I think the riddle is solved. We will find out soon.
I think the riddle is solved. We will find out soon.
Thank you Vers for your help. Problem solved
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Tell us the rest of the story so folks can learn from it.
This thread has been and will be a good chance for newby's to pick up some useful information, so I'm going to hijack you for a minute and build on that.
Lee FL rifle sizers have long tapered expanders that for me have worked better than most. But I still clean the die each time before and after and lube bottle necks for FL sizing with either mica or Imperial if I can find a qtip when I need one. That high pitched squeak when you pull the case over the expander ball sets my teeth on edge and I know what it's doing to the case's neck and shoulder when I hear it.
You can order custom expanders in slightly larger or smaller sizes from Lee for their FL sizers and custom mandrels for their collet dies, too. I have a bunch of their custom collet and factory crimp dies that I am very pleased with. (And every one of them came to me full of coolant residue and chips and assorted whatever and got a complete disassembly, cleaning, inspection, lubing, and reassembly that every die set I buy gets no matter who made it.) You can't get a better deal on custom dies anywhere short of making them yourself.
Aimless rambling:
My 6.5 Swede collet die also works for 6.5M/S and 6.5Jap. (Doesn't get more than the top third of the Jap's neck but it holds them tight enough for decent groups.)
Maybe a bushing die is more versatile, but I didn't have one long enough to really see what one could do.
30+ years ago I sold one I'd just bought in 6mm with a very accurate scoped .243 that someone with a very broken rifle three days before opening day just had to have right then and there and offered me about three times what I had in it and twice what it was worth in cash if I threw in the box of 50 handloads and the dies & shell holder I loaded them with (which I had with me to show a friend that day). I had already tried several Lee collet dies by then though and mostly because I am a tightfisted old Yankee I never got around to trying another bushing die. The rifle was a custom m700 and the price was right. On the bench it was a good performer, but it just didn't fit me, the balance was off for offhand shooting and the 3-9 barbell on it was too powerful for the puckerbrush we have to hunt in up this way so I had already decided to find it a new home. I took the cash and waited until two weeks after deer season when I had my pick of rifles and shotguns at the pawn shop. I still have the 20ga870 and the m95 Mauser from that fall but sold off the four other rifles that were really good deals the next summer and fall before deer season. You'd think with all the different .30cals I cast for and now all these 6.5's I'd have tried them again. Maybe I will.
Last edited by versifier; 10-01-2016 at 11:38 AM.
"Stand your ground.
Do not fire unless fired upon.
But if they mean to have a war let it begin here."
- Capt. Parker, Lexington Militia, April 19, 1775
Vers, you can hijack any thread of mine. I respect your knowledge and value your friendship.
The collet die is in my hands. I also got some 140 and 160 jacketed bullets and the 170 soupcan came in. Time for fun. As an aside, I am almost done with the stock work that has been been begging to be done for 3 years.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |