I'm having a problem with my .270 Winchester Lee collet die that I am hoping some of you guys can help me with. It seemed to work fine for about the first 120 rounds. But on the the last 20-30 rounds, my bullets were dropping right through the neck or took very little pressure to press the bullet in. I measured the inside diameter on the necks of these shells to be .277" to .278" as opposed to the .275" that the others were sized to. What could be causing this. I pulled the collet out and it looked fine, and it wasn't jammed as I've seen it do before. Any suggestions as to what the problem might be?

I ended up just full-length sizing the rest of them, but I would prefer to only resize the neck as these shells are only for one rifle and I would like to save some money on brass.

Take the center rod out of the die and lightly sand it. It might just be dirty, but in my limited experience with them, I don't think they size the necks quite as much as they should.

Chuck the rod in a drill press and you can take off 0.001" or so pretty easily, and not mess it up.

I'm having a problem with my .270 Winchester Lee collet die that I am hoping some of you guys can help me with. It seemed to work fine for about the first 120 rounds. But on the the last 20-30 rounds, my bullets were dropping right through the neck or took very little pressure to press the bullet in. I measured the inside diameter on the necks of these shells to be .277" to .278" as opposed to the .275" that the others were sized to. What could be causing this. I pulled the collet out and it looked fine, and it wasn't jammed as I've seen it do before. Any suggestions as to what the problem might be?

I ended up just full-length sizing the rest of them, but I would prefer to only resize the neck as these shells are only for one rifle and I would like to save some money on brass.


Send it back to Lee and they will solve the problem for you...it will probably only cost you postage

amndouglas
Are you consistant about putting at least 15 pounds pressure on the ram each time? I've found the same thing with my 243 collet die if I'm not consistant about the final pressure in the case. That pressure is what makes the collet work properly.

If that doesn't work I would do as mtmrolla says and send them back to Lee. In my experience Lee is excellent about repairs or replacement. They have a 2 year and a limited lifetime replacement policy.

amndouglas. Hi there,
Sometimes we can trace a problem to strange sources. The above posts give possible solutions but before I begin removing metal, remember , your first batches came out o.k. Do you think your die mandrel grew in diameter? I'd bet against it.
Is it possible that you have more than one shell holder that will fit that case? Perhaps a Lyman or R.C.B.S. for a 243 or 7mmx57 or .45ACP ? The list could go on forever. Sometimes these S/H's are off by several thousandths inch and will change the throw/reach of your press.
Of course the same thing happens when you simply don't re set your dies properly, such as letting your adjustment change when you removed the die from the first batch.
I'd look for an adjustment fault before surgery.
Patience, sleep on it and hit it when your freash.
Pepe Ray

I redid the adjustment per the instructions, one turn past contact. Inside Diameter came out .278" and the bullet slid right in. Tightened additional 1/4 turn, and it came out .277, and bullet slid in by hand but not as easily as the first time. Another 1/4 turn it's just a hair under .277, but the bullet still pushes in by hand.

I then wiped off the mandrel, and some metal flecks came off on the cloth. Tried it again and got .276". Another 1/4 turn, and it's still .276". I then wiped down all of parts of the die inside and out, tried it again and still got .276" Additional turns don't make a difference, and I know I'm exherting at least 25 pounds of force.

The dimension of the mandrel is .275" as I would expect.

Is it possible that the brass is just too elastic and pops back out? I don't know what else it could be, unless there is something wrong with the collet.

Send it back to Lee and they will solve the problem for you...it will probably only cost you postage

I believe I will follow your advice on this one. I'll just full-length size until then. I'm starting to think it is the collet as there is a ring worn in the outside of it that my fingernail will catch on.

Yes, brass is elastic, that is the exact problem. The wear that you are seeing on the outside of the collet fingers isn't the issue, but I'd smooth that out with some sandpaper, then make sure there is some grease on it.

The mandrel needs to be 0.001" - 0.002" *under* the desired inside case neck measurement. So for 0.277" bullets, you'd probably want the cases sized down to 0.275" or so, depending on usage, and that means the mandrel should be no larger than 0.274," 0.273" would be better yet for hunting loads in my opinion.

I have a .30 cal collet die and found that it had the same problem. Just can't squeeze the steel down with your loading press, LOL......

Might anneal several case necks that are too loose and try them again, brass can work harden and tend to spring back after sizing.

