Lee Factory Crimp Dies

[chaos]

I've never put too much faith in Lee brand stuff as it just looks and feels cheap.

I had a Lee balance beam type scale that went haywire on me back when I first started handloading. I was lucky and caught it when it happened. Sledge hammer fixed it for good.

I swore off lee there after......................... until recently

I did purchase a lee pot and it works well.

I was having a problem with my bullets in my marlin magazine ( 45-70)setting themselves deeper in the case upon firing. Folks at another site I frequent suggested the Lee Factory Crimp die. I purchased it. It looks and feels like standard Lee stuff....cheap.

I was pleasantly suprised how well this thing performed. As I have no more setback problems. This was with jacketed bullets.

Can I use this die with my cast loads without ill effects or will it "Swage" my slugs down? Crimps so pretty I'd like to get one for each caliber that I have chambered in a levergun.


Chaos

[Heavy lead]

The factory crimp rifle dies will not swage err resize or postsize if you will the case. I've had a 444 and a 45-70 both and they crimp only, like much. The pistol factory crimp dies will post size however (although my 45 Colt doesn't, lucky me).

[supv26]

I have a Lee factory crimp die for almost everything load. I think they are the best especialy for tamper crimping. I started loading with Lee gear over 20 years ago and still use it.......well up until today.

I have had a set of RCBS 44 magnum dies in my cabinet for 10 years. Just today I got them out and set them up. Granted, I was setting them up on top of a Lee turret press and after downloading the instructions from the internet I finally got them going. First off, I am going to miss the "Powder through" expanding die that Lee uses because RCBS doesn't have that. I will have to change each case seperately. However, all 3 dies mounted right up on a 3 hole turret head and they are going to work fine.

As for swaging your boolits I wouldn't think so as long as you do not tighten the crimp up too tight.

[leftiye]

As long as you crimp into a groove, no problemo. Lee FC dies will crimp right into your boolit if you put your crimp elsewhere. No way out of it - if there wasn't a groove there before, there will be afterward. On some heavy neck thickness rounds (including some pistol and revolter cases) the brass is strong enough to size down your boolits - especially with a heavy crimp or soft boolits. Use an impact puller, and measure the boolit after it is pulled to see if your rounds will do this.

[Heavy lead]

Yup, I crimp 454190's all the time.

[mooman76]

Adjust it for a light crimp and you should be fine. I have dempled jacked bullets before. That was because it was new to me at the time and I couldn't feel it doing much so I thought it wasn't. Well it was and I cranked it down anyway so it sized down the bullet.

[leadeye]

I used mine to correct some 357 that were too fat for the Python's chamber, sort of like a mistake fixer. Worked like nothing else.:-D

[randyrat]

If you use a FCD with excessive large boolits(cast) you may have a problem with brass bouncing back.
I just picked one up yesterday and read the instructions. I played with it last night for a little while seems to work like a charm. Set up is a breeze.
So far i'm not resizing my boolits just placing a nice tight squeeze on the mouth of the case, the distance you squeeze is adjustable.
Next is to see if they improve accuracy.

[WHITETAIL]

chaos, I am not a big fan of Lee.
But I will say that the FCD of Lee
realy do a good job of crimping.
I use it on my 45-70 and my 30-30.
Gotten good results with both boolets.:Fire:

[BCB]

I have them for 270, 7-30, 30-30, 357, 44, and 45LC. Never had a problem with them. Sometimes I crimp when seating the bullets. The times I don’t and use the extra step, I use a FCD. Good-luck…BCB

[chaos]

chaos, I am not a big fan of Lee.
But I will say that the FCD of Lee
realy do a good job of crimping.
I use it on my 45-70 and my 30-30.
Gotten good results with both boolets.:Fire:


I purchased the Dies in those exact calibers. I was just wondering if they would work Ok in my cast 44 loads. I size to .430.

I have only tried them on some Bulk Remington 405's & 300hp's for the 45-70. Gotta seat them deeper than the cannalures with the 405's to get them to feed in a levergun. It does work well.

I roll crimped the 300hps to the point of buckling the case and backed off just a tad. Bullets were still jumping around in the brass from recoil. The LFCD cured it.

[Throwback]

Some Lee stuff is excellent and very innovative, the FCD being a great example. Some stuff is well... I can say the same for the other manufacturers too. I am probably not alone in having a hugely diverse reloading supply room with Dillon, Hornady, Pacific, Redding, RCBS, Lyman, & Lee equipment to name a few. That said, the Lee FCD is about the best thing going for lever cartidges. I have one for the.30-30 & .35 Rem. I have often found seating/crimping dies to be very frustrating. It is more than needing to trim your brass (you should do that anyway). How often does the crimping process distort or even damage the case mouth with some dies!? - Too often in my experience.

It is a good idea to kick the tires and investigate products from the various companies and not assume that all is fish or fowl with any of them.

[JSnover]

The first thing I did with my Lee crimp dies was read the instructions. That's important because the second thing I always do is lose the instructions. I'm pretty sure they said exactly what everyone else has said; apply a roll crimp into an existing groove or cannelure on the bullet. Taper crimps can be applied anywhere but in either case, crimp only as much as you need. Overdoing it will only cause problems. My Lee powder measure leaked quite a bit and the Lee scale drove me nuts. But thier presses and dies are just fine.