Lee factory crimp dies -1

[robpete]

All of the recent talk on Lee factory crimp dies got me curious. I pulled a bunch of bullets this evening, and sure enough, they were all undersized. In some cases, as much as three thousandths. I am definitely no longer a fan of these fabled marvels. Long story short, I boxed all of them up and they will be on their way to Oregon tomorrow for some skilled lapping. I know Erik will do a much better job than I ever could.

[DougGuy]

Some people use only the carbide ring to crimp with, instead of running it all the way down the case, they just take the bell out of the case mouth.

I have one that I am going to try that with.

[runfiverun]

many just knock the carbide ring out of the die.

[joec]

I use the rifle (collet type) which I also have for 45 Colt with cast. Both have worked perfectly however the 9mm and 45 ACP are used only with jacketed bullets and not with cast. I also don't use them on any bullet that requires a roll crimp. They work fine for jacketed ammo used in an auto feed gun but not necessary with much else except a rifle maybe.

[robpete]

The boolits that I use(d) them with are 380, 38/357, 9mm, and 45acp. ALL were undersized. I suspect that they work with jacketed bullets, because most are undersized to begin with. Maybe Lee never planned for them to be used with cast???

[Shiloh]

I use mine for bulge busting brass.

Shiloh

[ku4hx]

In 2012, I got my one and only Lee FCD. It came with a 30-30 die set so I gave it a try and it does a credible job. Handgun ammunition is either roll crimped for revolver (when needed) or taper crimped for semi-auto. I often try not to argue with success, but even old dawgs will try newfangled things every now and then.

[gefiltephish]

I know that most folks that have been here for a while are well aware of this, but I'm gonna post this for those newbies who may run across this thread in a search.

Remember folks, the rifle FCD and the handgun FCD are 2 completely different tools. The rifle utilizes a collet that squeezes just the case mouth to crimp, and works quite well. The handgun FCD uses a carbide insert to post size the case after the bullet is seated, thereby potentially (likely?) post sizing oversize cast bullets as well.

[Larry Gibson]

There is a difference between the rifle FCD and the handgun FCD. The rifle FCD is a collet that just crimps the case mout. The FCD for handgun cartridges sill size/uniform the whole case and crimp. I use the rifle FCDs a lot and they work very well. On the other hand I only use the handgun cartridge FCD in one instance; my P14 has a very tight Match cahmber and .451 and .452 sized cast bullets will not chamber (slide won't fully close) when loaded in many cases. This is with 45 ACP ammo loaded on a SDB and with 2 different regular die sets. Using a standard taper crimp die does not solve the proble, However, running the loaded ammo through the Lee 45 ACP FCD solves the problem. BTW; accuracy with such is excellent and I get no leading.

I also have the 9mm FCD but 9mm ammo loaded on the SDB , with my RCBS dies or with the Lee dies all feed and function perfectly in my CZ75 and othe 9mm's w/o having to use the FCD.

Larry Gibson

[jmort]

I'm one of the many many happy users of the Lee Precision handgun FCD. If you go on Midway USA it is one of the most owner/reviewed and rated products, and is one of a few "five star" products. Lot of haters here, and a lot of satisfied users as well. One thing I don't get is why the haters care so much if others like/use the handgun FCD? I doubt if but a few of them ever tried one and just parrot the old lines like "I've been reloading for over 50 years and never needed one" or "there is no use for it" and worst of all "it will swage down your ammunition." Yes it will. So don't use it if you need over-spec handgun ammunition. In that case, don't use it, I agree. I think the Redding crimp die is the best design but the Lee Precision FCD has its place and as usual, is a smoking deal.

[mdi]

People gotta start differentiating between the Lee FCD for handguns, and the FCD for bottlenecked cases. IMO the handgun die is a solution in search of a problem; learn to adjust the other dies and there is no need for a post bullet seating sizing die (just think of the bazillion of rounds reloaded, successfully before Lee introduce the handgun FCD). I do think the rifle FCD is a pretty good tool, and I use one for my .223.

My main gripe with the FCD, is so many folks tell new reloaders to "get one and all your problems go away", rather than tell them learn to adjust sizing and or seating dies. I had one for .44 Magnum and used it once, I got it out of curiosity. It swaged my carefully sized .432"+ bullets to about .430". I knocked the carbide ring out and the remaining crimp was uneven and a bit ragged. It now resides in a landfill somewhere in southern Oregon. As for my 45 ACP ammo (FCD dies seem to be fairly popular with semi-auto reloaders, seating and deflaring being so difficult, doncha know), when I properly adjust my dies I don't have chambering problems, so no need for a Band-Aid fix...

