Need FCD Help

[pearcetopher]

Hi guys,

i have lee fcd for 9mm 40sw and 44 mag
they all swage my stuff down and make it lead terribly

Ive tried sanding that carbide ring to open it up but to no avail

how and can I remove the carbide ring?

if I remove the ring will its still crimp correctly without ring support?

[jmort]

I pay a machinist to open mine up. Yes it will work without the ring and here is link to decent explanation:

http://rugerforum.net/reloading/23065-fix-your-lee-factory-crimp-die.html

[waco]

I had it chucked up in a lathe at work and removed it.

[dkf]

Take the top nut off. Take a punch and get it on the side of the carbide ring and tap it out with a hammer. Helps to hold the die solid (like a in a collet block) but you don't want to damage the threads obviously. Carbide also has a different rate of expansion than steel so heating the steel die body around the ring can expand it to help the carbide ring come out easier.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=521026

[btroj]

Easiest way is to purchase a different brand of crimp die.

[fouronesix]

Yep, for the the 9 and 40 put the Lee FCDs away and get a taper crimp die for each and use correctly. For the 44 Mag (I assume it's a revolver), the Lee FCD might work but try the regular roll crimp usually incorporated in the seater die and use correctly.

[pipehand]

I got the set with the FCD in 40 S&W for the sole reason of using the FCD in Lee's "BulgeBuster" setup. I ordered a separate taper crimp die to actually crimp the loaded rounds. Something you might want to consider before taking out that carbide ring.

[milprileb]

Stone me here but after all the work of smelting, alloy, casting, sizing & lube (on my lubriser) and careful attention to sizing die used to optimize fit to bore . This fit is no small detail and sage bullet casters here will reinforce that point. So after all of this, I want to use this Carbide Crimp die from Lee (yeah, I bought them in 45acp and 9mm and regret so that I did) and swage my bullets during crimp stage of reloading ? Furthermore, why would I even try to seat great properly prepared bullets and try to crimp them in the same die at the same time? You cannot go wrong seating in one stage and crimping on another stage (two dies ).

My Lee Carbide Crimp Dies were a bad investment and no longer used. I seat with a seating die and crimp with a crimp die and this 2 stage drill has served me well the past 44 years. Yes, I have progressive Dillon presses and turret presses so its no big issue to do this but when all I had was a Rock Chucker, I still did it in two steps.

Seating and crimping correctly made cast bullets (after all the attention to detail making them), NO Sir...no short cuts like Carbide crimp dies, Crimp/Seat 1 stage dies !!! Why ruin all my efforts to make great bullets.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

milprileb is right on!

For most use, The Lee product is just wasted money providing your three dies set is properly adjusted.

And as mentioned above, it can cause a huge problem. Took me a long time to figure out why I was having problems with my 45acp.

What is the point of going to the effort of properly sizing cast boolits for the bore of your firearm and then mess up that proper fit with the hooky Lee FCD?

Spend money on a FCD only if a proven need shows up and you can't properly adjust your three die set.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[geargnasher]

RCBS. Save your Lee FCD automatic pistol-caliber dies for loading the jacketed bullets for which they were designed.

Gear

[engineer401]

I sold my Lee FCD dies to others who appreciated them. I now use Dillon crimp dies. The only crimp die I have that is not Dillon is a Redding profile crimp 38/357 die that cost $5.00 at a pawn shop. I haven't used the Redding die yet.

[dkf]

Lee also makes plain old taper crimp dies. They work fine an dare not expensive, I have many of them.

Some shops will stock the 4 die set but not the 3 die set. Not to mention every time I seem to want to order something online at least one of the items are out of stock. I can't count how many times I put a 3 die set in the shopping cart and the taper crimp die was out of stock. When shipping costs a minimum of $10 it sucks to have to order twice. Midsouth has better shipping prices than places like Natchez or Midway which is nice.

[Tatume]

My experience is that complaints about Lee equipment are mostly exaggerated, and the Factory Crimp Die is no exception. I have been using them in 357 Rem Mag, 44 Rem Mag, 45 Colt, and 454 Casull for many years with no complaints (and for several rifle cartridges too). Without any other qualification, I base my opinion on performance. My cast bullet ammunition is very accurate and leaves no leading. What else is there?

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Well, here for one my poor experience with the FCD was is not exaggerated and caused me lots of grief until I found out what the problem was. Die was causing the cast bullet of be forced undersized and the displaced lead not allowing the .45 to go to battery.

As said, 3 die sets do the job most of the time.

CDOC

[MtGun44]

+1 on btroj.

Taper crimp as a separate operation.

Bill

[Recluse]

I only have one FCD for handgun calibers and I use it for only one specific boolit/caliber combination and that would be my .452 200SWC rounds that are loaded for the 1911 platform handguns.

As has been suggested above, taper crimp is the way to go.

:coffee: