The Long Range AR - 6.5 Grendel

Preparing the Lee Reloading Dies

I got my upper, brass, magazines and dies directly from Alexander Arms and
ended up with a set of Lee Precision 6.5 Grendel dies...
The Alexander Arms rifle is so nicely made in every way that we question why they had Lee make the dies?

The bottom line is you cannot get optimal precision with these dies. Now, there are a several things
you can do and it'll be well worth it. Both Redding and Hornady will have 6.5 Grendel dies available soon.
I have a set on order from both...

Step 1
polishing the resizing die

Picture on the right shows a case before polishing the
resizing die (right) and after (left).

The dies are too rough out of the box
to start reloading.

Polish the inside die body and the spindle.
The metal is soft so may need
revisiting polish over time.

Remove the decapping pin and use a drill with fine
sandpaper to polish the insides.

Polish both the die body and the spindle. You'll
need to use a brass brush or something to get
inside the spindle.

Step 2
check your lock rings

The lock ring didn't fit well in the resizing die,
causing the die to wabble in our single stage press.

We replaced it with a different brand.

This lock ring had to be replaced.

Step 3
polish the expander button

We reduced the size of the expander button
from 0.263" to 0.260". Before doing so we were
not getting a good bullet pull. Polishing it will also
smooth out the friction.

Now the case grips the bullet properly
and you don't need to crimp the case.
We don't like crimp dies..

Measure the button and polish it to measure .260"

Step 4
adjust the decapping rod height

We experienced a problem with the resizing die
throwing the neck off in the case.
Watch this video to see for yourself

Set the decapping rod high up enough so the neck
is concentrically aligned as it's going off the ball.
The neck should NOT be pulled on!

This means you'll have to deprime separately.
It's easily solved by using a separate depriming die.
Most importantly you'll have concentric necks.

After resizing the dies, let them run slowly on a
flat surface and watch the case neck.
If the neck is not concentric you'll have toadjust your resizing die.

The decapping rod is set high, which disengages depriming, but allows the neck not to be pulled on.

After doing these modifications, make sure to
tighten down the decapping pin

Step 5
polishing the bullet seater

Bullets loaded with the factory bullet seater tends to
get an indentation ring at the top of the bullet.
You can eliminate this by polishing it.

See how rough the seater is.

Take out the bullet seater and put it in a drill.
First break the edge with a fine file.

Wrap sandpaper around the file
and polish the seater die.