SCHUETZENBOOMER
10-18-2013, 02:48 PM
For those of you using the Lee FCD to crimp lead boolits, here is what I had to do to make the dies work for my application. I was unhappy with the crimp land as supplied on the new .358Win FCD. It is nearly .100” wide(Lee customer service claims .040-.050”) and crushes lead on the drive band above the crimp. I asked Lee why they made it so wide and basically got back customer service rhetoric. As far as I am concerned, the die concept is nothing short of genius (hats off to Lee), its QC execution needs work. I am using the die to crimp my .350GP loads. The .350GP is made on the 8 x57mm case and is, of course, longer than the .358Win. I am shimming the die by using .010” shims between the shell-holder and the die face to “move” the crimp exactly where I want/need it. The attached pic shows a stock collet on the right and a modified collet on the left. I narrowed the crimp land to about .050” by chamfering the lead deeper into the existing land. I now get narrow crimps that I can fold neatly into the crimp groove and not distort lead above or below the crimp.