Lee dies

[silencertalk]

Lee shipped their 300 AAC BLACKOUT dies to Midway and me today. Expect them to be in stock next week.

[da bugman]

Is that the collet dies?

JD

[silencertalk]

It is the dies at Midway USA which are on their website now.

[tReznr]

What's the difference between the Lee's 300 blackout crimp die and a generic .30 cal crimp die?

[tReznr]

It is the dies at Midway USA which are on their website now.

Midway still shows the status as "coming soon" Are these the ones you're talking about?

[silencertalk]

Yes. Midway will have them on Tuesday.

[wildfowler]

Would it ever be advisable to use their (or any other brand) crimp die on a bullet that does NOT have a cannelure?


I've seen an advisory in reload books when using H110 powder in a 44 mag for example to use a heavy crimp to aid in uniform powder burn. Does this apply with bullets without the cannelure that could be used in the 300 blackout?


Thanks.

[silencertalk]

You can crimp without a cannelure.

[agBQ08]

Like rsilvers stated, you absolutely can crimp without a groove. Here's a quote from the instructions for my 223 Rem die set that includes a Lee Factory Crimp Die:

"Bullets do not need a crimp groove as the Lee Factory Crimp Die will form one while crimping. However, it requires a harder push on the press lever to form the crimp."

Maybe not advisable if you don't want to damage your bullet's jacket but a light crimp won't hurt a thing.

[silencertalk]

With 300 AAC BLACKOUT ammo we may sometimes use a light crimp that you cannot even see and there is no groove.

[silencertalk]

[silencertalk]

After resizing with the size die, the inner mouth was 0.3063 in size.

I set up the crimp due to close the inner mouth to 0.2969 on an empty case. This leaves no visible marks on the brass, but has to be helping.

[thehouseproduct]

Does the set include the crimp die or are they separate?

[silencertalk]

Whatever Midway's web page says.

I was given this by Lee for eval so it is not neccesarily the way it comes.

I know I cannot live without this crimp die now.

[wildfowler]

Thanks for the evaluation.

Now if Midway will just hurry up and get them in stock.

[silencertalk]

They arrived at Midway today.

[firefuzz]

For whatever it's worth....I've had problems with Lee dies for bottle-neck cartridges in the past. These dies overworked the case necks by resizing them far smaller than was necessary. I'm not saying these will have the same problem, but it's worth checking. I've never had any other problem with Lee loading equipment and use several different items.

[silencertalk]

They resize Rem brass to be 0.306 ID. That is perfect. The Hornady / SSK Whisper(R) dies do overwork Remington brass though as they were made for neck-turned shells.

[silencertalk]

Also of note, the seater crimps also. And I checked the headspace and it was good - 0.001 shorter than my go gauge.

[thehouseproduct]

They resize Rem brass to be 0.306 ID. That is perfect. The Hornady / SSK Whisper(R) dies do overwork Remington brass though as they were made for neck-turned shells.

That is what they size to without the expander installed?

[silencertalk]

Which?

[firefuzz]

I think he means is the 0.0306 ID measurement taken without the expander ball installed or after the expander ball has been passed thru the neck.

[silencertalk]

I just resized a fired case. I did not touch any balls.

[firefuzz]

Okay, the situation is checked by removing the expander ball from the sizer die and checking the ID of the neck prior to the expander ball being pulled back thru the case neck. The problem of over working the brass occurs when the neck is "under-sized" unnecessarily then "re-opened" by the expaner ball.

[silencertalk]

I see. I will check.