Ian
Notorious member
Lathe? Don't need no steenking lathe! Just need mad skills with a drill press and files. Turned a Lee Rifle Charging Die insert into a 300 Blackout powder-through-expander plug for the progressive. Makes just enough bellmouth for plain-based bullets, expands the neck to .3095" below the bell, and has a nice stop for the case mouth to prevent over-expansion when operating either the spring-loaded or pull-back chain type Lee powder measures. I can use this either on my Lee turret press with the spring-operated measure, or on the progressive with either measure.
Next project is to make a guide bushing for the opening at the bottom of the die to keep the case in alignment with the spud, something that's sort of an issue with small, long cases that are very wobbly in the shell holder. I've made these sorts of bushings before from various cartridge brass by simply selecting a case that fits tighly in the die and sectioning it in the place I needed to get the correct ID. For this one I'll need a bushing-within-a-bushing to make it down to the .223 case body size.
Next project is to make a guide bushing for the opening at the bottom of the die to keep the case in alignment with the spud, something that's sort of an issue with small, long cases that are very wobbly in the shell holder. I've made these sorts of bushings before from various cartridge brass by simply selecting a case that fits tighly in the die and sectioning it in the place I needed to get the correct ID. For this one I'll need a bushing-within-a-bushing to make it down to the .223 case body size.