Help needed regarding the .22 Hornet. Please.

Yesterday, 03:03 PM Originally Posted by bsn The Lee collet die takes some practice to get the correct "feel" it takes a lot of pressure rotate it at least 120 degrees and repeat if you go over 25lbs it wont make a difference but you do want to pull forcefully on the handle of the press. After you get the hang of it it goes pretty quickly. Personally I thing the Lee collet dies are the best neck size dies available even though they cost a fraction of the cost of other manufacturers. As far as seating depth seat a dummy round long and mark the bullet with a magic marker chamber it and look for any marks, keep seating it deeper until the marks no longer appear then seat just a little futher, use that as a starting point and go from there.Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.
So would i be right in thinking that i'm likely to get the best accuracy by getting the bullet as close to the lands as possible, but without touching them?
Apologies for being dim, but whats the theory behind rotating the round 120 degrees?
Also, when i raise the ram into the die, it sometimes it feels as though the bullet passes through the collet, but then it stops and catches on the start of the edge of the brass neck. If i then wriggle the bullet head about with my finger, and put abit of pressure on the ram the brass then pops through the collet jaws. Is this normal??

Also, are there any "stickies" or "blogs" on this forum for .22 Hornet tried and tested best loads?
I have done a search, but may not be putting the right info in as it hasn't brought up anything as of yet?
Cheers
Jamie

Last edited by Jamie.s; Yesterday at 03:10 PM. Yesterday, 05:13 PM The Hog Whisperer (Administrator)There's two types of Lee collet dies, and I think that is part of the confusion. One is for resizing cases. The other is the factory crimp die. I think you have the factory crimp die, and no, you don't need to rotate the case for it to work correctly.

Let's suggest backing up a bit. While the crimp may be beneficial, if you are new to reloading, I would suggest doing your load development without it just yet. Get a little experience under your belt before you put too many variables into the mix.

Later when you have a good load, go back and experiment with crimping and see if it helps. It might, at the slight cost to brass life (the case mouths will wear out faster). Only you can decide if it's worth it.

By the way, it's probably catching on the case mouth for one of several reasons: either the case mouths are flared too much, they are rough from being trimmed but not deburred, or the inside of the crimp collet is a little rough and needs to be polished out further. I have actually had to run a case into a regular crimping die first, then the collet-type crimper, to avoid the same problem. To be fair it was a collet I made myself, so Lee can't get blamed for that instance.

Anyway - you might find that after you use the brass a few times, it goes into the collet die easier. By the way the Lee Factory Crimp die is not adjustable for position on the case, unless you have a lathe and want to shorten the collet a tiny bit.

Some folks do rotate the case a time or two while seating bullets. It may help bullets seat straighter - but in my experience, if bullets aren't seating straight, you have a problem that needs to be solved first. I don't use any of the collet-type resizing dies, so I don't know if rotating it and running it in the die again makes any difference.

__________________
MikeG

Welcome to the forum. Rules are simple, be nice and join in.Last edited by MikeG; Yesterday at 05:24 PM.




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