lee for a replacement collet or machine up a spacer to a hard push fit over the bottom of the collet, there should be enough protruding after contact with the forcing cone to hold it, I have actually considered making a full collet die cut with a finish reamer to test the fls effect, too many projects not enough floods

PGB
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Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 1:04 pm

Re: Lee collet question

#19 Postby PGB » Sun Feb 23, 2020 3:41 pm

Well there you go Tim, it does pass right through the collet area. As i mentioned previously try a washer over the case in the press and adjust the die accordingly. If you still have neck tension issues polish the rod as i mentioned, this will save over working the cone area and squashing the neck brass, been there done that. Less force is kinder to all working parts concerned. Hope you get it sorted. The decapping pin should have enough length to tolerate the washer thickness required to contact your case neck to the top.
cheers Pete

PGB
Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 1:04 pm

Re: Lee collet question

#20 Postby PGB » Sun Feb 23, 2020 3:42 pm

Well there you go Tim, it does pass right through the collet area. As i mentioned previously try a washer over the case in the press and adjust the die accordingly. If you still have neck tension issues polish the rod as i mentioned, this will save over working the cone area and squashing the neck brass, been there done that. Less force is kinder to all working parts concerned. Hope you get it sorted. The decapping pin should have enough length to tolerate the washer thickness required to contact your case neck to the top.
cheers Pete

Tim N
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Re: Lee collet question

#21 Postby Tim N » Sun Feb 23, 2020 5:30 pm

I did the washer trick which worked sort of, now it only sizes about 3.5mm of the neck.
I’ve emailed lee to see if they can send a new die.
Problem is it’s a custom die which I had to send cases and a projectile for them to make....
The full neck can be sized but I have to do it in 2 passes and change the die setting.
Lee collet project not off to a good start :?
We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training. Archilochos 680-645 BC

Tim N
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Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 8:18 pm
Location: Branxton NSW

Re: Lee collet question

#22 Postby Tim N » Sun Feb 23, 2020 6:54 pm

I ordered a 6x47 die at the same time and it’s too short as well...
Not as bad but still a pain in the rear, just lucky I guess.
We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training. Archilochos 680-645 BC

ben_g
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Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2016 7:37 pm

Re: Lee collet question

#23 Postby ben_g » Sun Feb 23, 2020 8:37 pm

Mines the same Tim, glad you picked it up!!

First pic is brand new virgin brass

B7B1B857-3119-4F23-9FD7-ED46B0106E60.jpeg


Second is brass fired several times, straight out of the chamber (not body sized)

355EABD1-5A0D-4CBA-A837-15BE2C77A749.jpeg
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ben_g
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Re: Lee collet question

#24 Postby ben_g » Sun Feb 23, 2020 8:53 pm

Are you using the shellholder Lee supplied?

Those pics above are with their shellholder. It’s visually worse with my Redding shellholders

I hadn’t picked it up on my brass, sized neck in my brass is 309 (chamber is 313) the belled out mouth measures 310 and wasn’t readily apparent to the naked eye.

Tim N
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Location: Branxton NSW

Re: Lee collet question

#25 Postby Tim N » Sun Feb 23, 2020 9:22 pm

Hey Ben
The shell holder they supplied was similar to mine.
I’ll see what the answer is from lee and will ask for 3 inners
We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training. Archilochos 680-645 BC

pjifl
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Location: Innisfail, Far North QLD.

Re: Lee collet question

#26 Postby pjifl » Mon Feb 24, 2020 8:46 am

It is a real shame you have had such a runaround with the collet die option.

One thing that may be worth considering at this point is just how far down the neck do you want to size, throating distance and bullet seating beyond any potential donuts !

Peter Smith.

Tim N
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Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 8:18 pm
Location: Branxton NSW

Re: Lee collet question

#27 Postby Tim N » Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:49 pm

Thanks for your input Peter,
Do you think 4mm will be enough of the neck sized?
That would be max with the current collet
We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training. Archilochos 680-645 BC

pjifl
Posts: 883
Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2005 12:15 pm
Location: Innisfail, Far North QLD.

Re: Lee collet question

#28 Postby pjifl » Mon Feb 24, 2020 9:34 pm

If you store the ammo carefully in individual slots and load singly in a target rifle, I believe 4 mm would be adequate. Magazine fed in an SLR would be a very different thing. You can easily measure runout.

Perhaps a bit more would be nice but why not try them on a target - that is all that counts.

This is not to excuse what seems substandard manufacturing of the collet die.

Peter Smith.

Tim L
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Location: Townsville

Re: Lee collet question

#29 Postby Tim L » Tue Feb 25, 2020 2:33 am

For what it's worth, when I load heavies in a 308 I don't have 4mm of bearing surface in the case. Concentrisity is less than a thou a they seem to land pretty close to one another. I have a barrel with 300thou of freebore that shoots 155.5 that have less than 2mm in the case and a leap of faith to the lands. They too perform pretty well on the target face.
As Peter says, the target is the truth teller.

Rich4
Posts: 534
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2019 2:33 pm
Location: Chinchilla

Re: Lee collet question

#30 Postby Rich4 » Tue Feb 25, 2020 6:08 am

Like the 30 wolfpup, longer neck grab just helps rough handling, actually concentricity is probably assisted by that short grab as it may self straighten, but really if it ain’t broke don’t fix it :lol:


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