question about belling my brass

[rabbitstew]

Howdy, just a quick question. For some reason when I'm belling (flairing) my 45 brass it gets stuck in the die and I have to use a great deal of strength to remove the case. Enough that my entire reloading bench shakes. Now i know its not the dies because I'v tried it with two separate lee dies. The brass is once fired and I'm not over belling. I just cant figure out what going on. Thanks for your time.

[rondog]

It's the dies. Lee told me that they intentionally leave the machined surface of the "beller" (can't think of the real name) rough, because that sticking you mention helps to "shake the powder out" of the powder measure. AFAIK, it's common with Lee dies, particularly pistol calibers....all of mine do it. Sounded like BS butt-covering to me.

Now, my .45acp was just too rough and I couldn't stand it, so I took a piece of wooden dowel rod and some duct tape, and made an arbor that I could put in a drill and jam that part onto. Then I spun it in the drill and polished the roughness off with 400 grit wet/dry black oxide sandpaper. Works soooo much better now. If you look very closely, you can see that that surface has a very slight taper right at the end, it's not machined square, that's the area that flares the case mouth, so don't over-polish it. Sorry, no photos.

Oh, the piece I'm talking about is what's inside of the die. Remove the powder measure and it'll fall out. It serves to push the powder measure up and activate it, guide the powder into the case, and flare the case mouth all at the same time. I can't remember Lee's goofy name for it.

[Hoser]

I have never used Lee dies, but it sounds like crappy QC from Lee if you ask me.

[jerrymrc]

Mine just have a hint on the powder through expander die. The grab is very slight on all my pistol dies. Coupled with the autodisk they work fine.

[rondog]

"Powder through expander die", THAT'S what that thing's called! I'm not sure if it's a QC issue or not, but I think they're a little too roughly finished. Like I said, Lee claims the roughness is there to help shake all the powder out of the powder dispenser thingie, but my dies still work fine after I polished the roughness off. Just don't polish off the tiny little bevel that does the actual case expanding, it's pretty hard to see.

[rabbitstew]

thanks rondog!!!! I give it a try

[jerrymrc]

"Powder through expander die", THAT'S what that thing's called! I'm not sure if it's a QC issue or not, but I think they're a little too roughly finished. Like I said, Lee claims the roughness is there to help shake all the powder out of the powder dispenser thingie, but my dies still work fine after I polished the roughness off. Just don't polish off the tiny little bevel that does the actual case expanding, it's pretty hard to see.

I do know that over the years Lee (along with others) have there moments with there dies. My very first set of RCBS .308 dies were junk. My .243 dies needed to be polished as they left streaks down the side.

I now use Lee pistol dies because of the fact that on my turret the PTE die works great with the auto disk pro. I know many do a light polish on there dies as a matter of course.

There should be just a little pop as the case comes out. For cheap I like the setup. be happy to show one how it works.

[CapLock]

Also you just need enough of a bell to get the heel of the bullet started into the case without shaving off brass or lead when the bullet is seated. I think most people over bell brass. Get this part down and you'll have a lot fewer splits at the case mouth.

[nontactical]

A. Lee dies suck.

B. You are probably over-flaring the case mouths. You should barely be able to see the flare.

RCBS and Hornady dies are lightyears ahead of Lee with one exception. I use a Lee factory crimp die at the last station of my progressive reloader. It has a carbide ring that goes down all the way to the base of the cartridge, and in addition to cleaning up any bulge that might have occured during the reloading process, it gets rid of even the nastiest "Glock bulge" and makes the loaded round perfect. You can shoot the nastiest range brass you can find in the tightest of match chambers this way. I don't even test my loaded rounds in a chamber guage anymore.

[Troublco]

I have some Lee dies, and they're alright. I'm not a huge fan of RCBS, either, but they're OK. Redding and Hornady make terrific dies, IMHO; they're all I buy now.

I've had to massage a couple of my Lee dies, but with the exception of the .30-06 dies I've fought with since I got them, they're OK, not great.