45ACP LEE dies: D2 E1 E5 Which is what?

A reloading question from the Netherlands, about Lee dies.

I want to reload 45ACP's. The last time I did that was about 15 years ago. Always went well.
From those years I have a 3-die set with a seater die marked E1.
Also I have a and a separate seater die marked D2
Now I also bought a new set (the powder thru die I used for something else so I needed a new one) This set has a seater die marked E5

After adjusting it all the first rounds looks like ****. Most of the bullets are angulared seated. That was with the E5. Some have lead shaved over the case. Dismateled them all again. Never have these problems with .38 and .44.

A few test rounds with D2 looks better.
I know there are different ways to crimp, roll, tapper, factory and more? But I can't find on the Internet what marking means what.
I have .452 size 200 grain SWC bullets from Haendler en Natterman, lead with plastic coating. Goes into a Colt Officer's acp.

Who can tell me what E1, E5 and D2 means?
And which die is best for these bullets?

Help and advice is appreciated!

The letters & numbers after are date codes that Lee uses to determine when the dies were produced if there is a problem with the dies.

ETA: Nice looking Officer's Model. You do not see them around very much anymore.

How is Lee on returns.....

RedFalconBill said:

The letters & numbers after are date codes that Lee uses to determine when the dies were produced if there is a problem with the dies.

ETA: Nice looking Officer's Model. You do not see them around very much anymore.

Click to expand...

Since you've shown that the E5 plug doesn't work right, I'd get with Lee about a replacement. Do they have a European office??

I believe that your problem is upstream of your seating die. NOTE, all of the following is for using a Taper Crimp, which is correct for use in your semi auto. If by some chance you have a Roll Crimp die you'll have to get the correct die before going any further. Because using a Roll Crimp die to mimic a Taper Crimp is exceedingly length sensitive and will require that every single case be size to identical overall lengths.

Start with Step 1, the Size and De-cap. Bring the ram of the press all the way up with the shell holder in place on the ram. Then dial back the lock ring so that it will NOT be engaged when the die is mounted. Screw in the Size & De-Cap die until you feel it contact the shell plate. Take a Sharpie marker and mark the rotation of the Size and De-cap Die, I like to put the mark at 3:00 o'clock. Now rotate the Size & De-Cap die 1/4 turn counter clockwise, note that sharpie mark should now be at 12:00 o'clock. Hold the die in this position and work the lock ring down until it locks the die to the press using firm finger pressure. Note, with the O-Ring style Lee Lock Rings finger tight is all you will ever need, they won't work loose and the die can't be cocked by the lock ring (which can happen with the set screw retained lock rings).

Step Two, the Case Flare operation. Which, by the way is where I believe that you went wrong. Put the ram of the press all the way up with a freshly size case on the shell holder. Again start with the lock ring on the Flare, or Powder Thru, Die well up on the threads. Screw the die down until you feel the die contact the case. Now retract the ram and rotate the Flare Die 1/2 turn clockwise. Bring the ram up and flare the case and then measure the maximum diameter of the flare. What you want is a flare that is 0.003-0.006 inch (0.08-0.15mm) larger than the sized diameter of the case. Adjust your Flare Die position until you have achieved the correct amount of flare. Then take your Sharpie marker and mark the die at the 12:00 position. Now bring the lock ring down until it is finger tight to lock the die in the press.

Note, if you find that you have problems with SOME of your cases not being flared properly it's due to variation in the case length. When you have this problem you have 3 possible paths to compensate for this. One is to trim all of your cases to the same length using a case trimmer. Two is to sort your brass into Length Lots and adjust the flaring die for each lot. Three is to put a larger flare on all the cases so that you'll have enough flare on even the shortest cases. BTW, extra large flares will shorten the life of your longer cases.

Step Three, the bullet seating. Note, with a 3 die set this can also crimp the case, I will describe setting up a combined Seat and Crimp die for step Three. First, run the lock ring up on the threads. Take a flared case and place it in the shell holder and run the ram up. Screw the Seat and crimp die until you feel the crimp ring contact the case. Take your Sharpie and make a mark at the 9:00 o'clock position. Now rotate the Seat & Crimp die 1/4 turn clockwise so that your Sharpie mark is at 12:00 o'clock. Bring the lock ring down to lock the die finger tight into the press. Now take another flared case, put a bullet in place, and bring the ram up. Hold the die and start turning the seating stem into the die until you feel it contact your bullet. Take the ram down and turn the seating stem in another 4 turns. Bring the ram up and measure the overall length of your first dummy round. Determine the difference from your desired overall length and use the length probe to adjust the seating stem by the increment needed to get your overall length where you need it. Now take another flared case and bullet and assemble another dummy round with crimp. What you are looking for is a crimp that is 0.002-0.003 inch (0.05-0.08mm) smaller than the diameter at the bullet position and an overall length that is correct. Since the above procedure will only get you close it's rather normal to have to do some fine tuning using another 3 or 4 dummy rounds.

Now, Step Four, for those who invest in a 4 die set to avoid all the fussiness of dialing in a Seat & Crimp Die. For this operation you set your Seating Die to do nothing but press the bullet in the case. This can be done with a Seat and Crimp die by simply dialing the seating stem in far enough than the crimp ring won't ever contact a case when the bullet is seated to the correct overall length. Basically back the seating die out 2 full turns and run the seating stem down by 2 1/2 to 3 full turns. Now you can take your taper crimp die in the # 4 position and dial it down until it applies the correct crimp to your assembled dummy. BTW, I separate the Seating and Crimp operation because it make it much easier when using a variety of overall lengths due to different powders or bullets being used. If you are planning on going with just one bullet and one powder then it's far more time efficient to use a 3 Die setup with the Seat & Crimp combined.

Thanks!

The officer's ACP is very scarce here, if there are 25 in the Netherlands I think it's much. There was only 1 for sale and that is this one.

There is no Lee office here, there are not enough shooters here for that.

A have printed the text from scooter123 out and will spend some time adjusting. Let you know.
Sometimes my Lee auto disc on my 5-station RCBS press makes that I can not turn the auto disc on the position I like/need making the flare a problem to adjust. If I do not overcome that I will search an seperate flare.

Remove the seating stems and take a look at the nose profile. You may have been trying to seat semi-wadcutter ( flat point) bullets with the round nose seating stem.
Make sure the bullets are straight when you put them into the die...go in crooked they will seat crooked, lead bullets don't straighten themselves out like a jacketed bullet will.
Another tip, especially with lead, is to seat in one operation and crimp in a seperate step. When seating if you feel any resistance, other than normal, stop...remove the case and inspect, sometimes you can catch it going in crooked and straighten the bullet before it gets fully seated.
I had to get a SWC seating stem when I started loading cast SWC's... the round nose stem that came with dies was giving me problems also..maybe one of your three will be for SWC.
Gary

Gary, I looked at that but these bullets have a round top. Still I will compare the top with the stem and otherwise I reshape the stem. I have three of them and a small lath.
I took the afternoon off to reload.

Success! Thank you all !

After a little more adjusting The flaring went well.
These bullets in deed have a very little flat nose. But I had an other idea and that works great.
I drilled the seating stem open so it pushes on the rim of the bullet. That way the stem does straighten crooked placed heads, all go in straight.







Tomorrow of to the range with some different loads to see how they do.