what went wrong? pics included

[AR-15 Outlaw]

my loaded rounds measure 0.4195" right at the end of the brass near the exposed part of the bullet tip and 0.4165" at the back end of the brass.

[Philadelphia]

i set my seating crimping die how it said in the instructions. ti said to put the shell hollder in the press and hold the press at the top of its stroke and screw the seater die down untill it hit the shell foot then back the die out 3 full turns. if crimp is desired turn the die back in from 3 turns out in very small increments untill desired crimp level is reached.

since i didnt want to crimp i screwed the die in till it hit the shell holder then backed it out 3 turns and set the lock ring i then unscrewed the knob at the top that determines seating depth all the way and put a case andbullet in and slowly tightened the knob about an 1/8th of a turn at a time untill my col was 1.26 like the load data suggested.

did i do something wrong there?

im still thinking i just didnt turn the expander setting down enough to expand the cases enough.


dont remember if i mentioned above but this is my first time loading for pistol so any advice/critique is welcome. i've loaded a couple thousand rifle rounds (.223 and .308) with great success but never for a pistol

If you crimp as a separate step, you don't want the seater to perform any crimp. The instructions you mention for the seater sound a little strange. Ordinarily you would place a belled case in the shellholder, raise the ram, and then screw in the seater die (with the seating depth adjustment backed off all the way) until you could just feel the die make its first contact with the case. Tighten the lock ring and lower the ram. Now go on to adjusting the seating depth. Are you sure the directions don't mention having a case in the shellholder when you make the adjustment?

[AR-15 Outlaw]

If you crimp as a separate step, you don't want the seater to perform any crimp. The instructions you mention for the seater sound a little strange. Ordinarily you would place a belled case in the shellholder, raise the ram, and then screw in the seater die (with the seating depth adjustment backed off all the way) until you could just feel the die make its first contact with the case. Tighten the lock ring and lower the ram. Now go on to adjusting the seating depth. Are you sure the directions don't mention having a case in the shellholder when you make the adjustment?

my rcbs dies for rifles are setup the way you mention but these lee pistol dies specificly say till it touches the shell holder and makes no mention of using a case.

[Philadelphia]

my loaded rounds measure 0.4195" right at the end of the brass near the exposed part of the bullet tip and 0.4165" at the back end of the brass.

The case head measures only .416" ? For a 10mm case? Something doesn't sound quite right. Can you recheck that? What do you measure as the rim diameter? Should be around .425"

[Philadelphia]

my rcbs dies for rifles are setup the way you mention but these lee pistol dies specificly say till it touches the shell holder and makes no mention of using a case.

I don't use Lee dies (I like the Hornady stuff but six of one . . .) so I don't want to steer you wrong but here is a video right off the Lee website.

http://www.leeprecision.com/html/Hel...bs%20die-1.wmv

You might want to give Lee a call to get clarification on which instructions they want followed (and they should correct whichever one is not right).

[AR-15 Outlaw]

The case head measures only .416" ? For a 10mm case? Something doesn't sound quite right. Can you recheck that? What do you measure as the rim diameter? Should be around .425"

yes and its a pmc once fired casing that i got from a factory box of ammo. and the rim measure .421.

for comparison here are some measurements from a round loaded with starline brass

front .418
back .415
rim .422

[arjohnson]

Looks like you did'nt open up the case mouth enough before seating the bullet, or may have to much crimp, or both.

[AR-15 Outlaw]

I don't use Lee dies (I like the Hornady stuff but six of one . . .) so I don't want to steer you wrong but here is a video right off the Lee website.

http://www.leeprecision.com/html/Hel...bs%20die-1.wmv

You might want to give Lee a call to get clarification on which instructions they want followed (and they should correct whichever one is not right).

now thats some shit. i even just checked for the 3rd time and there is no mention of using a case in my written instructions that come in the die box. i'll try it with the case like the video as soon as i get some more bullet tips but. this was my first set of lee dies and i think it just might be my last if they arent even sure how they want you to set them up

[Lycanthrope]

The die settings are a ballpark start.

Back it out until you can see it just taking out the flare. Perfect neutral "crimping" is the diameter of the bullet and then add for the thickness of the brass on both sides....usually about .010. My .40 loads are .422 at the casing edge at the bullet. .419 is pretty tight. Not too tight if the seating is already done, but enough to possibly cause issues if you tooling around with depth at this point.

I use a Lee U die to size. It is undersized and eliminates setback without having to crimp any farther than removing flare. My loaded rounds are .416 mid casing.

Lycantrythatthrope

[AR-15 Outlaw]

Looks like you did'nt open up the case mouth enough before seating the bullet, or may have to much crimp, or both.

i have no crimp as stated above.

its either the case mouth isnt open far enough like you and others have said or now possibly also the seating die being setup impropperly due to lee saying to set the seating die without a case in the written instructions that came with their dies (which i followed completely) and then showing a video on their site stating to use a sized case to setup the die.