[DougGuy]

There are indeed two types of FCD as mentioned earlier.

I truly love the collet type FCD for .45 Colt cases, I modded mine to make the crimp band narrower and I shortened it to bring it down to just barely below the case mouth, both mods keep the crimp band away from the driving band of the boolit so it is left the full diameter as it dropped out of the sizing die. It does beautiful work now.

What do you do to a round of .45 ACP that doesn't quite make the "plunk" test because your pistol is chambered a little on the tight side?

[robpete]

I got my dies back from Erik @ Hollowpoint today. They are perfect. He opened them all up 5 thousandths. He mentioned to me that all of the carbide rings were off center by at least a thousandth. That kind of surprised me. At any rate, he got them all perfectly centered. I loaded up a hundred 9mm's this evening and the dies now do what a crimp die should do....crimp the case. lol. Great work Erik!

[mdi]

I'm one of the many many happy users of the Lee Precision handgun FCD. If you go on Midway USA it is one of the most owner/reviewed and rated products, and is one of a few "five star" products. Lot of haters here, and a lot of satisfied users as well. One thing I don't get is why the haters care so much if others like/use the handgun FCD? I doubt if but a few of them ever tried one and just parrot the old lines like "I've been reloading for over 50 years and never needed one" or "there is no use for it" and worst of all "it will swage down your ammunition." Yes it will. So don't use it if you need over-spec handgun ammunition. In that case, don't use it, I agree. I think the Redding crimp die is the best design but the Lee Precision FCD has its place and as usual, is a smoking deal.
I guess I'm one of your mis-named "haters". I have no problem if someone wants to post seating size their ammo, but I do have a problem with recommending them to new reloaders as a "cure all" for handloading. It's like telling them "don't fix your problem, just cover it up". I tried one once and found I have no need for one because I know how to adjust my dies (I'm also one of those that have reloaded for only 29 years and never needed one). I haven't heard of a problem with handgun ammo that normally can't be remedied by correct die adjustments.

I see new 45 ACP reloaders told that a LFD will fix everything, and I think of the bazillion rounds successfully reloaded for the 45, prior to Lee introducing their FCD. Mebbe all the guns manufactured before the FCD had huge chambers!

[Lights]

I have been loading plated 9mm and 45acp bullets with my Lee FCD with good results. When you pick up 9mm and 45acp brass that has what I call the Glock bulge. The FCD removes the bulge nicely. Now that I have been playing with cast bullets I noticed differences in how the 9mm and the 45acp FCD's differ for me. I loaded .357" bullets for my 9mm and the FCD carbide ring does not touch the case at all where the bullet is seated. It only touched the case near the base of the case. When adjusted properly it did not swage down my bullet diameter and will taper crimp nicely. Now the 45acp FCD is a whole different story. The 45acp case has less taper to the case diameter, only .003" total. The 9mm has .011" total taper. The carbide sizing ring on the 45acp die swages my bullets down. So I think all will be well with the 45acp FCD if I just lap the carbide sizing ring about .0015" larger or remove it. It really has nothing to do with the FCD being a joke or a cure all. It has more to do with what you are reloading(plated, cast or jacketed bullets) and what cartridge you are reloading.

[462]

Since, according to Mr. Lee, he developed the handgun carbide die factory crimp die strictly for jacketed bullets, it only makes sense that it'll make a fat-for-caliber cast boolit into a skinny one. If it doesn't, what does that say about their manufacturing tolerances?

"What do you do to a round of .45 ACP that doesn't quite make the "plunk" test because your pistol is chambered a little on the tight side?"
Size the boolit so that it does fit.

[Mk42gunner]

I have a couple of the Lee rifle Factory Crimp Dies; they work, but I am not sure they are better than a standard roll crimp.

I have never had a handgun caliber Factory crimp die; and since I primarily load cast in handguns, I probably never will.

There is such a difference in the design of the handgun and rifle types, I thin Lee should have used a different name for the handgun one.

Robert

[Mlcompound]

I have been using a fcd for my 9mm with good results (simply because that is what came in my 4 die kit). I load a 358 boolit and only a few even give any resistance through the carbide sizer. Although, I did order a taper die and plan on switching to it (I figure I will do it the old fashioned way unless otherwise needed). I think my fcd only sizes cases that are heavily expanded as most dont seem to touch the sizer.