Lee Loader

Any one here with experience with a set of these?

As some here know I shoot a C. Sharps Sharps in 40-65 Win, when I bought it back in '91 the only die set I could find was unfortunately cut to the original chamber specs that use a 408 bullet. Mine has a "modern" chamber that want a .410 bullet. These dies were fine for forming 45-70 brass and fire forming and I seldom find a need to rersize my brass once it's been fired and now that Star Line makes and sells 40-65 brass I have little need to do any case forming, but I'd still like to have a set of dies that size closer to my chamber. So if any one has a set could you tell me what the ID of the case mouth comes to after a full length resize.

Unfortunately the 40-65 was never SAAMI so there really isn't a standard.

Thanks for any help.

Make smoke,

Good luck. I don't believe in such but would like to extend some positivity.

GasGuzzler wrote:Good luck. I don't believe in such but would like to extend some positivity.

Thanks, Gas, I've got a request in to Lee. Will see if I get an answer.

Make smoke,

I have an unfortunately huge but very common cartridge, 762 x39 but it is much closer to 8x39 .

What I did for it was to get an RCBS universal decaping die . I then turned a custom pin in my drill press . I added a set screw for a straight decaping pin .

I started piece of 3/8 CRS and cut about 4 inches off and in the running drill press filled it smooth and rounded the tip as well as back drilling (drill bit fixed in the press vice with the pin turning in the drill head) a 1/16 hole for the decaping pin . The inside distance from the average head to mid shoulder was tapered and stepped to the neck ID needed in this case I turned it to the same .316 I needed for a minimum paper patch dia. . As a little bit of fancy pants I left a step about .02 short of the shortest inside head to mouth length. This allows me to decap,set neck ID ,and flair the mouth in 1 pass . My sizer dies leave the mouth at .305 to accommodate those rifles with 308 dia bbls and the standard 312. Last I turned it nose up and cut it down to and threaded it for the 1/4 28 pin threads in the die .

Another trick is to request a different expander from the die maker or again make 1 . If it is an RCBS set you may be able to just get an expander/flair pin for 41 Mag or a 416 Jeffries the Jeff would need to be reduced some they are soft and cut very easy. With a Lee pin it might be more difficult to cut but you should be able to stone or use a Harbor Freight diamond file and turn down a larger pin . Hornady, Sinclair, Reading etc offer standards and I think .002 steps for expander balls. RCBS also has a Cowboy series of dies that are tuned toward cast bullets and offer less sizing and bigger expanders so they may have a standard expander on hand for you.

Problems not the expander, I've addressed that with expander plugs from Track of the Wolf. Problem comes from my current die reducing the case mouth to accommodate a .408 bullet. Opening it up to take the .410 diameter that I shoot is decidedly over working the brass. This is what I'm seeking to eliminate. I'm aware of the RCBS Cowboy sets and they may turnout to be the answer. All be it at a bigger price that Lee. They also used to have a set of 40-65 dies specific to the C. Sharps rifles so I may look for a set of those.

Thanks for your response.

Make smoke,