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Old 01-08-2022, 04:56 AM
JDHasty JDHasty is offline
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Join Date: May 2015
Location: Wet side of Washington
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Default 20 Practical From 223 using Lee Collet Die

I’m kinda partial to Lee Collet Dies. I had an extra 204 Collet die set sitting here and that got me to cogitating. I already have my 20 Practical Collet Die w/o paying Lee to make up a custom one. They aren’t that much, I think $75 or so, but this one is free.

We chucked the collet up in the lathe and took .1 inch off the bottom. Then chucked up the aluminum cap for the die in the lathe and give the mandrel another .1 to move up into as the collet closes on the case and mandrel. I figured this was a little easier than shortening the mandrel and then riveting the top with a ball peen hammer to keep it from slipping out of the collet. I didn’t want to risk the mandrel bottoming out.

Just for the heck of it I pulled the guts out of one of 223 FL sizer dies then ran a case through it to see if the case mouth and neck will will get past the shoulder on the collet and all of the way up into the collet.

It is tight, but the case mouth does clear and the case slips all the way in. So I put the Collet die back together and put it in the press to beta test it.

I ran ten cases through the 223 FL die and then the Lee Collet Sizer Die and it works like a champ. The only bugaboo is that it appears it may take a gentle touch on the press to make sure it doesn’t hang up and close the collet as the case mouth is entering the neck sizing portion of the collet.

It would have worked even better if I had used an older 204 Collet die that sizes the entire neck all the way to the mouth. I had to run them through my 204 Collet Die to finish them up. If a guy didn’t have an unaltered 204 Collet die a washer on the shell holder would work just as well for that.

I have a thousand cases to neck down and run through the annealing machine. I have Redding S Dies and bushings that I can also use, but this seems to me to be just as easy. It certainly is a lot less expensive than an S Die and bushings and turns out a very nice straight case.
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