Comparison of the Lee Collet neck die and the Hornady neck die

[kingrider75]

Very informative video. Well done!

[jmar1371]

I like the Lee collet dies, and get excellent accuracy from them.

[pleal1]

becarful too not to lube the necks to much because when you are ready to put powder, some powder will stick to the inside of the necks. Thanks for the vid!

[gamezmaster78]

Thanks for the vid, I am a huge fan of lee dies but I was watching this to see your press in action. I am thinking of getting a forster coaxial but was courious how well they work.

[ROBERTLUCIAn]

Make sure you lube the inside of the neck, the expander ball will bend the neck slightly when it pulls out. Great vid!!! Cheers mate!

[BeerHunterabc]

@ROBERTLUCIAn Thanks for the comments :). The Lee Collet die doesn't actually have a expander ball and needs no lube. It uses "fingers" that push evenly round the case neck against a mandrel.

[ROBERTLUCIAn]

@ROBERTLUCIAn Sorry, I meant when you don't use the collet die. I have the Lee dies but I full lenght size new cases and I make sure I lube the neck inside the case with a q tip and a bit of Imperial wax, see you have a can of that too.

[Dp908]

I'm not a fan of the lee collet die. They're crap. The tops on both of them broke on me.

[BeerHunterabc]

@Dp908 I'm afraid you simply had them screwed in too far. It's a common problem if you don't adjust them as per the instructions.

[Dp908]

@BeerHunterabc They were adjusted to the instructions specs. For some reason they took too much pressure to use. The one for my 7.5x55 swiss works just fine with hardly no pressure to use, but it doesn't size the necks down enough. They should be about .302-.303, not .306.

[Doug78240]

I would like to see the test done again and this time try wiping the necks off before measuring for better comparison -- notice how much the RCBS Case Master needle moves with simple finger pressure differences.

Yes, I own a Forster Co-Ax press along with a RCBS RCII & Hornady LNL AP press - I use Competition Dies from Forster & Redding and I also own dies from Lee, Lyman, RCBS, Redding & Forster - NO Dillon Dies yet!!

I like the Lee Collet Dies and I also like the Lee Factory Crimp Dies.

[orez172]

I noticed when you used the Hornady die the table vibrated somewhat indicating you were using a considerable amount of extra effort to resize the case. On the other hand the Lee die resized very smoothly. I like it! I have just had a disaster with my Hornady resizing die. Even with lube applied, while resizing, I had to use extra effort in raising the case into the die. This time, the case jammed and I can't get the thing out! An expensive die which is of no use anymore! I'm off to buy a Lee!

[tnekkc]

I selected 10 pieces of 223 brass each for a:

Lee Collet neck die

Forster FL die with neck honed out at factory

Redding FL "S" die

RCBS FL die

I shot many times each at 66kpsi and measured case growth and concentricity run out.

The Lee Collet Neck Die is the winner in concentricity by ~50%, but the number of firings between trimmings compared to a small amount of shoulder set back was a 2000% improvement with the Lee.

I learned to keep the brass dedicated to a particular .223 rifle.

[sub025moa]

Nice Video! Thanks!

Have you compared the runout of the Redding Competition Neck to the Lee Collet Die? Do you think that you can achieve the same neck tension with the Lee, when you change the die (from batch to batch)?

[BeerHunterabc]

@sub025moa Yep - the Redding Competition dies generally give a thou or under of runout whereas the Lees are generally under 2 thou. Does it make any difference on paper? I'm not sure.

The Lee produces exactly the same tension time after time. Like all other dies, you have to make sure the brass is clean and annealed every few shots to keep the consistency.

[rap33st]

geesh with a nice press like the co-ax. why are you using such shit dies.

should use redding dies.

[BeerHunterabc]

@rap33st I do - the Redding Competition dies.

That said, the Lee's are the very next best thing to them when it comes to round concentricity.

If you had watched the video, you would see that they are anything but "shit".

[rap33st]

@BeerHunterabc i used to use lee deluxe dies for reloading 3006 but were completely useless for loading barnes ttsx's. swapped over to redding dies and am yet to have that problem with them.

[steveevetsau]

great video mate.....ive got a .223 and use a lee collet die with no worries....steve.

[stpensaw86]

LEE BREECH LOCK CHALLENGER PRESS KIT or Hornady Lock-n-Load Classic Press which is better? iam new too all this

[BeerHunterabc]

@stpensaw86 I'd be more tempted by the Hornady press. I've never much like the Lee presses (had bad experience with the Anniversary and turret models). Saying that, If I were beginning, the Lee classic cast press is sturdy and good value.

[ammosmith]

Sound Scottish...good video.

[ammosmith]

@ammosmith Nice thing about the Lee is you can set the neck tension to where you want it as well.

[BeerHunterabc]

@ammosmith I agree, a little polishing gives you exactly the tension you want :)

[InRut2007]

Great vid.

I like the comparison you did.

That Forster press seems really nice and solid.

[thetargetmaster]

Great vid and a fair trial - I love the Lee stuff too (except their scales) Pity they don't do a wider range of calibres - I'd like some for my 6BR.

[roaddog1m]

also, I should mention that my Dad bought he and I both some of the Lee collet dies and I hadn't used mine much. He passed away recently and I inherited all of his loading stuff also. He had been picking up a lot of the lee stuff before he passed. I have very expensive Redding custom dies and I have to say that I like the Lee stuff better!

[roaddog1m]

I like the vid also!  You made a very fair comparison.

[Flintlocker]

Great video and presentation Beer thank you. I have had good success with Lee and I have RCBS,LYMAN and Pacific. It really bugs my butt that folks bad mouth Lee as they are affordable to a lot of folks that have a budget. Most never even tried Lee and are just heralding other folks. I have seen NEF rifles out shoot Weatherbys so on ,so on, ETC,ETC.

[nosleraccubond]

I use a .308 collet sizer and the match ammo I load is very consistent. I like that press in the video. What make and model is it? Great video by the way.

[Dp908]

Great vid. Goes to show you that Lee makes top notch stuff at a very decent price!

[bigdaddy1325]

Great vid! LOTS of folks here in US wont buy Lee because they are low priced! but I beleive they are nuts!