Lee collet dies

[doninva]

What is advantage of collet dies and how do they work. Thanks, Don

[LilNewt]

I am not an expert, and I am sure others will chime in.  But seeing how no one has answered yet I will take a stab at it.

From my research into reloading the collet dies will resize the neck of the case only.  Therefore they do not "work" the brass on the entire case, just the necks.  This allows two things: 1. they are supposed to give longer brass life.  2.  They are supposed to improve the accuracy by the fact that the case does not have to "stretch" each time it is fired in the same chamber.

The only draw back that I have ever found is that it is best use with brass that is either brand new, or has been fired from your particular rifle.

[doninva]

Thanks, I appreciate the info. Don

[possum6]

Don, that is all I ever use on my reloads, the only drawback is you have to use or shoot that brass that is neck-sized in one particular rifle. Lee says they offer less runout on bullet seating. I do not have that particular tool to check run-out but I took some that I had N/S and they were below tolerance for run-out. I am very pleased with mine.

[doninva]

I am going to order the 3 die set with FL die -Collet die and seater die for my .223. Thanks, Don

[shot1]

If you are shooting any semi-auto do not use the collet die. Full length size your ammo to be run in semi-auto or you can have big problems. Worst of them is slam fire.

[wncchester]

"What is advantage of collet dies and how do they work. Thanks, Don"

The Lee collet die is a neck sizer.  Neck sizers only work the neck so the cases need to have been fired in your rifle OR in one with a tighter chamber than yours.  Neck dies may (or may not) extend case life but only occasionally help with accuracy.  

All neck dies except Lee's are basically FL dies with oversized chambers so only the neck gets sized and expanded.  Lee's die has a moving part, the collet, that literally squeezes the neck around a central rod, mandrel, so there is no sliding case-to-die contact; it needs no case lube.  Used correctly, they work very well.

The value of the Lee is two fold.  It works the necks the absolute minimum so the necks actually won't split as soon as with other dies.   Since there is no expander to pull necks out of alignment the seated bullets tend to seat straighter in the cases.  

In the opinion of many, it's the very best neck die for factory chambers available at any price.

[doninva]

Don't have any autos. Thanks for all the info. It looks like Lee has a good system. I found a three die set-FL sizer-collet sizer and seater die for my .223 but can find only the two die set with collet sizer and seater die for my 7MM-08. Don

[wncchester]

Don, wait until you can get the Lee "Delux" set that has both the neck and FL dies, you will need both.

[Catfish]

I do not like the collet dies. They do work if set-up properly, but I see no advantage over the regular neck size dies. I use alot of bushing dies for neck sizeing, mostly Redding, but if your loading for a factory chamber it is probly not worth the extra cost for them. If you don`t shoot much you can get by with Lee stuff, but with the volume I load i will not use it any more.