308 case sizing

[Tom Thomson]

My new Lee collet crimping die puts a taper in the case neck. Smaller at the mouth and larger as you move toward the shoulder by about 1 1/2 thousandths. Is this normal? I would have thought that it would produce a straight diameter. I checked this by closing on a piece of lead turned to the correct diameter so case springback doesn't enter into the question.
tommyt

[Dennis]

I use RCBS, Forester, Wilson, and Redding.

I have never had this issue with any of them.

Dennis

[darkker]

Just ram and did a test with mine, that doesn't happen. Did you adjust the dies According to the manual, or "how you always do it"?

[Tom Thomson]

Dark
Took another peek to make sure. The die is set to less than max.
tommyt

[eddiesindian]

I have 4 Lee collet dies and not one has ever given me inconsistencies.
More often than not,it's usually human error. I have to agree with darkker.

[eddiesindian]

You could disassemble the die and ck that the mandrel,collet are assembled correctly. I believe it's more of an adjustment issue though.

[fgw_in_fla]

AAahhhhhhh never mind.

I was thinking of Lee pistol reloading dies that do a taper crimp with the bullet seating die.

Been a long day....

[jonbearman]

If you put a heavy crimp on it whether it is set at minimum or not it pulls the brass one way in a ring and will distort the neck partially by the stretching motion it create's. I wouldn't worry till I shot them and check for accuracy. I would bet you are crimping more than you think.

[earl39]

I am a little confused here. Do you have a Lee factory crimp die or a Lee collet neck sizing die? If the crimp die it is supposed to crimp right at the case mouth just like a factory crimp would be. If the neck sizing collet die you must not have it set up correctly.

[Tom Thomson]

Earl
Good question and I had to go look. It's the factory crimp die. Since I am loading single shot I don't think I need it. Thanks for the info.
tommyt

[eddiesindian]

Confused indeed. ....