This is my first work with a Lee "bottle neck" set. The owner of the rifle bought them off Ebay. They are "as new".

My "mission" is to reform a batch of 30-06 cases to 7.65X53mm. Mauser.

The "problem" is at the "vent" hole located at the shoulder of the FLS die. The "vent" leaves a "bump" on the shoulder of the reformed case. Might be diameter? Might be location?

I have done some more "radical" reforming operations before, but have not seen this(My bottle neck dies are from another maker). Has anyone else seen this? Your thoughts?

Cheezywan

This is my first work with a Lee "bottle neck" set. The owner of the rifle bought them off Ebay. They are "as new".

My "mission" is to reform a batch of 30-06 cases to 7.65X53mm. Mauser.

The "problem" is at the "vent" hole located at the shoulder of the FLS die. The "vent" leaves a "bump" on the shoulder of the reformed case. Might be diameter? Might be location?

I have done some more "radical" reforming operations before, but have not seen this(My bottle neck dies are from another maker). Has anyone else seen this? Your thoughts?

Cheezywan

The shoulder is where excess sizing lube will migrate to and leave a dent. That's why they placed the hole in that spot. Try forming the case in stages and turning it 90 degree's at each stage. TF

Cheez, I've made a couple hundred of those from -06. Agree that you probably have a mild lube dent. Cut down on the amount of lube at the neck-shoulder area a bit. Or use thinly applied wax lube.

Or you can back the die out a quarter turn and form the brass to that point, then turn it in all the way to complete the job.

It makes good brass for a fine old cartridge.

This is my first work with a Lee "bottle neck" set. The owner of the rifle bought them off Ebay. They are "as new".

My "mission" is to reform a batch of 30-06 cases to 7.65X53mm. Mauser.

The "problem" is at the "vent" hole located at the shoulder of the FLS die. The "vent" leaves a "bump" on the shoulder of the reformed case. Might be diameter? Might be location?

I have done some more "radical" reforming operations before, but have not seen this(My bottle neck dies are from another maker). Has anyone else seen this? Your thoughts?

Cheezywan

Do remember a set of dies like that...don't remember who made them and its been quite a few years, but that vent hold would show up like a pimple if the die was used for heavy-duty sizing

It is like Ribbonestone described. Brass is pushed into the vent hole. Not a lube dent.

Might have to shoot one and see if it "hammers out" on the first firing? I have already placed an order for a trimmer pilot and bullet mold. A new die would not be enough to make a minimum order :( .

Thanks for replies.

Cheezywan

Cheezywan, try making your first reforming pass with the seater die. Seaters are slightly larger than sizers (to allow the seated bullet/expanded neck to fit). That should relocate the shoulder some 95% of what you need. Because much less brass needs to be moved in the sizing die, you should get less of a pimple.

Also, it's common to have that vent hole end up under the lock ring of the die. If any lube does get squeezed in there, it can't get out. Once in a while, you have to remove the lock ring and run a very fine wire and aerosol degreaser through the vent (double dittoes for the seater die).

If you STILL get a pimple, just do as suggested above: turn the brass a partial turn and bump the press handle against the stop again. That'll iron out the little booger!

Cheezywan, try making your first reforming pass with the seater die. Seaters are slightly larger than sizers (to allow the seated bullet/expanded neck to fit). That should relocate the shoulder some 95% of what you need. Because much less brass needs to be moved in the sizing die, you should get less of a pimple.

Also, it's common to have that vent hole end up under the lock ring of the die. If any lube does get squeezed in there, it can't get out. Once in a while, you have to remove the lock ring and run a very fine wire and aerosol degreaser through the vent (double dittoes for the seater die).

If you STILL get a pimple, just do as suggested above: turn the brass a partial turn and bump the press handle against the stop again. That'll iron out the little booger!


Your suggestion of the seater die will go to sleep with me tonight. Thank you. I only have eight(8) experimental cases involved so far. One has been FIRED with a .308 bullet several times.

