.44 Lee expander die sticking.

[Hannibal]

As the title says, I'm having trouble with the Lee .44 expander die sticking in the case mouth. Requires considerable force to drop the ram on the press, which in turn jars the **** outta the auto-disk sitting on top and causes it to throw heavy. This is all new Starline brass. Tried de-burring the case mouths, doesn't matter. Am I missing something? Tried cleaning the expander with fine Scotch Brite, didn't help.

[nagantguy]

Is it a carbide die? If not you need lube. Not trying to be a jerk, bought used dies before and had one in the set be steel not advertised carbide. Also if used die set make sure its the right expander stream/ball threaded into the die.

[Mk42gunner]

I had the same problem with cases sticking to the expander on the Lee powder through expander dies I had for both the .32 H&R Mag and the .45 Colt, although I was loading on a single stage press so I did not have a powder measure on top.

Mine were so rough that by the time I would have gotten them smooth enough not to stick, they wouldn't have expanded the case much if any.

My solution was to find a set of RCBS carbide dies on clearance for the .45 and a set of Lyman carbide dies at an auction for $15 for the .32. The sticking expander was solved and as a bonus the Carbide sizer in both of the other makers sets felt slicker and use less effort while sizing.

I still use Lee rifle dies, but try not to buy them in handgun calibers. They work, I just prefer other brands.

Robert

[bobthenailer]

I have also found that new brass sticks on the expander die ! soultion i run new brass in my vibratior /tumbler in corncob media treated with new finish liquid car polish.

[Airman Basic]

I have also found that new brass sticks on the expander die ! soultion i run new brass in my vibratior /tumbler in corncob media treated with new finish liquid car polish.

Agreed. New brass especially Starline, benefits greatly from a little NuFinish.

[Bayou52]

I use a Lee 44 mag die, too. My brass is all SS wet tumbled in auto wash & wax. Fortunately, I've never experienced the problem you've described with brass sticking in the flaring die.

Bayou52

[Beesdad]

It's my understanding that the expander dies are designed to stick a bit to give the auto disk a shake to allow the powder to fall into the case.

What press are you using? When using the Lee powder / expander die on the Load Master I experience the same occurrence on all 5 LM's I operate when producing 38/357, 9 mm and 45 ACP. From my experience it has not not created any heavy weights.

[Hannibal]

It's a Lee Classic Turret 3-hole. Is there a dry lube I could use on new brass maybe?
I wouldn't worry about it except it makes the powder drop almost a half-grain heavier than if there is no sticking going on.

[DougGuy]

Is it a carbide die? If not you need lube.

Lube inside the case mouth? Gimme a break. Yeah if you want lube contaminated ammo go right ahead and do just that.

My Lee .44 Mag expander does the same thing. As long as it ain't tearing the rim off the case no biggie, adjust the measure to be shaken by the action of the press.

[Hannibal]

It's not consistent enough to do that. Sometimes it sticks REALLY bad and sometimes hardly at all. I guess I may have to give up using the auto-disk with new brass.

[r1kk1]

Lube inside the case mouth? Gimme a break. Yeah if you want lube contaminated ammo go right ahead and do just that.

My Lee .44 Mag expander does the same thing. As long as it ain't tearing the rim off the case no biggie, adjust the measure to be shaken by the action of the press.

I've had new Starline brass stick too mainly in .45 acp. Tumble with car wax helps. Keeping the expander clean helps. I do lube inside of case necks with graphite. Redding sells the product that will last a long time.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/892...ion-media-1-oz

Works well and lasts a very long time. Straight wall cases or bottlenecks. I use it a lot when case forming. No contamination I've witnessed. I use an M die that is TiN coated made by CH4D that also works well.

Anything that helps smooth press operation I'm all for. Keeps a fella from smacking the handle of the press or jerk the handle dealing with sticky cases.

take care

r1kk1

[gtgeorge]

I have had the same experience with Starline in 41 Mag. I however used the debur tool to solve it mostly but as others said it works to run the new brass through a tumbler with polish. This was a first for me as I had never bought new brass before.

[44Vaquero]

Lee's expander is indeed designed to "stick" in conjunction with resetting and agitating the Safety-Disk powder measure. That having been said, often they stick a little too much with new brass. I have polished the belling stem with a crocus cloth and chamfer the case mouth slightly and the find the issue greatly diminished.

[trixter]

I had the same problem with new 45 brass, called Starline and the nice tech there said to send him the expander plug and he would fix it. Sent it to them, got it back in about week and a half, it looked like a mirror. So save the postage and polish it yourself. It was very nice of them to do that though.

[jsizemore]

Midway has some Mica dry lubricant that might help.

[Grizzly Adams]

[tward]

+2 on mica and polishing the expander button. I chuck the stem in a drill and use 800 to 2000 grit silicon carbide wet/dry paper, you can get them at an auto finishers, good luck, Tim