Lee Loader

It looks like Lee has finally made the Collet Style Factory Crimp Dies and inventory item! These are similar to the rifle collet dies and are now available for the the other short, straight wall cartridges used with leverguns. See: Lee Collet Style Dies. If you are lucky enough to have one of the Marlin 41 Mag rifles, here is the die for you: Lee 41 Mag Custom Collet Style Dies

Nice!

They must have just posted this addition this afternoon. I was just looking at the crimp dies selection this morning. Crazy. Still a smart move on their part.

I just saw they also offer the collet crimp die for the .357mag. Will this also fit .38spl?

Fyodor wrote:I just saw they also offer the collet crimp die for the .357mag. Will this also fit .38spl?

No, it would have to be custom ordered for the cartridge. As the case gets shorter, it is tougher to get the collet to exercise, and the Mag cartridges are at the limit of just long enough. I had a very good personal contact at Lee at the time that liked messing with new stuff and there was a bit of a back and forth discussion on what would work. It was decided to use their new Bottle Neck Pistol FCD die. That is a collet style die for short cartridges. It is a closed die where the collet works against the inside, top of the die. Picture a collet die upside down. This allows the collet to not depend on the case length. This die can accommodate both the 38 Spl and the 357 Mag.

I had already convenienced Lee to produce the 44 Mag and 45 Colt Collet FCDs for my mold business and this pondering, discussing, and design was to add the 38 Spl and 357 Mag. Some of this might be on me as I decided to stay with single cartridge 357 Mag die as my cost for the 38 Spl/357 Mag Bottle Neck Collet FCD would have been around $45. I would have had to give them away at my cost to move them.

If they make one for .38 special then I will buy that one as well. Lee, are you listening? You are missing out on sales...

Maximumbob54 wrote:If they make one for .38 special then I will buy that one as well. Lee, are you listening? You are missing out on sales...

That is how I feel but I think on average $45 for the Bottle Neck FCD would have been a tough sell. I had to charge $25 for the subject collet dies given my pricing and I moved them very quick, selling hundreds of the buggers. I did receive a lot of emails asking why they were so much. Of course that is solved by volume and Lee has them at a right price now!

Greetings
Some more good ideas to get to play with. Wonder how many other cartridges they will expand this line into.
Mike in Peru

I would gladly pay $45 for an awesome crimp die that won't crush cases if they are a hair too long. Besides, at that price it's still cheaper than pretty much anything Redding makes!!! Have to say I'm not keen on these strange new containers they are using. Kind of a pain and don't stack well on the shelf. Maybe a peg board is finally in order.

Yeah the new packaging gets chunked at Ranch Dog's place but it all goes on to a turret.