Lake City pulldown 7.62 and Lee Collet die

[Marco Califo]

I bought some of www.Midsouthshooterssupply.com pulldown. These were not pulled-down because of age, the headstamps were recent. 7.62/308. Any sealant looks to have been removed. They are primed and crimped and I will load them, I was able to locate my Lee 308 Collet neck sizing die. Since I am leaving the primer in for use, I do not want to deprime. The collet die has a depriming pin. As I recall, I want to remove the depriming pin only, and leave the neck expander in place. And then, neck size. Thoughts?

 

[hounddawg]

take a dremel and cut the decapping pin off. I decap separately and have used the Lee collet die many times like that

 

[Unclenick]

Lee will sell you a new mandrel for $4.

 

[Marco Califo]

So, UncleNick, You are endorsing grinding the pin down. I will do that, but in my case, I just do not deprime with rifle sizing dies. So I think if just goes away. Looking at the mandrel photo and spec, .3055, I see there is no expander ball. The collect just press the brass toward the mandrel.

 

[T. O'Heir]

"...And then, neck size..." Shooting it out of what? A semi-auto, lever or pump action requires FL resizing. Neck sizing is for brass fired out of the same rifle.
Does the decapping pin not come out of the Lee collet die without cutting? Just like any other die.

 

[Marco Califo]

Neck sizing in this specific instance is to ensure consistent neck tension ONLY. Ohair, did you read the first post? Or the Title?

 

[Unclenick]

Yep. Sounds like you don't need the decapping pin at all, then. I do the same, decapping with a Lee Universal Depriming/Decapping Die before tumbling brass.

The main advantage of the Collet Dies is the lack of an expander means there is nothing to pull the neck off the overall case axis, as shown in this YouTube video. I neck size with a Collet Die and size the rest of the case with a Redding body die. It keeps the case runout down.

 

[Marco Califo]

I took apart my collet die this morning and the mandrel looks like it is one machined piece, straight cylinder with the deprime protrudence integral. So will grind off.

 

[Bart B.]

I neck size with a Collet Die and size the rest of the case with a Redding body die. It keeps the case runout down.

Does this method make the case necks well centered on the case shoulder?

I ask because the rimless bottleneck case shoulder, not body, is what centers the front of the round in the barrel when fired. Case necks are typically not touching any part of the chamber neck when fired.

 

[Unclenick]

The Body die is the same as regular sizing dies except the die neck is slightly too wide to touch the case neck. So it does as well about the shoulder and body symmetry as any other sizing die does. Keeping the neck from bending, as the collet die does, then makes sure the centered and not-touching neck is pointing straight into the throat at firing and not introducing an angle to the bullet's entry there.

 

[Bart B.]

If the sizing results in necks as straight as honed out necks in full length dies make, that is good.

 

[OldNick]

No need too grind the depriming pin off. Just grab hold of it with pliers, and pull it out.

 

[hounddawg]

No need too grind the depriming pin off. Just grab hold of it with pliers, and pull it out.
Today 03:38 PM

well I just learned something new, went and looked at my spare and it is 2 piece. thanks

 

[Marco Califo]

Mine, which is a Lee 308 Win DO, did not pull out. I tried to cut through it with the wire cutter blade, no go there either. Then I grabbed it again with the pliers and bent it back and forth a couple times and it did snap off.
I just tried it, just put in a Lee hand press with the 308/45 shell holder and it slid right into the dies to where the die and shell holder met. Not even any lube. I am pointing that out because that is how I proved I did not need to grind. It broke off close to the tangent, and that was plenty short enough that mandrel, minus its spike, did not come close to the primer or even the brass at that end.

 

[Unclenick]

Yes. That pin is hardened and is press-fit into the mandrel. I never tried simply pulling one out and may give it a go. I always used a Dremel cutoff wheel to remove them.

 

[Marco Califo]

The Body die is the same as regular sizing dies except the die neck is slightly too wide to touch the case neck. So it does as well about the shoulder and body symmetry as any other sizing die does.

I am looking at Redding's body die ($30 at Midsouth). I think if it works for 308/7.62, then it should also work fine for 7mm-08. Redding also makes a 7mm-08 body die, too. I think the 308 body should work for body sizing for both.

The Pull-down LC 7.62 were LC 18.

 

[Unclenick]

Marco,

I wouldn't count on that dual-use. The neck area on my copy of the .308 Win body die is just 0.002" over the maximum chamber neck diameter near the shoulder. If you push in a case with a neck that is narrower than the neck portion of the die, you may leave an unresized ring of brass at the neck and shoulder junction. I would also be concerned a case with uneven walls could let a narrower neck go off-center. But I don't own a 7mm-08, so this is just speculation on my part.

If you are going to get a body die for .308 Win anyway, you should try it on the 7mm-08 and let us know if it works or not. You could also call Redding and see what they have to say about it.

 

[Marco Califo]

Good point UncleNick. I also have full length sizing 7mm-08 die set (Lee), and will get the neck sizer in 7mm-08 too.
The standard 7mm-08 sizer, with spindle removed would also work for the body sizing task?

 

[Unclenick]

It will also size the neck down, though. The Body Die skips the neck so the Lee Collet Die can be used on it separately. However, sizing the body in a standard die at least will not pull the neck off-axis. If you decap separately and use the Lee FL sizing die, the neck will come out narrower than you need (they are made small enough to resize the thinnest neck walls the SAAMI standard allows). This still leaves you with figuring out how to expand it without moving it off-center. One approach is to get a Lyman M-Die for your chambering and to push the case into it just far enough to expand the neck and get the small step at the mouth but not to actually flare it. Expanding by pushing into the resized neck (with inside neck lube) rather than withdrawing it over an expander does not tend to move necks off-axis. The Mpdie produces a nice square seat to set the bullet into, which keeps it straight as you start it into the seating die. It then stays straight. It's another popular tactic for limiting cartridge runout.

 

[Bart B.]

Redding says their body dies allow their sizing bushings to move sideways aligning with the case neck. That puts the bushing axis off the die shoulder and body axes.

https://www.redding-reloading.com/online-catalog/118-type-s-bushing-dies

Therefore, in my opinion, if the case neck walls are not uniform thickness, the neck inside axis can be off center to the case shoulder axis.

I prefer full length sizing dies with their necks fixed in place well centered on die shoulder and body axes. Cases full into them have outside diameters centered one one axis.