makarov 9x18 flaring die

[senecahornet]

Lee flaring die:
After much mucking around with this die, found a way to get a nice bell shaped flare so that lead bullets are not shaved.
Took off the rubber o-ring at the top(and did not replace it) of the die and filed down the die top, which gave the floating expander the ability to go down further into the case. Now when the cartridge case is pushed into the die, the floating expander has less room to go up and goes further into the case. Resulting in a nice bell flare which is then removed by the bullet seating die which also resizes the case.

 

[FrankenMauser]

There's an easier way:

Lyman M die.


...Or any expander die, other than Lee.

 

[Unclenick]

If you shoot more than one common pistol caliber, look at getting the Lyman Multi-expander die. It has a 9 mm insert (though you might want to check with them to be sure it is stubby enough for the 9×18).

The advantage to these dies is they put a short step in the case just below the flared portion that lets you set a bullet into it so it is sitting straight up when you start the seating stroke. This stops the usual tilt a bullet sitting on a bell flare has as it enters the seating die. The step means you never have to hold a bullet in place as it gets to the mouth of that die (more a problem with long rifle bullets than pistol bullets, though). It also makes the bullet seat straight. You may have noticed when you examine your loaded rounds that there is often a slight bulge in the brass mirroring the location of the bullet base and that this bulge is often all on one side of the case and not the other. That's due to tilt. The bulge is reduced and becomes as even all around as the case thickness is when you use the M-die type profile. The bullet starting straight into the throat of the barrel improves accuracy. More so with lead bullets as they tend to swage into the throat at whatever angle they started with, where jacketed bullets can straighten themselves some of the way.

Anyhow, its something you might want to consider.