lee collet dies

[kmon]

If you want the Lee Collet die for a Grendel they will make one. I like the Collet dies and most likely will get one some day

Link to Custom Lee Collet Dies. Good thing about the Custom dies it is for you chamber

https://leeprecision.com/custom-collet-necksizing-die-set.html

[NugginFutz]

If you want the Lee Collet die for a Grendel they will make one. I like the Collet dies and most likely will get one some day

Link to Custom Lee Collet Dies. Good thing about the Custom dies it is for you chamber

https://leeprecision.com/custom-coll...g-die-set.html

Within that page is the following disclaimer (emphasis is Lee's.)

...
There are a few exceptions for the larger Ultra Mags, if you are interested in those, you may want to give us a call or send a case to determine whether or not we can make them. The Collet Neck Sizing Die is not recommended for Auto Loaders, Slide or Lever Action Guns.
...

Not certain why, but that they feel it necessary to call out the caveat about auto loaders is somewhat disconcerting.

ETA: Once again, didn't take the time to fully ready the description. I missed "neck sizing". With that understanding, the caveat is clear.

[joedirt199]

Because the brass comes out of the chamber while still hot and in the expanding/contracting phase, unlike a bolt action that will be in the chamber longer as you work the bolt manualy. Brass from an auto loader will expand outside of the chamber and not have the chamber walls to fit to like a fire formed bolt action round.

[Kswhitetails]

Moral of the story appears to be that the collet die is a grand idea for bench rest or similar purpose bolt rifles, however the lesser-leveraged bolt operations found in some other rifle actions may find extraction a bit tense... pun-nishment..

[bj139]

Has anyone here tried the collet die in an autoloader and knows it does not work or are these all guesses?

I tried partial resizing in a FL sizing die and it has worked flawlessly through 2 reloads.

[Klem]

Has anyone here tried the collet die in an autoloader and knows it does not work or are these all guesses?

I tried partial resizing in a FL sizing die and it has worked flawlessly through 2 reloads.

What is the bump that this partial FL sizing gives your cases? Whatever it is you won't get any bump out of a Lee Collet die. The phenomenon that AR's need full-length sizing to be reliable is not guesswork. At least .003" in longitudinal headspace is a good compromise between reliability, safety and case life..

[NugginFutz]

What is the bump that this partial FL sizing gives your cases? Whatever it is you won't get any bump out of a Lee Collet die. The phenomenon that AR's need full-length sizing to be reliable is not guesswork. At least .003" in longitudinal headspace is a good compromise between reliability, safety and case life..

^ This.

[NugginFutz]

Has anyone here tried the collet die in an autoloader and knows it does not work or are these all guesses?

I tried partial resizing in a FL sizing die and it has worked flawlessly through 2 reloads.

Look - we get it. You want to use a Lee Collet die on your Grendel brass. You already know where to get one made, how much it will cost and what you need to provide to Lee to get the ball rolling.

Knock yourself out. Let us know how it goes after 4-5 reloads.

[bj139]

Nuggin,
So, the answer seems to be no. No need to get testy. We know you hate all things Lee. I don't know why.

Klem,
I unscrew the die about 1/2 turn which turns out be 1/28" on a die which has 14 TPI.
There is a portion of the neck, near the shoulder, which remains unsized. It is clearly visible.
Based on this, I assume the shoulder has no bump at all since the die is not even going all the way to the bottom of the neck.

[Klem]

Klem,
I unscrew the die about 1/2 turn which turns out be 1/28" on a die which has 14 TPI.
There is a portion of the neck, near the shoulder, which remains unsized. It is clearly visible.
Based on this, I assume the shoulder has no bump at all since the die is not even going all the way to the bottom of the neck.

I hear you, but no doubt the case is still getting squeezed in from the sides, and that is also what is called headspace. Headspace is not just longitudinal but also axial. In other words it is the clearance around the case when it is in battery. We often refer to it by longitudinal only because it is easy to measure and quantify. If you have one of those comparator gauges 52' was talking about recently you could measure the difference in longitudinal headspace between fired and your semi-FL sized. There might not be any longitudinal change but I guarantee the diameter of the case has been squeezed. It will feed more reliably than neck sizing only, for a few firings at least. More than likely it will creep longer each time until finally it won't go into battery on the recoil spring energy alone.

[bj139]

Klem,
Yes I see what you are saying. I could measure the body diameter of some cases at the shoulder end before and after resizing to see. I do know about eventually will not go into battery since I experienced this while partial resizing for a 6.5x55 Mauser in the 1980s. I think it took about 5 or 6 reloads. The AR is designed to not fire unless the bolt is turned to lock the lugs, correct? I would not want this to be a safety issue.

[bj139]

Klem,

I just measured the body diameter with 0-1" micrometer at the shoulder. I didn't look up the correct value as a test. It was 0.434 before sizing and 0.431 after sizing. The case was about .001 out of round before and no difference after sizing. Cheap B** barrel I guess. The die made it rounder. I started segregating boxes of brass by barrel with this one. I will fire a box of new 123g AMAX in my Overwatch next and keep these separate since this barrel is more likely to get me < 0.5 MOA groups.

[Klem]

bj,

I've copied what you're doing and unscrewed my die 1/2 turn (it's an industry standard across manufacturers, 7/8-14 so the result will be the same). Ordinarily I get .003" bump but with 1/2 turn out I get .001". There wasn't any axial change down at the web, measured with a micrometer. .001 is better than no bump and will work OK in a clean AR, until it doesn't. This is the sort of bump you would use with a bolt gun. It'll be great for case life so I'll be interested to hear how many reloads you get out of it before some sort of problem happens.

Yes, the AR is designed not to fire until it is in battery. If the bolt it is not fully rotated the firing pin can't protrude. There have been incidents of out of battery firing but it's pretty rare.

The .001 out of round you mention is probably from the case impacting the deflector on ejection - it's pretty violent.

[NugginFutz]

Nuggin,
So, the answer seems to be no. No need to get testy. We know you hate all things Lee. I don't know why.

Klem,
I unscrew the die about 1/2 turn which turns out be 1/28" on a die which has 14 TPI.
There is a portion of the neck, near the shoulder, which remains unsized. It is clearly visible.
Based on this, I assume the shoulder has no bump at all since the die is not even going all the way to the bottom of the neck.

Not getting testy. Just seems that your questions keep getting answered with the one exception being "has anyone got direct experience?"

You've heard from a few sources, and still persisted. Fine. It appeared that you were unsatisfied with the responses you got.

As to your perception that "I dislike all things Lee", you're misreading the situation. I have Lee crimping dies and find them adequate.

Bottom line is that neck sizing really doesn't have a place in reloading for auto loaders. Doing so will end with less than undesirable results at some point in time.

I hope you learn what you need.

[bj139]

Klem,
Is the bump you are refering to "shoulder setback"?

Is it measured with the Hornady headspace comparator?