Lee Collet Neck die and Lee FCD info.

[bigedp51]

The late Jim Hull of Sierra bullets testing lab and well known competitive shooter always full length resized his cases and jokingly made the following comment.

"I get my best accuracy when the cartridge case fits the chamber like a rat turd in a violin case"

Jim Hull didn't believe in neck sizing only to get the best accuracy because perfectly made brass is very hard to find. And full length resizing reduces any misalignment problems the case can cause with the bore.

[opngrnd]

Thank you all for the added imput. Other than making more accurate ammo, I wanted to make safer ammo as well. I had a bullet set back scare that had me questioning my ammo quality, even though it has always shot well in my rifles. I have had inconsistent neck tension a time or two, and the Lee die seems to have fixed this.
Beyond that, my Markm style 69 gr SMK load (using Rem 7 1/2primers since I had them on hand) printed a .604 inch group last Thursday from my first batch of ammo adding the Lee dies to the mix. I didn't know what to think when I saw that. My Hornady 55gr FMJ load printed under two inches at the samw distance(100 yards). I'll have to try adding the picture of the target later.

[opngrnd]

Having read some of the other threads, I'm going to try Dillon lube instead of Hornady and see if that doesn't help with the neck tension issues. I wonder is the quality of the lube isn't contributing to inconsistency of neck tension when using the sizing die w/ the expander ball.

[markm]

There's a few of us out of the closet FULL LENGTH sizers on accurate shooter.

As far as lube? There's nothing to be gained by using One Shot. Single worst product ever produced for hand loaders... but I'm not sure of the impact on neck tension as I don't use expander balls ever for anything.

[opngrnd]

I figure I better get back to my own thread for asking questions.

Back to the Collet Neck die-Is it too high maintenance in that it simply needs to be taken apart every 300-500 rounds and cleaned, or in that it won't hold up to large amounts, period? I usually load 300 rounds at a time on my single stage, and it won't bother me to have to clean the die in between batches. I can see why it'd be a no-go on a progressive if you were loading hundreds of rounds at a time.

As far as the RCBS Neck Expander die, does that simply open the neck up a little bit so that it'll accept the bullet?

I suppose I could use the Collet die for my 69 grain SMK's and the RCBS for the 55 grain blasting ammo.

I'm about to enter another long South Dakota winter, so it's not like I won't have the time for whatever makes the most sense.

[markm]

Here's what a lot of guys do to the LEE Collet neck sizer when they get it... They'll polish/smooth the shoulders with 400 grit and add a grease to those bearing surfaces to keep the collet jaws from binding/sticking/galling. The Lee dies are brilliant designs... but they're a $18 piece of gear.... so you're not getting the absolute finest materials. They require some periodic maintenance to keep them from jamming up, but the results are worth it for some applications... (low volume like what you're talking about)

The neck expander die is what I have to go to because I removed my expander ball. If I don't use the expander die, I get jacket shavings and probably introduce runout when seating because of excessive neck tension.

So yeah... in my process the expander die opens the neck back up to allow the bullet to be seated with good neck tension, but not TOO much neck tension.

Now if I got noticeably better results with the Collet die, I'd just buy 3 or 4 of them and rotate them in and out of production, but the neck expander die is giving me absolutely acceptable results.

[Steel head]

I don't polish the collet die but I do clean and inspect for burrs and lube before use.
I open it back up clean and lube every 300 or so rounds, it will go further but some preventive maintenance goes a LONG way to preventing problems.
I'd love to see Forster make one but for the price it's a good product.