Lee Deluxe .222rem seater won't seat Amax deep enough!!

bewsher500

Well-Known Member
the shell holder is bottoming out
the top is screwed in as far as I can get it

still only getting 55.40mm tip to Head.
They work OK but that is over recommended OAL and very close to the front of the magazine

also gives me no leeway to mess around with depths with this die

Works fine with Softpoints (wider more rounded Ogive)

Am I missing something?
surely seating dies should have a wider range to accomodate all sorts of ogive profiles and depths
 
Grind off a bit of the bottom of the die with a belt sander or a grinding wheel. I've done it to correct such things.~Muir
 
the shell holder is bottoming out
the top is screwed in as far as I can get it

still only getting 55.40mm tip to Head.
They work OK but that is over recommended OAL and very close to the front of the magazine

also gives me no leeway to mess around with depths with this die

Works fine with Softpoints (wider more rounded Ogive)

Am I missing something?
surely seating dies should have a wider range to accomodate all sorts of ogive profiles and depths

Not sure what you mean here. If the shell holder is "bottoming out" (touching?) the Lee .222 seating die then surely the case neck will be contacting the crimp ring, and applying a (very) severe crimp. There has to be several millimetres of daylight between both faces to avoid the die 'roll crimp' setting. I can't imagine anyone missing this effect.

Reducing the length of the die by grinding off the base will only make matters worse by shortening the inward case travel (in fact lowering the crimp ring). You need either (A) a different seating nose punch with a shorter contact face distance OR (B) to modify the existing one to achieve this by 'stuffing something up it' - if you get my meaning.

The length you've quoted isn't excessively long for an A-Max in .222 so the rifle must have a short magazine. The standard .222 throat will clear rounds of this length easily.
 
Not sure what you mean here. If the shell holder is "bottoming out" (touching?) the Lee .222 seating die then surely the case neck will be contacting the crimp ring, and applying a (very) severe crimp. There has to be several millimetres of daylight between both faces to avoid the die 'roll crimp' setting. I can't imagine anyone missing this effect.

Reducing the length of the die by grinding off the base will only make matters worse by shortening the inward case travel (in fact lowering the crimp ring). You need either (A) a different seating nose punch with a shorter contact face distance OR (B) to modify the existing one to achieve this by 'stuffing something up it' - if you get my meaning.

The length you've quoted isn't excessively long for an A-Max in .222 so the rifle must have a short magazine. The standard .222 throat will clear rounds of this length easily.

Does the seater in the Deluxe set crimp?? Never looked.~Muir
 
Does the seater in the Deluxe set crimp?? Never looked.~Muir

Mine did, which is why grinding the die down won't work, it will just crimp before reaching the required seating depth.
As a temp I just filled the hole in the end of the steel pusher pin with filler and redrilled a shallower hole.
​The best fix is a new steel insert, or a different make die, not sure if Lee can help,must be worth an e-mail ?

Neil. :)
 
No crimp on the Deluxe seater, they have a slot in the box for the seperate collet crimp die (which I have)

Without the shell holder and the seater the case will go right in up to the centre of the extractor groove
Without the shell holder but with the seater pin it only goes in about 1.5mm less on the current minimum OAL seating I can achieve with the shell in the shell holder

(which in simple terms means the shell holder is resticting the depth I can seat by at least 1.5mm)

It is just the profile of the A Max vs the profile of the seater pin.
Works fine with soft points.

55.5mm is max length for the BRNO Mod2 magazine (tip to head), they are quite short

Filling the pin with something and reprofiling sounds like a ballache.
shortening the pin would not help as any shorter the tip of the AMax would bottom out and I would not be pressing in on the ogive.

taking the bottom 1-2mm off the die seems straight foward as perpendicular mating surface and structural integrity are of no significance in a non resizing or non-crimp die

already ground off about a mm and polished it up, will test and see if it is enough
 
Filling the pin with something and reprofiling sounds like a ballache.
shortening the pin would not help as any shorter the tip of the AMax would bottom out and I would not be pressing in on the ogive.

You need the seater pin to be longer, not shorter. Easiest way is to drop a small ball bearing or other spacer inside the ally adjuster knob before the pin. This also helps the pin float better, for self-centreing.

If the profile of the seater is also not suitable for your bullet, use a tiny bit of epoxy putty to fill it, lubricate bullet and die well then push the round into the soft putty and let it set. A little bit of cleanup and you have a perfectly profiled seater.

I had to do this to seat roundnose cast lead bullets in .223. The standard seater profile was cutting a circular groove around the bullet nose.

Replacement pins are pennies from Lee, you can have a perfectly profiled one for each bullet to eliminate any chance of damage to nose etc.
 
You need the seater pin to be longer, not shorter. Easiest way is to drop a small ball bearing or other spacer inside the ally adjuster knob before the pin. This also helps the pin float better, for self-centreing.

This die design does not have a pin thats protrudes into the die, the pin sits over the apeture at the top end of the die The bullet sticks through the hole and the pin gets in the way to seat the bullet.
Shortening the lip of the pin would see the contact point with the ogive closer to the case and seat deeper.
but it would leave the part in contact with the bullet very short and potentially not in alignment


If the profile of the seater is also not suitable for your bullet, use a tiny bit of epoxy putty to fill it, lubricate bullet and die well then push the round into the soft putty and let it set. A little bit of cleanup and you have a perfectly profiled seater.

Replacement pins are pennies from Lee, you can have a perfectly profiled one for each bullet to eliminate any chance of damage to nose etc.

now that is a good idea, will be stealing that!!
 
This die design does not have a pin thats protrudes into the die, the pin sits over the apeture at the top end of the die The bullet sticks through the hole and the pin gets in the way to seat the bullet.
Shortening the lip of the pin would see the contact point with the ogive closer to the case and seat deeper.
but it would leave the part in contact with the bullet very short and potentially not in alignment

Are you quite sure that the pin is long enough to reach all the way to the aperture at the top of the die when the adjuster is bottomed out ?

I've found this not to be the case on several Lee dies, the adjuster bottomed out with lack of thread before the seater pin had bottomed.

Worth a look, if it still rattles with the knob wound in then I might be right. Or measure OAL from top of knob to base of die, with and without pin fitted.
 
doesnt rattle
still has threads to go when wound down and I can push a seated bullet/case out of the die by putting in the case to full extent and winding pin and ajuster into the die

also leaves a slight witnees mark inside the die around the aperture.

it is not a tight fit in either adjuster or die housing so if it wasnt screwed down it would rattle side to side and not be aligned I think.
 
I can push a seated bullet/case out of the die by putting in the case to full extent and winding pin and ajuster into the die​

Still a little confused by this, but from everything else you have said it does seem that grinding the base of the die is your best bet.
 
if I take it apart and push a case with seated bullet into the die, I can push it out with the seating pin until the pin will go no further
if I use the adjuster it locks tight and the pin is trapped between die and adjuster.

seems to have worked, can seat an extra mm as a result
needs more to give some range IMO

but a spot of epoxy putty sounds just the ticket
​need to get some spare pins
 
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