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I just purchased a used 550b with some of the parts for .223 reloading and I have searched and found that alot of loaders use lee dies in there dillons. My question is do you use the 2 piece or 3 piece sets and why?
I use Lee Dies for a couple of reasons. First of all, the de-capping pin in a Lee sizing die is almost indestructible. Rather than bend or break the pin, the rod is forced up through the locking collet should you try and size/deprime a berdan primed case. Redding and RCBS dies will allow the pin to bend or break, shutting down the operation totally. With the Lee, loosen the collet, push the rod/pin assy back down, and retighten. Problem solved.
For the seating die, I like the Lee's floating seater plug. Similar to those in the high-end competition dies. The Bullets start into the case straghter and my finished rounds have very little run-out. I have retired my RCBS seater die permanently as it's too hard to adjust and the finished rounds had far greater run-out.
Lastly, I like to crimp all my ammo as a separate operation. The Lee Factory Crimp Die is great for this. On a progressive press it's just a matter of putting the die in the last station and crimping to the desired level. Light to just push the case back against the bullet or a little more to push the case mouth into the cannelure so the bullet isn't as prone to being jambed back in the case if caught on the feed ramp of an AR.
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I have a question for you, where is the flaring of the case mouth supposed to happen?
Thanks
what do you guys think of the hornady one-shot case lube? or should i use something else.
I found the hornady one shot works good with pistol cases but not so hot on the rifle cases. Been using the Dillon lube but it's just Isopropyl Alcohol and Lanolin and could be made cheaper by yourself. Works good but have to wipe the shoulders off before sizing and wipe the whole case down afterwards. Kind of sticky
A few things to note. Match dies do not typically resize the necks as tight as a standard die (or a small base die as typically used for a semi-automatic rifle) and I verified this with a couple test rounds in one of my AR's. The bullet hit the feed ramp and wound up inside the case (as expected, which resulted in a jam). I would not use these for use in anything besides a bolt action rifle (unless you load them one at a time).
So I have completed my first 40 rounds and measured a bazzilion times and cut once and remeasured case size / powder charge / O.A.L and I am still kinda scared to shoot them. Is that NORMAL?
So I have completed my first 40 rounds and measured a bazzilion times and cut once and remeasured case size / powder charge / O.A.L and I am still kinda scared to shoot them. Is that NORMAL? I used cci sm.r.p 400 / h335 @ 24.6gr and Hornady 55gr bullets. should give me 3000fps. Everything looks good, but still nervous.
Typo 22.6gr of h335