I bought 300 cast bullets with gas check and I am losing too many cases. I need to stop loss or go back to none capped cast lead. Lee makes a Universal Expander neck die, can this work for the 25-35 case? Anybody use this type die?
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Lee Universal Expander Die 25-35 ?
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rockquarry
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You can use just about any expander that fits. I've used one from a wildcat die set for the last forty years to expand different diameter brass.
10mm Shooter
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The Lee Universal Expanding die does what is says that it will do, but NOE Bullet Molds sells an expander plug that is the "cat's meow" for cast bullets . They are sized specifically to your bullet diameter and they work great. I use them for 30-30 Win, 45 Colt, and 357 Mag. I started with the Lee expanding die, but made the switch many years ago and have never looked back...
Paul in Nevada
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Seconding the NOE expander plugs. The original ones are used in the Lee Universal Expander. They also started making them to fit Lee Powder Through Expander dies. They are listed by two numbers. the first number is the flare, the second number is your neck tension. The size you want is "two over, two under" for your bullet. For example, if you have a 0.258" bullet, you want the expander marked "260-256". This gives you +0.002" flare and -0.002" neck tension.
I will also give a thumbs up to the NOE expanders.
The Lee "Universal Expander" die is something of a misnomer. It doesn't expand the case neck. It just flares the case mouth. The inner diameter of the case neck will be whatever the sizing die reduces the outside of the neck to, minus 2x the neck thickness of your brass.
Quite often, the inner diameter of the case neck will be substantially smaller than your cast bullet diameter. This can cause a number of problems, all of them bad for accuracy:
-distortion of the bullet nose due to heavier seating force needed.
-case neck concentricity and runout issues.
-reduced sizing (compression) of the bullet.
The Lee "Universal Expander" die is something of a misnomer. It doesn't expand the case neck. It just flares the case mouth. The inner diameter of the case neck will be whatever the sizing die reduces the outside of the neck to, minus 2x the neck thickness of your brass.
Quite often, the inner diameter of the case neck will be substantially smaller than your cast bullet diameter. This can cause a number of problems, all of them bad for accuracy:
-distortion of the bullet nose due to heavier seating force needed.
-case neck concentricity and runout issues.
-reduced sizing (compression) of the bullet.
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You are using 25-35 reloading dies of some brand I take it.
They must be Expanding the neck of the case at some point in the process.
If all you need is something to flare the case mouth for seating the cast lead bullets,,then just about anything of that shape tapped into the neck of the sized case will do.
I use a dead center from a Lathe,,a simple tapered steel point.
Others use different empty bottle neck rifle cases inserted and lightly tapped with a hammer.
A .223 might work well here.
The amt of flare put on the mouth can be quite uniform when doing it this way and it is extremely fast to do.
Set the cases up on a flat hard surface and bounce from one to the other with the flare tool and hammer.
If the cases are just plainly too small in dia after the expander button does it job and the flaring step does not help matters (necks crumple when seating bullets) , then you need an Expander Button a couple .000 bigger in dia.
Lyman 'M' die was the old solution for this when seating cast bullets.
It internally sized the neck and flared the case mouth in one pass.
I don't know if they still sell them.
I like the Lathe center lying on my bench better. one size fits all but it does not resize the internal neck dia of course.
They must be Expanding the neck of the case at some point in the process.
If all you need is something to flare the case mouth for seating the cast lead bullets,,then just about anything of that shape tapped into the neck of the sized case will do.
I use a dead center from a Lathe,,a simple tapered steel point.
Others use different empty bottle neck rifle cases inserted and lightly tapped with a hammer.
A .223 might work well here.
The amt of flare put on the mouth can be quite uniform when doing it this way and it is extremely fast to do.
Set the cases up on a flat hard surface and bounce from one to the other with the flare tool and hammer.
If the cases are just plainly too small in dia after the expander button does it job and the flaring step does not help matters (necks crumple when seating bullets) , then you need an Expander Button a couple .000 bigger in dia.
Lyman 'M' die was the old solution for this when seating cast bullets.
It internally sized the neck and flared the case mouth in one pass.
I don't know if they still sell them.
I like the Lathe center lying on my bench better. one size fits all but it does not resize the internal neck dia of course.
Funflyer
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I don't understand. What does losing too many cases have to do with gas checked bullets? How is lead only going to change anything?
Paul in Nevada
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I assume he is crushing the case mouths when inserting bullets.
OP
Case neck issues with gas check 25-35
The cast lead bullets without the gas check seat without any problems, however, I ruined several cases trying to seat the gas checks. I ordered a Lee Universal neck expander die. 25-35 cases are too difficult to find plus expensive to bugger-up. Looks simple enough to use.
The cast lead bullets without the gas check seat without any problems, however, I ruined several cases trying to seat the gas checks. I ordered a Lee Universal neck expander die. 25-35 cases are too difficult to find plus expensive to bugger-up. Looks simple enough to use.
Funflyer
Member
Okay, that makes sense. Thanks.
Now to answer the OP's question. I use a Lee universal expander for loading checked lead in .223 and haven't had any issues as long as the cases are trimmed to the same length. Only thing additionally needed is a collet crimp die to remove the flair.
