Crimpy

[pearcetopher]

Hi guys quick question

How do you seat and crimp in one step for the lee dies?

[runfiverun]

set your boolit depth.
raise the handle on the press
back out the seater [not the die].
screw the die down to crimp [leave it there]
screw the seater stem back down to the top of the boolit.

try a second/third/fourth round and make your smaller finite adjustments.

others will be by shortly to tell you to seat and crimp in separate steps, and to not use a LEE FCD die.

[Love Life]

Stick your case with belled mouth with bullet seated on case into the shell holder. Run ram up. Ensure your seating stem is screwed out as far as possible. Now screw your seating/crimp die down until it stops on the case. Tighten the lock ring. Now screw the seating stem in until it contacts the bullet. Lower ram, screw seating stem (not the whole die) in a 1/4-1/2 turn at a time and raise the ram back up. This will begin to seat the bullet. Keep doing this and measuring after each ram stroke until you have the correct overall length.

once you have the correct overall length, unscrew the seating stem out again (as far as possible). Now you are going to loosen the lock ring. Screw the die (the whole die) down no more than a 1/4 turn at a time. Measure constantly until you have the correct crimp (either taper or roll), and the correct OD of the loaded rd will be listed in your loading manual (as will the whole process I typed above).

Once you have your crimp, with the ram up and the rd in the die, tighten the lock ring. Screw the seating stem back down until it contacts the boolit. You should be set from there.

[Love Life]

Dang, run beat me to it, but my reply is longer!!

Don't Lee dies come with instructions in the dies?

[btroj]

I will chime in and say I prefer too seat and crimp in separate stages. Keeps the crimp from forming enough to shave bullet as seating is finished.

I keep a dummy round with each bullet I use. Makes it simple to reset the seater.

[Love Life]

^^^That is what I do as well.

[waco]

I will chime in and say I prefer too seat and crimp in separate stages. Keeps the crimp from forming enough to shave bullet as seating is finished.

I keep a dummy round with each bullet I use. Makes it simple to reset the seater.

You and me both....

[Recluse]

others will be by shortly to tell you to seat and crimp in separate steps, and to not use a LEE FCD die.


I will chime in and say I prefer too seat and crimp in separate stages. Keeps the crimp from forming enough to shave bullet as seating is finished.

I keep a dummy round with each bullet I use. Makes it simple to reset the seater.

There are some rounds and calibers that I prefer to seat and crimp in the same die/stage, and other rounds I prefer to seat, then crimp in two separate stages.

I roll crimp my .38 Special stuff and do it in one stage/step with the SWC boolits, but use two stages to do it with the WCs. I keep dies not just for each individual caliber, but each individual boolit or projectile I load and shoot for, so there is very little to no tweaking or adjusting for seat & crimp when I change calibers on a press.

Been doing it this way since almost day one.

:coffee:

[Recluse]

Don't Lee dies come with instructions in the dies?

"Lee" and "instructions" are not always compatible or intelligible.

:coffee:

[Love Life]

^^True, but they (Lee) do give you (the consumer) the honors of learning how to finish items!!

[btroj]

Oh, the Lee FCD does for rifles are awesome, the handgun ones not so much.

I like the Dillon crimps, the Redding profile crimp, and the Hornady taper crimp dies. Heck, about any crimp die works, just don't use the Lee FCD on handgun rounds.

[btroj]

^^True, but they (Lee) do give you (the consumer) the honors of learning how to finish items!!

Today's consumers learn?

http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p733/Btroj/image_zpsa8dce0cb.jpg (http://s1348.photobucket.com/user/Btroj/media/image_zpsa8dce0cb.jpg.html)

Seriously?

[462]

Seat and crimp in two separate operations. Dedicated seater and crimp dies eliminate having to re-adjust for each operation.

[oldgeezershooter]

My handgun rounds became more consistent and feed better in my autoloaders since I started using the FCD.

[Love Life]

Today's consumers learn?

http://i1348.photobucket.com/albums/p733/Btroj/image_zpsa8dce0cb.jpg (http://s1348.photobucket.com/user/Btroj/media/image_zpsa8dce0cb.jpg.html)

Seriously?

I'm talking about blowing out chips, removing burrs, etc.

[btroj]

I bet some don't even learn that. Why learn when I can post a "why do my loaded rounds have scratches" thread.

All dies need a quick clean before use. Well, either they all do or I am just a moron for doing so.

[runfiverun]

just wait untill you forget to clean a die, you'll remember why you clean them.

[Prospector Howard]

Yep, Lee FCD for rifles (mainly auto loading rifles) not so much for bolt action. Taper crimp for pistol rounds.
Oh, the Lee FCD does for rifles are awesome, the handgun ones not so much.

I like the Dillon crimps, the Redding profile crimp, and the Hornady taper crimp dies. Heck, about any crimp die works, just don't use the Lee FCD on handgun rounds.

[Love Life]

Sooooo....OP. Did you get everything working well? I'd like to think the minutes of my life I spent restating the instructions from any reloading manual ever weren't wasted....

[pearcetopher]

No I haven't tried

After reading your responses I feel that shaving my non hardened bullets will be a real possibility. I personally don't use the lee fcd because it swages my stuff down. I think I'll just crimp on a seperate stage. Thankyou again

[montana_charlie]

Been doing it this way since almost day one.
And, on the second day, God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
And it came to pass that while the waters were forever separated from the waters, so it was that seating and crimping remained in separate steps.

[gray wolf]

My new Lee dies came with
a small piece of Steel wool--a Rubber eraser-- a piece of 300 grit wet and dry paper--
A small round file--a small needle nose file, and a 10" mill file. One battery operated screw gun--
A sample pack of Flitz polish-- a small rag--a bottle of De-greaser, No instructions and one 5 Mg. tranquilizer.
It all came in a little red plastic kit.

[btroj]

I got screwed, none of my Lee dies came with all that stuff. Thinking about it though, I don't know if I want Lee brand tranquilizers..........