Collet dies for levers, yea or nay?

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wecsoger
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Collet dies for levers, yea or nay?

Post by wecsoger »

A subject we can chew on for a bit...

Seen several sources to say they do not recommend them for levers; been reading online folk say not so big a deal.

Since you're neck-sizing only, I can see why some would have an issue. Levers tend more to stretch than a bolt gun, add to that variables swapping between different guns.

Regardless, I've got a .308 set for my bolt gun, does very accurate ammo when I do my part.
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Re: Collet dies for levers, yea or nay?

Post by AJMD429 »

I would think it would vary greatly with the type of cartridge (bottleneck vs fairly straight), lockup (a BLR is really closer to a 'bolt action' lockup-wise), and loads used (more brass stretch).

Also if you segregate your brass per gun, it should less of a problem.

Having said that, my only collet-dies are for bolt actions I only have one of in that clambering. :D
Last edited by AJMD429 on Sun Aug 13, 2017 8:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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J Miller
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Re: Collet dies for levers, yea or nay?

Post by J Miller »

I hope you are referring to the Lee Factory Crimp Die with the collet bullet crimper. If not then just disregard my post.

Since I have multiple lever guns for each caliber, all my ammo must chamber in all my guns ... period.
Therefor I full length resize every case. I have for nearly 50 years. My cases, at least the 30-30s, do not stretch to any great extent. As a matter of fact I am still shooting and loading cases I bought as loaded ammo back in the mid 1960s, they are still good. I do trim them occasionally, but not every loading.
When I load them I crimp the bullets with the normal seating die, usually at the same time as the bullet is seated. Crimping in a separate step does not increase the accuracy that I can measure, and just adds more work and time to the job.
I have tried the LFCD with the collet crimper on my 30-30s and find it wont crimp as good as the standard bullet seating die with some bullets. The Hornadys come to mind. They have deeper crimp groves than most other bullets.
The only time the LFCD shines in a 30-30 is crimping cast bullets. Then it's great. But if you don't shoot cast, buying a different crimping die is a waste of money.

The old saying YMMV comes to mind on this. If it works for you, great. I've tried them, really I did - (I'd post a pic to show it but the shooting stuff is still packed up from the last move) From what I've learned, I'll not waste any more of my money on them.

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Re: Collet dies for levers, yea or nay?

Post by Griff »

wecsoger wrote: Sun Aug 13, 2017 7:18 amA subject we can chew on for a bit...
Seen several sources to say they do not recommend them for levers; been reading online folk say not so big a deal.
Since you're neck-sizing only, I can see why some would have an issue. Levers tend more to stretch than a bolt gun, add to that variables swapping between different guns.
Regardless, I've got a .308 set for my bolt gun, does very accurate ammo when I do my part.
I'm presuming that you're talking about something like the collet dies from Hornady. I have no experience with them, so can't speak to their repeat-ability. Which to me would be the important issue. I suspect there may be no issue with cases that headspace on the rim vs. those that do so on the case mouth. But that would be simply conjecture on my part. I've only had issues loading my .223s on the Dillon BEFORE I switched to a toolhead that get screwed into the machine. Now that I've removed that source of "play" in the positioning of the dies, my ammo comes out very consistent, and is able to run thru any of the 3 ARs my son & I have.
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earlmck
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Re: Collet dies for levers, yea or nay?

Post by earlmck »

You are referring to Lee's collet neck sizing dies, aren't you wecsoger? Those nifty sizers that squeeze the neck down around a mandrel and so allow us to neck size without the need for any messy lube. Yeah, I like them and used them happily until I got carried away and got multiple rifles in my favorite calibers. Now I am having to full-length size so the ammo will fit in whichever rifle I grab up. I am not organized enough to keep different loads/brass segregated by rifle.

As they come from Lee, my collet dies have not sized quite far enough and neck tension was inadequate. To correct this I honed the mandrel down by a couple thousandths. I believe you can order a reduced-size mandrel from Lee also though I haven't done that.

All my shooting with 30/30, 303 Savage, 30 Remington, 35 Remington are moderate-pressure, cast bullet loads so my experience is from that perspective. I used Lee collet-neck dies until I got resistance to chambering when switching to a rifle different from the one that fired ammo initially. Now I am full-length sizing using Hornady one-shot case lube (or my homemade version thereof).
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wecsoger
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Re: Collet dies for levers, yea or nay?

Post by wecsoger »

Apologies, it is the Lee system, wasn't even aware until now that Hornady was in these waters.

I'm lucky enough to have a couple 30-30's in lever flavor, plus one bolt gun that I'm suspicious of headspacing.

All my reloading to date is full length re-sizing, so I've not had a chance to check chambering across the herd to see if there are fit issues.
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Re: Collet dies for levers, yea or nay?

Post by J35 »

I say yea, also from a cast bullet perspective. I loaded my last jacketed bullet in 98

I have Lee collet dies for 30-30, 35 Rem and 22 Hornet.

The Lee collet die for .358 Win is a special order item, I believe its like $70 and a six week wait now.

I figured out a few years back that I could use the 35 Rem collet die for .358 Win if I added a .195" thick washer at the shell holder.

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flatnose
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Re: Collet dies for levers, yea or nay?

Post by flatnose »

I use them for lever actions. I have to bump the shoulders back with fl sizing die every third loading or so. I need to get a 32 special mandrel for the 30-30 die, so I dont need to work the brass as much when using .310 cast bullets.
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Re: Collet dies for levers, yea or nay?

Post by throckmorton4440 »

nay, I had a Lee collet ns die for 30-30 and more often than not the rounds would not chamber, or chamber very hard, so I went back to fl sizing,as most manuals will tell you to stick with , with leverguns.
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Re: Collet dies for levers, yea or nay?

Post by piller »

I use the Lee collet die only on firearms where the bullet has no crimp grooves at all. My experience is that a standard crimp is better if you have crimp grooves. I am only using 1 bullet anymore without a crimp groove, and that is in 30-06.
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Re: Collet dies for levers, yea or nay?

Post by Griff »

I'd been told for quite some time that they were the cat's meow for accuracy. So I bought a Lee FCD for my 30-30. Threw 10 rounds together and went out to the pasture w/them & 10 rounds of my regular roll crimped rounds. On a rather poor performance shooting trip, I found no discernible difference.

I 'spose... if you really hate trimming brass, or can't master seating & roll crimping in one step... or have money burning a hole in your pocket, they're handy.
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