Well

Ever had one of those days when you could not get things to work?

I inherited a couple of boxes of speer hot core 150's (30 Cal) to reload some 30-06 hunting ammunition and I use lee dies - so - no problems right? WRONG

I wound up seating them in some brand new cases and wound up with wrinkles in the necks - this was strange - never before have I had problems - good chamfer - good sizing no problems with the brass

I went about trying to fit the new reloaded rounds in my 06 for Rothman for hunting this year and well - no go - they would not fit - bolt would not close - DAMN

Pulled all of the carefully loaded rounds - pondered the situation - came to the conclusion after discussing it with Goalie that Lee Dies and Speer Bullets are not compatible for one reason or another... I wound up trashing the brass..

Used the seater for my RCBS 308 dies to place the bullet - NO PROBLEMS Factory Crimped with the Lee Die... All was well.

Reloading 30-30 approximation loads for the 30-06 for Rothman - it is about honestly all that you need to hunt deer - a typical 30-06 load is far too much for small deer and a well placed shot at short range... No need to hurt the guy with recoil - my 06 weighs about 5.25 lbs with scope... (Little Ruger Ultra LIght) I dont even like to shoot it - it is punishing...

You might recover the brass if you anneal the necks, resize and re-anneal.

Just a thought.

The thought had corssed my mind - BUT frankly I would rather throw it out and start fresh....

I just about laughed when I opened my 30-30 dies and read right there (at the very end of the insert, of course) that Speer states it's bullets are "not compatable with some Lee dies."

FWIW, I am rather satisfied with the Lee dies I got to reload strictly hunting/plinking ammo in my new 30-30. With the cheapie package scope, the rifle was putting my reloads into a tad over an inch at 100 yards, and into one hole at 23 and 50.

That factory crimp die rocks.

My feeble 57 year old brain remembers a discussion about the pissing match between Speer and Lee, but not any of the specifics of it. What's REALLY weird is that if Speer bullets were that much bigger in diameter than other bullets to make this a strict diameter problem with the bullet, the pressures for Speer bullet loads would be through the roof compared to other brands, and this is not the case that I have heard of. (I've seen this with Lapua Scenars, but not Speer....) In general, Lee dies are pretty good values, but there have been one or two instances where they were VERY, VERY bad. I think you got one of those dies.