Re: Lee Collet Dies?
I did an experiment with my .22-250's a few years ago. I compared a Lee collet to a Redding bushing die. I had two .22-250's with .256" and .250" necks. The tight necked rifle allowed the case to expand just .002" while the factory chamber allowed the necks to expand .006".
Here's what I found:
There was no difference in concentricity between the Lee and Redding dies as far as the tight necked chamber was concerned.
There was a huge difference, however, in the factory chambered rifle. Fired cases had .0005" runout at the case mouth, so the chamber was fine. Ammo assembled using the Lee collet die averaged .0015" TIR while ammo made using the Redding bushing die averaged .004".
I found this interesting, so I bought a bunch of bushings in .001" increments from .249" to .256". I sized the cases in .001" increments and measured runout at the casemouth. I found that runout remained about .001" as long as the case necks were not being sized more than .002". Riunout at the casemouth translates into runout at the bullet ogjive.
In my opinion, bushing dies work the brass more, stress the brass more, and cause more runout than collet dies.
I did an experiment with my .22-250's a few years ago. I compared a Lee collet to a Redding bushing die. I had two .22-250's with .256" and .250" necks. The tight necked rifle allowed the case to expand just .002" while the factory chamber allowed the necks to expand .006".
Here's what I found:
There was no difference in concentricity between the Lee and Redding dies as far as the tight necked chamber was concerned.
There was a huge difference, however, in the factory chambered rifle. Fired cases had .0005" runout at the case mouth, so the chamber was fine. Ammo assembled using the Lee collet die averaged .0015" TIR while ammo made using the Redding bushing die averaged .004".
I found this interesting, so I bought a bunch of bushings in .001" increments from .249" to .256". I sized the cases in .001" increments and measured runout at the casemouth. I found that runout remained about .001" as long as the case necks were not being sized more than .002". Riunout at the casemouth translates into runout at the bullet ogjive.
In my opinion, bushing dies work the brass more, stress the brass more, and cause more runout than collet dies.