Re: question about min OAL
just got off the phone with Lee - spoke to a very knowledgeable man about the lee loader classic. Believe me now, this kit works great for it's intended purpose but may leave something to be desired if precision is sought after.
turns out the neck sizing portion of the Classic loader is a fully tapered hole, which tapers at right about 1/2 degree meaning that the top of the neck might be at .307 and at the base we could be a smidge over .3081 - just loose enough to be lose once the bullet acts as an expanding plug. If it enters off axis AT ALL, it will result in a larger opening. To get the neck any tighter at all, you need to drive the case in a little deeper than flush with the rear of the chamber - designed this way on purpose he said. Most guys don't have this and they wanted the kit to work with non-cannelure bullets as well...i would not have this issue without the cannelure. Maybe seat just shallow of the cannelure? I'll check depth to do this and see if it ends up longer than 2.800"
His suggestions were as follows:
When initially seating the bullet in the resizer, use a small wooden dowel of like diameter to the base of the bullet and seat the bullet a few thou' deeper than the base of the resizing side. this will force a bit more tension on the bullet and with flat base bullets make sure the side has a small radius or go with boat tails to you don't bugger up the case.
He also added that a little resizing lube may be in order to facilitate a deeper penetration with the case.
My solution is a bit simpler. a piece of 2x6 c'clamped to the kitchen table and start using the real press i got from TRob here. Full length resizing may just cure my woe's. I'll still keep the lee loader in a TEOTWAWKI kit or for stress relief at some point in my life, but for now trying to work up an nice accurate load i'll stick with the real hardware and put the toys away.