cases stuck in collet die

[marksman]

l was wondering has anyone ever seen this happen



l am prepping some 308 cases, lapua, and have FLSed them but because the necks are slightly bent have put them through the lee collet die and with 2 out of 50 they became jammed and the necks pulled off them
the cases are not neck turned, yet, and l have never seen this before each time l had to pull the die apart and get the neck off the mandrel,
the ring was stuck solid, the mandrel was not marked although l did give it a polish after each neck being pulled off as well as inside the collet fingers and lubricated the outside of the fingers, the fingers also have a good amount of gap between them

so anyone ever seen this before

[JimTom]

Mate whilst I have not heard of it happening, I would be wondering why the necks are bent after being full length sized.

[Blr243]

Never used collet dies before. There must be some insane tension there to pull the necks off like that

[Stix]

Nope.
Ive only recently gone to collet dies mostly from yours & some others reccomendations on here.

That's weird... (talk about stating the obvious ).

How does the severed edge look under magnification...?
I mean is it torn at all or look like its been scribed/scored--i mean like how you cut cement sheet & tiles...
Or maybe better put..does it look like there was an obvious weak point where theyve come apart...?

Any other cases look to have marks or signs of weakness in same area..both inside & out...? (Alluding to a fault in the brass thats taken time to fail)...


Sorry cant help really...just brainstorming the obvious you've prob already checked.

[marksman]

Mate whilst I have not heard of it happening, I would be wondering why the necks are bent after being full length sized.

from pulling the expander button back through, its pretty normal for wobble dies to do that

"How does the severed edge look under magnification."

it is torn or ripped, it took a fair effort to pull the neck off

l also found this, it makes me think it is a problem from time to time

"Some users have complained that their Collet Dies grab the case-neck too firmly, making the case hard to remove. There are solutions to this problem. First inspect the collet fingers and smooth the inner surface up a bit with polishing compound or an extra-fine sanding pad. Second, you can open up the fingers a little bit. LEE recommends that if your Collet Die is sticking, take a steel punch and tap the fingers apart a little bit so that the natural “unloaded” position is wider. Lastly, you should lightly lubricate the outside of the collet fingers (see arrows) before you re-assemble the die. This will ensure they slide smoothly. Also, to prevent the collet fingers from closing too tight, never load up the die with your press without putting a case in place first. Without a case neck between the collet fingers and the mandrel, the collet can clamp itself too tight as you raise the ram."
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/201 ... llet-dies/

[Oldbloke]

"I am prepping some 308 cases, lapua, and have FLSed them but because the necks are slightly bent have put them through the lee collet die"

As i think stix sugested, to me thats the root cause. But no expert here. Sorry otherwise NFI. Lube???

[Stix]

Ok Marksman...i wasnt going to post this because i dont think its related...but it cant hurt...so...

I have had more & more of my cases grabbing on the mandrel, but on the way out......& i have thought about posting the issue up here but thought id try problem solve it a bit first when i get time.

But i dont think its the same problem anyway.

Sometimes my cases seem to grab the mandrel (or grab something) on the way out of the maandrel...just like an expander ball does, only the feel of the grab i get is more likened to the case catching on a crimped neck or donut or something, rather than that felt dragging a ball through the entire length of the neck.

I get the impression my press for some reason may be out of concentricity...somehow...

I say that because no matter what i use, i am more recently getting my loading results get worse than better...

It doesnt happen on all cases, & although im yet to isolate these cases & test them on paper, i am getting what i think is a similar number of excessive flyers, along with unexplained group size increase.

Anyway...thats probably a story for another thread because the rifle with same cases has gone from half inch @200m to nearly 2" @ 200m with identical everything.

Never-the-less, i thought id post it up now anyway....im happy to try & expand on it if you think its relevant or ive not explained myself enough...
Aside from that, ill post up the problem when i get time to think on it a little more...

[Blr243]

Maybe as we start getting all technical with comp dies, collet dies etc , and we are paying a lot of attention to our necks and their concentricity and alignment we are starting to get some issues and it might be variation in case neck thickness that is causeing a fair bit of grief ....just a thought ...not sure

[snag]

Well my first blindingly obvious thought is that if 48 cases went though no problem and these 2 have fubared, then they must be different to the other cases. I would be following Blr243's train of thought about case neck thickness. You would not expect inconsistency with top-shelf brass but, unfortunately, dollars doesn't always buy quality anymore.

[marksman]

luckily l measured all the necks before sizing to make sure they were within the limits l had set because l have several hundred of them
they are once fired but not kept in batches so l check the necks for thickness and headspace to sort them into smaller lots

so l can honestly say they are very consistent cases, neck thickness was between 15-14.5 thou on all of them with most being both from one side to the other

l think from what you are describing your problem is the same if not very similar Stix
and l think the fix has a lot to do with the article l put the link up for earlier from accurate shooter
removing the necks from the mandrel was not easy, l could not slip it off it had to be tapped off, its a good thing these lee dies are built so well
l also think polishing the mandrel and the collet fingers will fix the problem
l will give it a try and put up the results, can only try

[Barrettmr]

I had trouble with the die jamming in the taper at the top. I just squirted some graphite in around it and no problem since.