The vent hole is above the lock ring here. I had thought of "adding" a lock ring to prevent the brass flow? I haven't seen this "problem" before. I am not blaming Lee! They made the die to reload 7.65 X 53mm. NOT for the reforming operation that I want to do!
I will get past this! Thanks for your help.

Cheezywan

Cheezywan, try making your first reforming pass with the seater die. Seaters are slightly larger than sizers (to allow the seated bullet/expanded neck to fit). That should relocate the shoulder some 95% of what you need. Because much less brass needs to be moved in the sizing die, you should get less of a pimple.


This part is not going to work "easy" with this die set. Lee has a "constriction" in the seater die body so as to prevent the floating seater plug from falling through. I would need to do some trimming to the 30-06 case "before" attempting the reforming operation in the seater die. There might be a crimp shoulder in there as well?

I will try the "slow rotate and pump" method next to see if I can get a good one.

"End Game" goal is to make some good, reloadable brass for a young man so he can load his own for his rifle. 50-100 pieces would work fine and keep him shooting and loading a long time with the mild loads and cast bullets that I have in mind.

The guy did a "tour" in Iraq for "us". I have no problem buying another die to "get him started."

Good idea of using the seater die as a "pre-sizer." Might work well with other reforming work? Thanks for the input!

Cheezywan

You might try changing case lubes. Maybe a wax base lube or the super lube bullet swagers use, Lanolin - castor oil mix.
You use a very thin coating on the case. The swaging operation requires only the thinnest film on jacket when seating core's or forming the ogive. I hope this will help as forming case's is not fun when the results are not right.
Good luck TF

Cheezywan, try making your first reforming pass with the seater die. Seaters are slightly larger than sizers (to allow the seated bullet/expanded neck to fit).

Cheezy, I hope Rocky's use of a seating die for an intermediate step works for you as well as it does for him. But I have had poor results with it, even with conventonal (not Lee) seaters.

One problem, as you recognise, is that the common crimp ring is a serious problem as I found it often damages the case mouths. Somehow, a previously shortened neck seems to give me more problems than it might seem. My short brass tends to fold or collapse pretty often unless it's annealed first, and sometimes even if it is.

Worse, even with a non-crimping die, the neck portion of my seater dies were short enough to create a problem with the portion of the brass that protruded beyond the steel. The neck brass expanded a bit as it went through, of course, and then got scraped pretty bad as I withdrew the cases. BAD scratches!

I suspect the "stop short and turn" bit will do it for you.

Anyway, good luck and God bless you for your benevolent project for a worthy young man.

You folks are very kind! The "new to me" part of this, is the Lee die set for bottle neck cases. I have not " re-formed with them before? Perhaps I asked my question wrong?
I have "mashed and smashed" a few! I can make this work too :D !

Cheezywan

Good to hear this guy is really interested in keeping that rifle shooting.

Think of case forming with the Lee dies like you would dancing. Bump and turn, bump and turn. ;) A little music and next thing you know you have lots of cases for that rifle.

Good to hear this guy is really interested in keeping that rifle shooting.

Think of case forming with the Lee dies like you would dancing. Bump and turn, bump and turn. ;) A little music and next thing you know you have lots of cases for that rifle.

That is working pretty well Michael. I have 20 ready to reload. I want to cast some bullets for it now. It is too cold here for that. I need a calm weekend day with temperature above freezing for that. I have a Lee single- cavity for a 180 grain bullet. I figured to find a load to go near 1500-1700 fps. and then turn it over to him. A Lee aniversery kit, a reloading manual w/pictures and my help and he should be good to go.

Cheezywan

This is where a custom made dipper out of a old brass case will really work well. After you find a good shooting load, make up a dipper for that powder weight bullet combination.
That will get him shooting and loading quicker. When he's had enough of that load you will hear a knock on your door. The loading bug will bite him very hard and your tutoring will be needed again. TF