My Lee 223 FLS dies leave scratches/marks on the necks

[Kelsey Cooter]

What do you blokes think of this? My lee 308 full length dies don't leave marks like this. I know I saw on here blokes talk about polishing their dies, do I need to do this? Or is this not a drama? Or do I need to invest in a higher quality dies?

The die has marked the necks from new but I didn't really know any better until I started loading 308 and noticed only the 223 FL sizer does it.

[goldiexxxx]

Hell man, that doesn't look right!!
Try poking a sharp pointed object inside the die and see if you can feel what may be causing those marks. Give the die a good clean by dragging a cloth patch through maybe. Your brass should not look like that as you have already identified.
Take the die back to the shop and see if they will exchange or provide an option.

[Sergeant Hartman]

Why fls 223. Unless you have multiple guns

[Oldbloke]

Give the die a long soak and a good scrub in kero.

[marksman]

pull the die apart and clean it, it is rough in the neck area
then get an old 22 cal cleaning brush in a drill load it up with some steel wool and some metal polish
I use autosol but if I had nothing I would use some oil or spray
then polish the inside of the die body especially the neck area and it will come good, steel wool with autosol will not scratch your die
I do this with all my dies I also give the seating stem a good polish the same

[SCJ429]

Interesting marks, I am with Marksman. Clean them and a bit of Autosol. Lee make very good dies for the price. Let us know how you get on.

[madang55]

Had exactly the same problem with my new 300AAC dies. sent a photo and email to manufacturer, got a new die in the mail, problem fixed. I posted it here last year.

[Kelsey Cooter]

Had exactly the same problem with my new 300AAC dies. sent a photo and email to manufacturer, got a new die in the mail, problem fixed. I posted it here last year.

Who would I email for Lee dies? A quick google search has me thinking a mob called Grycol International import them?

[bladeracer]

Had exactly the same problem with my new 300AAC dies. sent a photo and email to manufacturer, got a new die in the mail, problem fixed. I posted it here last year.

Who would I email for Lee dies? A quick google search has me thinking a mob called Grycol International import them?

Email LeePrecision direct.

[madang55]

Yes, I went directly to the manufacturer. Problem is now......I was trying to order from Lee Precision direct last week and......I have it on good authority that the US companies have put restrictions on shops like Cabelas. They wont allow shipping outside the USA of a lot of their products which are available retail in AUS.

[bladeracer]

Yes, I went directly to the manufacturer. Problem is now......I was trying to order from Lee Precision direct last week and......I have it on good authority that the US companies have put restrictions on shops like Cabelas. They wont allow shipping outside the USA of a lot of their products which are available retail in AUS.

I don't think this is a new thing, been tough getting stuff out of the US since April 2017, even stuff not restricted by ITAR.

[straightshooter]

What do you blokes think of this? My lee 308 full length dies don't leave marks like this. I know I saw on here blokes talk about polishing their dies, do I need to do this? Or is this not a drama? Or do I need to invest in a higher quality dies?

The die has marked the necks from new but I didn't really know any better until I started loading 308 and noticed only the 223 FL sizer does it.

First point. How do you know the so called scratches were caused by the die?
Have you examined cases under magnification before and after firing and before and after sizing.
Just how deep are the striations? Can you feel them when twisting the case under some sort of probe?
If they feel significant then you need to track down where is the machining artefact that has left the burr causing the striations?
If they don't feel significant then worry about something else.
I would be more worried by the burr on the mouth of the case to the left of the photo.

[Gamerancher]

As Marksman has said, polish the inside of the die. Also, clean your cases before sizing. Carbon is very abrasive and when left on case necks can scratch up your dies. Also, look after your brass if you intend reloading. It never ceases to amaze me the way some blokes treat their brass. Slamming the bolt back and chambering the next round as fast as they can....., why? It 'aint like someone's shooting back! The spent brass goes flying off into the dirt or onto the concrete, getting knocked around and filling up with sh!t, then they go home and size it before cleaning / tumbling.
Even if you're out bush, develop a habit of catching your brass as you eject it. It doesn't take a lot of effort to do this, even if you get onto a mob of pigs or goats etc, you can do this. You wind up with a handfull of brass but that can be quickly chucked in a pocket as you reload or re-acquire another target. Works for me.

[on_one_wheel]

I had a Lee die do exactly the same thing.

As seen below in the illustration, it is most likely the die has a very sharp edge on the lead-in to the neck. I fixed this problem with my die by slightly radiusing / smoothing out that area. I shaped a piece of wooden dowel to a 90° taper on the end that fitted in neatly against sharp lead-in to the neck and used some polish and a cordless drill to spin the Dow.

I used metal polish but anything mildly abrasive will work, possibly even toothpaste.

It shouldnt take much work to smooth that sharp edge off.

My die no longer leave scratch marks all around the neck, it's smooth as silk now.

Arrow pointing to sharp edge.

2019-03-06 14.31.38.png (41.04 KiB) Viewed 5189 times

[deanp100]

I reckon the marks look good. Sort of a nice contrast to the rest of the case. Looks is everything you know.

[on_one_wheel]

I reckon the marks look good. Sort of a nice contrast to the rest of the case. Looks is everything you know.

The scratches doo look pretty but they represent a potential problem into the future.

Stress and fatigue will follow the heaviest of those scratches and eventually cracks will appear in the form of split necks.

Stress is evenly distrubited around a clean, polished neck surface reducing the likelihood of splitting.

[Kelsey Cooter]

Cheers blokes, I've emailed Lee, but polishing sounds easy and makes sense so ill try that and see how it goes

[madang55]

As you can see in the photo. New cases, fired cases, didn't matter. What was interesting was that the striations were very evenly spaced. Made me think that it was actually the neck of the die being ever-so-slightly under size. It wasn't scratching, there was no residue, i.e. no shavings left behind. The case was evenly reduced all the way round, then smoothed on the way out leaving corrugations not sharp edged scratches. I gave it a quick turn with some 0000 wool, even an investigatory probe with a couple of cotton buds.Nothing. Sent an email off, new die in the mail.

[Kelsey Cooter]

Heres a photo of before and after resizing. I FLS because i have 2 223s and before i started reloading i didnt think to seperate the 2 guns emptys. When comparing the 2 cases I can actually feel the line with my thumb nail.

[GQshayne]

The line around the base of the neck happens on my Lee .243 die as well, and you can feel it with your finger nail. I figured it was a fault, so reported it and they sent me a new die. It is exactly the same. Nothing I did stopped it. My Lyman die has never done this.

[marksman]

The line around the base of the neck happens on my Lee .243 die as well, and you can feel it with your finger nail. I figured it was a fault, so reported it and they sent me a new die. It is exactly the same. Nothing I did stopped it. My Lyman die has never done this.

the line around the base of the neck is where the neck die is resizing to, nothing wrong with it
polish the neck of your die's Kelsey

[GQshayne]

The line around the base of the neck happens on my Lee .243 die as well, and you can feel it with your finger nail. I figured it was a fault, so reported it and they sent me a new die. It is exactly the same. Nothing I did stopped it. My Lyman die has never done this.

the line around the base of the neck is where the neck die is resizing to, nothing wrong with it
polish the neck of your die's Kelsey

That is the conclusion I came to. Being used to the Lyman die though, at first I figured it was faulty.

Mine does not make the vertical lines shown above though.