Lee FL die not pushing shoulder back - solved

TimberHunter

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Shoot2HuntU
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I was pulling my hair out last night trying to figure out why my new Lee FL die wasn’t pushing the shoulder back, in fact the shoulder was growing length wise and the brass wouldn’t chamber in the gun

After reading an old forum on shooters world I think it was, I figured out the inside bottom of the brass was bottoming out on the expander portion of the decapping pin. Adjusted the decapping rod so it just barely pushed the spent primer out and no more bottoming out. Lee differs from other dies because the case mouth expander on the decapping rod is very long, I doubt you’d ever have this issue with RCBS, Hornady, etc

Just wanted to post in case this helps someone, I was about to throw the die away lol


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Thanks, I had a few issues with Lee before. I've had to take a few thousands off the shell holder . Not beating them up either, I have used alot of their stuff without fail.
 
I was pulling my hair out last night trying to figure out why my new Lee FL die wasn’t pushing the shoulder back, in fact the shoulder was growing length wise and the brass wouldn’t chamber in the gun

After reading an old forum on shooters world I think it was, I figured out the inside bottom of the brass was bottoming out on the expander portion of the decapping pin. Adjusted the decapping rod so it just barely pushed the spent primer out and no more bottoming out. Lee differs from other dies because the case mouth expander on the decapping rod is very long, I doubt you’d ever have this issue with RCBS, Hornady, etc

Just wanted to post in case this helps someone, I was about to throw the die away lol


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Interesting. Thanks for posting.
 
Glad you found your problem. When adjusting a resizing die for shoulder bump you should expect to see the shoulder "grow lengthwise" before it starts getting pushed back. Initially the die has been moved out so the shoulder is not being contacted, but the case walls are being compressed which pushes the shoulder forward. Keep adjusting the die inward and at some point it will begin to push the shoulder back. Keep adjusting inward until you get the bump you want.
 
I had an issue come up today with an RCBS die and Lee shell holder for .375 h&h. Completely bottomed out and camming over, the case still wouldn't size enough to chamber in my rifle.

I had to put a 0.015" shim under the case head, and it worked after that.
 
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