Lee Precision 90798, Universal Neck Expanding Die, 25 to .45 Caliber

This Lee die is a delightfully elegant piece of kit. By providing 2 stackable mandrels, Lee Precision covers the waterfront in neck diameters while letting you store both mandrels inside the die rather than have separate parts floating around. A couple reviewers have criticized the die for what they believe to be too steep of a flaring angle. They are missing the point. That's a benefit, not a flaw. It does require that you be more precise when setting the engagement depth of the flaring mandrel, and it helps to have your cases trimmed to the same length before flaring. But once you have it set up correctly this die allows you to flair just the last millimeter or two of the case mouth. Compare that to how flaring plugs work in typical pistol die sets. The plugs perform 2 functions rather than 1. First, the plug "uniforms" (read "widens") the upper third of the case you just sized and, only after that does it flare the mouth of the case. Unless you have a mangled case mouth that wasn't cured in the sizing cycle, this uniforming process just remove what little bullet tension you had after sizing the case. It also unnecessarily over-works the brass. By using this universal neck flaring tool instead of the sizing plug in your die set, you materially increase neck tension. This improves powder ignition, limits bullet setback in autoloaders and bullets walking out the cylinder in revolvers. This has become the tool I never knew I needed until discovering it 40 years into my reloading journey. Brilliant stuff. And I only need 1 die to improve ALL of my pistol caliber loads.

This tool is a universal tool for flaring case mouths. It is essential for loading cast rifle bullets, as most rifle dies do not include a feature for flaring the case mouth. If you don't do this while reloading rifle ammunition, the bullets' base will shave lead on seating in the cartridge case.I use this tool for all cast bullet rifle reloading. Lee includes two inserts with the tool. One for smaller diameter cartridges; the other is for larger diameter cartridges. Changing from one to the other simply involves unscrewing the tools top piece, allowing the current insert to drop out, and then installing the new one. I dropped the top piece, it rolled under my bench, and I couldn't find it. I called Lee via their customer service number and they shipped a new one to me for free. That's really excellent service.I'm trying to think of something I don't like on this tool and I'm coming up empty. It's well engineered, easy to use, and it works well. The price is very reasonable. Lee makes first class reloading gear.

good Value

Worked great…

So initially it is a Lee which I have always had great luck out of. However, I haven't gotten to use this one yet because it came in a box missing the small punch which is the one I need it for. So now I am trying to see if I can get it replaced from Lee. Which puts me behind on reloading. The item came in a envelope with the die free floating around. The die storage box was closed with the paperwork in it. I opened the box and low and behold no small punch. I don't know if this is common with Lee reloading items but this is the second time in a month on Amazon I have gotten Lee dies missing components. I am sensing a trend. I will update my review once I can use the item.Update: Lee customer service was fantastic, sent me the part that was missing and made sure I got it quick.

works perfect on 6.5 creedmoor. will try on 308. Expect same results.

saves time

Either this die or a Lyman "M" expanding die are very important for a cast bullet caster and reloader like me. I must expand a very short portion of the end of the cartridge case in order to insert a lead projectile into the case. This must be enough to allow the bullet to be inserted and not so big as to overwork the brass when the crimp is applied. This is a must to produce a decent reload. The length of the cartridge case is most important here. A shorter case will have less of a bell on the end of the casing and a longer case will have more. If the length of the case is uniform for the entire string of reloads then all will be well. However if some are shorter and some are longer then this will play into poor accuracy and overworking of the brass which will shorten the life of the casing.I have .38 Special cases which have been reloaded over 30 times and there has been no stretching of the case and the lengths of this caliber's brass seldom change. The same is true for 41 Mag, 44. Spcl, 45 ACP and 45 Colt. So these calibers are easy to reload. Nine MM cases also are seldom out of normal but the high pressure round is very sensitive to COAL and a deeper than normal seating of a round can produce excess pressure very quickly and can be dangerous. This is also true for the .40 S&W cartridge which I no longer load for. There is such a narrow window of seating depth, neck tension, crimping and loading of powder in this caliber that I will no longer fool with it. It also helps that I have no .40 cal handguns nor do I will to have any. The recoil is very snappy and I do not like it at all.