The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Couldn't find one for sale in the UK at sensible money , nor a case length trimmer for a Lee cutter --- so I made them . Into my shed this morning and made a new mandrel for my Lee cutter , 6.5 stem same length as a .243 fitted a decapping pin in a hole of the correct depth and voila -- dunnit .

Neck sizing die , hmmm , harder jobby . Bingo , i had a spare 6.5 x 55 full length sizer so I softened it and then shortened it by 8mm ,I then bored the die out to 13mm up to the shoulder and reamed it , lapped the edge of the neck so it was nice and smooth with a 0.5mm rad. and stuck it in the ultrasonic bath for 10 mins. Out it came and dried off , straight into the press and tried it out . Magic ! I hhave now got 50 neck sized cases to reload for next weekend at Blackdog ;¬))))

and cost nowt clapclap clapclap

Great minds think alike! I did a similar exercise when I needed a case trimming guage for my 6.5 T38 Arisaka to go with a Lee cutter ( Lee don't make one!) I ground down the pin on a 6.5 Carcano gauge to do the job.
I also made a neck sizing die for my 6.5 Carcano by having a Lee F/L sizing die machined out and like yours, it works just fine.
ukrifleman.

I also seem to be machining dies quite often these days, it makes perfect sense if the ones needed are not available, modifications include universal de-cappers, VLD seaters and modified Lee Case length gauges.

What is the difference between a VLD seater and a ordinary one. I have modified a few Le Wilson dies to suit my purpose.

Alpha1 wrote:What is the difference between a VLD seater and a ordinary one. I have modified a few Le Wilson dies to suit my purpose.

The angle of the seating cone on some dies is not as good as it could be for VLD bullets so I modify them so they sit very precisely mimicking the Ogive of the specific bullet and ensuring the necessary clearance for the Meplat, this also means the chances of marking the jacket are much reduced.

What modification do you make to Wilson dies?