Lee seating die setup

T

Tex S

New member
I have noticed that the instructions that came with all of my Lee pistol dies say to thread the die in to the shell holder then back it out 3 full turns.

However, all of my Lee rifle die sets say to thread it in to touch the shell holder, then thread it in 1/4 turn more.

Why the difference?

Im using a Forster COAX press and want to seat some 223 bullets. Im apprehensive about having the die touch the shell holder as I think this may interfere with the floating die design of the COAX. Also, the extra 1/4 turn it make the press cam over which just feels odd for a delicate process like seating bullets.

What should I do?
 
Many years ago die makers suggested adjusting the dies to touch the shell holder and then adjust until "cam over" was felt. I don't think that is the case anymore. To me adjusting to the point of "cam over" unnecessarily overworks the linkage in the press. If I can adjust the seating die so it barely touches the shell holder (or slightly above) and the seating die performs as it should that's the adjustment I prefer.
 
Are you just using it to seat and not crimp? If so, you're worrying too much. Get the die close to the shell plate and adjust the seating die down to seat the bullet to the correct height.
 
Lee 'dead length' seating dies that are included now with many of their rifle die sets do not have a crimp function built in so that's probably the difference in the instructions. There may be better support for the case during the seating operation with the die further down but I agree it does not need to be hard against the shellholder. No need for camover when seating... With most other dies, touching the shellholder would likely result in crimping that may not be desirable.
 
Are you just using it to seat and not crimp?
Click to expand...

Yup, just seating.

I thought it was kinda weird that they would list 2 different protocols for setting up seater dies.

Can anybody comment on the effects touching the shellplate may have on the coax's floating die design?
 
The case is supposed to center by floating as the press closes. So, just as you make contact when FL sizing to get maximum sizing, you may do so with this tool as centering is complete by the time contact occurs. Also, the Lee Dead Length seater dies have a floating bullet ram internally, and that isn't affected.

Ifishsum is right that Lee pistol dies have the usual crimp shoulder that the dead-length die does not have. So the pistol dies have to be backed out to avoid the crimp shoulder if you are crimping separately. The Lee help video says they make contact to remove play so all bullets seat more exactly the same length. I do know they had some issues with short bullets for some cartridges that could not be pushed in deeply enough within the limits of the adjustment range of that die when it first came out, and getting it down as far as possible would also help avoid that. But on the Co-ax press, if you have plenty of adjustment range and are using one of the Forster lock rings on the die so it can't slip, I see no reason you'd have to that.

Note that the Forster Co-ax press, like Lee presses, has stops on the linkage so it cannot cam over (be pushed past the point of maximum ram height to where it starts to lower again on the far end of the handle stroke). On the Co-ax, these stops are two nubs cast into outside of the handle yoke. They stop the handle stroke by running into the linkage just before the linkage is perfectly vertically centered over the handle pivot pin. Cam-over would only occur if the linkage were allowed to go to that point and beyond. Right at the top of the stroke it would then pass through a point where it has infinite mechanical advantage. That high mechanical advantage allows human strength to stretch and potentially damage a press frame. Having the stops limits how much force between ram and die you can achieve, so they protect the press from being too easily damaged.
 
With the Lee rifle 3 die set, it tells you in the instruction sheet, that It will only seat, not crimp. You will use the crimp die for that function.
 
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