Lee collet die is buckling my brass :(

[targaflorio]

Neck sizing 6.5x55 on a Redding Big Boss single stage.
Set it up according to directions. Two turns past touching the shell plate.
The handle is at about horizontal.
Worked great for about 40 cases and then suddenly started buckling my brass.
I couldn't tell by feel whether it was going to buckle or not.
Now I'm afraid to use it. Any ideas to troubleshoot?
Raise the die a turn?

 

[RottenII]

I had this issue with mine also with .308. I started using just a small amount of lube around the mouth of the case and no more buckled cases.

 

[doubletap66]

Take the die apart and clean it. Then lubricate the outside of the collet with some dry graphite or similar. The inside collet section can get stuck in the up position, and then it can buckle the brass. Make sure the the inside piece slides back down every time. This is one of the pitfalls of a collet die.

 

[.50 Cal Cow]

Agree with above post. LCD has worked well for me but requires some work to run smooth. I took some fine grit sand paper and polished out some of the roughness and greased the outside of the collet with some white lithium grease. May help smooth it out for you some. There's a video or two on youtube I believe that may help.

 

[targaflorio]

I did watch a couple YouTube vids. What does sanding the collet outside do for you? Are we trying to keep the collet from staying closed?
I ended up screwing the die out half a turn and the rest of my brass seemed to run as advertised.

 

[.50 Cal Cow]

I did watch a couple YouTube vids. What does sanding the collet outside do for you? Are we trying to keep the collet from staying closed?
I ended up screwing the die out half a turn and the rest of my brass seemed to run as advertised.

Sanding the outside of the collet helped take out some of the roughness that was in mine and smooth it some. In addition to buckling brass mine was also getting the collet jammed in the top portion of the die. Once smoothing it out and using a modest amount of grease the problem went away.

 

[5R Milspec]

sand polish lube works every time

 

[Randfal]

I agree, deburr and polish up the collet a little. Those are great dies, some just need a little TLC just like any other die.