Lee collet neck-sizing die for 7mm-08

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winchester1917

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I'm looking to handload for my bolt action 7mm-08. I intend to load fire-formed brass. I'm not trying to break any group size records; I just want a consistent, reasonably precise round for hunting. According to my reading, neck sizing is a good way to go for bolt-action rifles. The collet die seems like a good way to go.

Questions:
What, if any, are the disadvantages to using the collet die?

Is it worth giving up a significant savings to buy RCBS or Redding dies over the Lee dies?
 
What, if any, are the disadvantages to using the collet die?
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1. there is a technique to learning how to use the collet die, some folks seem to struggle to learn how.
2. if you don't anneal your necks, eventually the springback will reduce the neck tension below what you need.

It will provide the straightest necks on your loads (less than 0.001" TIR), it costs less and requires no lube, just read and follow the directions and you will be very happy with it.
 
I use the Lee Collet Die for 223 and 260, and have been doing it for a few years. I've found that if you load your cartridge near max, you may run into hard chambering with your reloads. If you use light to medium loads, it may be a few reload cycles before you get the hard chambering. Sooner or later you will need to FL resize, and by that I mean to resize and bump the shoulder back by a small amount to allow easy chambering, and not to push the shoulder back so far that you start causing head separations.

Probably the best way to resize brass is to use a Redding Body Die to resize the case body and bump the shoulder the desired amount, and then use the Collet Die to size the neck. That adds an extra step though, so lately I've gone back to using a standard FL sizing Die and doing a partial resize. I set it to bump the case shoulder by the desired amount.

So, use the Collet Die on a couple of cases and then run them through the rifle action to see if they chamber easily. If so, use that Die. If not, Fl resize.
 
If you are going to buy the Lee Collet Die, I suggest that you go ahead and buy the Redding Body Die also. It isn't expensive. With using the Collet Die, you will eventually encounter some hard to chamber reloads, and maybe even a couple that won't chamber. You can use that Body Die to resize the loaded rounds so that they will chamber.

The Body Die has no primer punch.

Also, I should mention that if you set the Collet Die wrong, you'll roll or even collapse shoulders on resized cases. Again you'll want that Body Die.

Also, won't hurt to have a Wilson case gauge to check for those rolled shoulders.

Might as well get prepared. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
 
I'll second that, as I have been doing this resize-two-step dance for awhile now. Another thing that can happen is you can get a chamber that is slightly off the bore axis, and in that case, if you don't orient the case headstamp the same what every time you chamber, you can have it seem to be tight.

The tendency of the cases to grow at each loading step means they can get too tight to feed smoothly from a magazine, so if you think you may need a follow-up shot in a hurry, it is best to use the body die for that load cycle. You only need to set the shoulder back a couple of thousandths for smooth feed. No point in over-resizing.
 
No. A body die sizes only the shoulder and below. The neck is made a tiny bit too wide to size the neck; sort of like the neck portion of a chamber. The body die allows you to size body and neck separately.
 
I just finished up some loads for my 7mm08 using my Redding neck sizing die and unless you are going for absolute maximum velocities and or accuracy, I say skip the neck sizing and stay with the full length resizer.

My fire formed brass with resized necks resulted in loads that chamber well enough but are definitely tighter than a full length sized cartridge. Duh right. But most people and loading manuals do not recommend neck sizing hunting loads for the fact that they may cause issues when out in the woods.

A few more FPS of velocity or a .228" group over a .558" group isn't worth the risk of a stuck case or missed follow up shot because of neck sized brass.

Just sayin'

And if you factor the money you will spend on the new dies, you can get a lot of new brass for that money. This is just if you plan to save money on your hunting ammo of course, if it's just for the range or fun then by all means....
 
When you order your Lee dies, go ahead and get the set that has the collet die, and the full length sizing die... 2 birds, 1 stone...

Unless your shooting 1000 yard matches, there really isn't enough of a difference from one brand to another. They all produce good dies.

I have gotten some of my best groups with a Lee loader (all in 1 kit that uses a hammer) in my 7mm Rem Mag.

I use the collet dies to help the brass last longer. Yes you still need to aneal after a time, and don't forget to trim the casings.

For 7mm-08, Alliant Reloder 17 gives great velocities,(I use it for my hunting rounds), but for longer distances Alliant Power Pro 2000 gives better consistent accuracy.
 
disseminator said:
I just finished up some loads for my 7mm08 using my Redding neck sizing die and unless you are going for absolute maximum velocities and or accuracy, I say skip the neck sizing and stay with the full length resizer.

My fire formed brass with resized necks resulted in loads that chamber well enough but are definitely tighter than a full length sized cartridge. Duh right. But most people and loading manuals do not recommend neck sizing hunting loads for the fact that they may cause issues when out in the woods.

A few more FPS of velocity or a .228" group over a .558" group isn't worth the risk of a stuck case or missed follow up shot because of neck sized brass.

Just sayin'

And if you factor the money you will spend on the new dies, you can get a lot of new brass for that money. This is just if you plan to save money on your hunting ammo of course, if it's just for the range or fun then by all means....
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X3

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Several of you guys apparently missed the part about the Body Die being used in conjunction with the Lee Collet Die.

Regardless, if you use a FL sizing Die you only need to size the brass enough to smoothly fit your rifle chamber. As for how much sizing is needed, it depends on your rifle chamber and your sizing die. My 260 FL die, if used to size to the max, will set the shoulder back too much. My 220 FL die, if used to size to the max, barely sizes the brass enough.

Back to the Lee Collet Die...if you shoot light loads, it can take more than a few reloadings of the brass before it gets tight to chamber. And, oddly enough, I have found that some brass will expand faster than others in the same original batch of 50. So, if you use just the Lee Collet Die, all your reloads may well not be exactly the same size. If you use a Redding Body Die and a Lee Collet Die, you get the benefit of all the brass being Body sized the same and you get the desired low neck runout from the Collet Die.

Or, just use the FL Die to size 'enough but not too much'.

I'm just about to load up a few hundred rounds of 223 and 260 and I have not yet decided which approach to take. If I wanted the best accuracy possible, I think the Body Die and Collet Die approach will give me that. But it takes a bit longer.
 
My rifle will be mainly used for hunting...with a bit of target shooting on the side. The collet die seems to make sense to me. And I would probably just get a FL die to use when the brass gets tight. Although the body die method would probably make more sense...I just don't have a good understanding of how that all works yet. FL sizing is pretty simple: lube, press, done!
 
If you use the collet die for the neck, then the body dies lets you size the part below the neck narrower and shorter so it feeds as fast and reliably as a full-length resized case, but without the neck runout error FL resizing in a standard die setup often brings about. Additionally, many find a slightly resized case body to produce even better accuracy than a neck-sized case. The thinking is that because the body die, like an FL die, narrows the sides of the case, the taper of the shoulder then allows the case to self-center in the chamber better. It may be picking nits, but it has been noted before that keeping the headstamps of neck-sized-only cases oriented the same way in the chamber every time also produces better accuracy in many guns. The self-centering eliminates the need for that.

Now, do you care about the kind of accuracy differences this will make? I used to automatically assume it didn't matter for the field. However, with the increasing number of secant ogive bullets around that are so-made to get higher BC's, the greater difficulty in getting that shape to line up in the chamber has lead to some accuracy problems that even a hunter may mind in some instance. 2 moa instead of 1 moa, for example. At 100 yards shooting deer, it is meaningless. At 300 yards shooting Coyotes, it might mean a miss. YMMV, but I wouldn't make any automatic assumptions. You want to try this stuff out in your gun based on what you are hunting.
 
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