LEE Seater/Crimp Die "sticking"

[Honkeymcgee]

So I have had this happen with two sets of Lee dies now both in 9mm and 38SC. 

 

My seater and crimp die work fine but when bringing the ram back down on my press the brass has a little spot I get some resistance then it "pops" out. Like it's binding up in the die somewhere. 

 

Anyone else have this happen and any ideas on how to fix it?  All the dies we're set up the way the instructions recommend. 

[muncie21]

Are you seating and crimping  (debelling) in the same die? I can't really help if you are seating/crimping in the same die, as my experience is doing this in two separate stations.  Best advice I can give is that something is not adjusted correctly.

 

If you're seating/crimping in separate dies, figure out which is causing the issue by removing one die temporarily.

 

If it is the seating die you're die is either adjusted too far down or you are flaring/belling the case too much.  Try backing out the seating stem (with the die in the same position) and see if it still 'sticks'.  If so, test with a sized, but not belled case. 

 

Use the same approach for troubleshooting the crimping die; remove the stem from the equation first and go from there.

[4n2t0]

Are you sure it's not the powder funnel?

[woodrow]

Yea I got this really bad on the expander when I tried to load 38sc. Mine were sticking really bad that it took a considerable amount of force to get em out. I called Lee and they said I can polish the expander and that it should have a tiny bit of pop to it.

 

So I took it out and hit it on the polishing wheel. It is smoother now and then readjusting the depth to min expansion helped make it better.

 

If it's specifically on the seater/crimper, I've experienced what I perceive more has a hanging rather than popping. But I get that with any crimping die regardless of brand. I still can't figure exactly what it is however I do notice it's not problematic and it's not consistent. I figure it to be different conditions and lengths of brass in my mixed 5gal bucks.

 

For crimpers I use dillon, lee, lee fcd, hornady, rcbs and I get it with all. Except for revo/rifle where I'm trimming and all are the same length and all are the same headstamp.

 

I don't trim 38sc but I do trim the big stuff >44spl.

 

Hope this helps.

 

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[Honkeymcgee]

It is only with the crimp die and I've only experienced it with the Lee.

 

I did a little adjusting throughout loading 40rds last night. Will see how it feels next time I load. 

 

It normally starts out not too bad then gets worse until it takes a considerable bit to "pop" the case out on the down stroke. 

[muncie21]

1 hour ago, Honkeymcgee said:

It is only with the crimp die and I've only experienced it with the Lee.

 

I did a little adjusting throughout loading 40rds last night. Will see how it feels next time I load. 

 

It normally starts out not too bad then gets worse until it takes a considerable bit to "pop" the case out on the down stroke. 

Wait until it starts to 'pop' fairly regularly and then pull the stem from the die and see if the 'popping' continues, if so, I'd raise the die body and see if that helps.  If the issue is related to the stem, you need to figure out if you need to lower the die & raise the stem or vice-versa.

 

While you're at it also check that your shell plate hasn't loosened up on you.