Might anneal several case necks that are too loose and try them again, brass can work harden and tend to spring back after sizing.

Very true... but the brass has to spring back *some*, or it won't come off of the mandrel. And it's not real uncommon for jacketed bullets to run slightly undersized.

It wouldn't be possible for the neck to be sized below 0.276" in the current state (and 0.2765" is probably more realistic), and that would give almost no neck tension to the loads. OK for targets; not good for hunting.

Don't know if it's an anomaly or if Lee makes all of them very close to bullet size. Would be good to know....

I'm gonna pull my collet out to see if it has a ring worn on it.

Another thing you might want to do is to anneal your cases. I do that about every 5 firings. It softens the necks so you don't get any or at least very little spring back.

If you havn't done that before it is real easy. Just place your cases in a shallow pan with water up about 1/2 inch. Heat the neck of each case to red. Tip the case over in the water. Makes the necks dead soft and it sure extends the life of my cases. Oh I have never done this to pistol cases.

I'm gonna pull my collet out to see if it has a ring worn on it.

Another thing you might want to do is to anneal your cases. I do that about every 5 firings. It softens the necks so you don't get any or at least very little spring back.

If you havn't done that before it is real easy. Just place your cases in a shallow pan with water up about 1/2 inch. Heat the neck of each case to red. Tip the case over in the water. Makes the necks dead soft and it sure extends the life of my cases. Oh I have never done this to pistol cases.

I have never done that before. This kind of goes along with your idea, though. The brass that gave me this problem has been fired 2 times while the rest had only been fired once. Should it have "hardened" that fast? None of the loads were hot or gave any evidence of it.

By the way, thank you all for your help. Without you guys, I probably would have sent the die back to lee and found the same problem when I got it back.

I checked two of my mandrels and the .308 Win. miked .305 and the .35 Rem. was .355 originally.
The .35 Rem. seemed a little loose so I polished it down to .353 in my lathe. I can now control the fit by adjusting the die up or down.
If you decide to polish your mandrel, polish it only from the neck sizing area down to the decap pin.
I think the price for an undersized mandrel from Lee is $5.00.

I ordered the "undersized mandrel" this morning, however, they were unable to tell me what the exact dimension was. She assumed it was only .001" smaller, but we'll see. This one should at least work, and if I want it tighter, I wont feel as bad about monkeying with the original and possibly messing it up.

By the way, it was only $5.00 as you had mentioned.

I don't know what the standard tolerances are in Lee's production on these dies. I have several sets of them in various calibers, and the .375 H&H collet dies I received had a mandrel sized .3735". Even with dead-soft annealed necks the neck tension wasn't enough to hold the bullets in place.

Like others, I chucked the mandrel in the lathe and took it down to .372" and all is now right with the die, and perfect for .377" cast bullets. Would probably opt for .371" in this application if shooting jacketed projectiles.

Finally got my new bench (table actually) all set up last week. I ended up paying $9 for the undersize mandrel from lee $5 plus $4 s/h. It measures .273" up until about an inch from the top where the neck would actually be pressed against it where it measures .274". Using this mandrel, the tightest fit I could obtain was at 1 1/2 turns past contact with the ram (instructions say 1 1/4 turns for a "tighter bullet fit"). This would give me .276" inside diameter. Tight, but not as tight as I'd like it.

While the replacement was on it's way, I chucked up my original mandrel and sanded it down with some fine sandpaper, and it measures .273" up to where I could see my brass was reaching. This will size it to .276" at 1 1/4 turns or .275" at 1 1/2 turns. Tried it with some twice fired brass, which is the most loadings I have on any of my brass, and I got the same measurement. I suppose I'll be good to go as long as this brass doesn't get any more "work-hardened" or elastic.

I think the dent in my collet has a lot to do with my having to put the extra 1/4 turn on the die. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't pushing harder and harder to get the brass that extra .001" smaller before.

Been doing a lot of reloading for my new .308 Win lately, and I full-length sized all of my brass the first time. Now, that I've got cases formed to my rifle, I switched to the collet die for it. My mandrel on it is .305" just like davem3's. So far, it's working well enough, but the collet on it is wearing a lot like my 270 Winchester one. Maybe I'll have to get a 25lb dumbell to hang on the handle, so I apply just the right amount of pressure:) I guess that part has to be soft in order to spring back, but I wish it could be a little more durable.

Just figured I'd update everyone on it.