Lee factory crimp die vs. dillon crimp die

[boatswainsmate]

I have always used dillon crimp dies but I am starting to load a new caliber and wondered if anyone has had good luck with lee's product. Thanks in Advance.

[RobS]

Lee dies work fine however the Lee Factory Crimp die for straight wall pistol cartridges can be hit and miss depending on if the carbide ring will size down the lead boolit when entering the die just before crimping.

[Wayne Smith]

Rifle dies are very useful but shouldn't be necessary. I got one for my 44-40's when I was over compressing BP and it caused the cartridges to fit all three of my guns. Once I went back to a reasonable amount of compression I didn't need it.

[Boyscout]

Jury is out for me on the straight walled pistol case FCD's. When in doubt I drop my handgun rounds into a case gauge and if they don't pass I use the Lee FCD.

I love the Lee FCD's for my rifle reloading. It allows me to change bullet types on the fly and not have to sychronize seating and crimping on the same die.

[fredj338]

For handguns, the LFCD is a solution to a problem that does not exist. Buy quality dies, set them up right, use proper reloading techniques, the LFCD isn't needed. It can even cause a loss in accuracy depending on the bullet mat'l. A normal taper or roll crimp, any brand does a better job.

[boho]

I use the Lee FCD on my 30-30 rounds, and the Lee TCD on my semi-auto pistol rounds. Both work nicely!

[boatswainsmate]

Thanks for the reply's!

[MT Chambers]

An answer in search of a question.

[enfieldphile]

LFCD (for straight handgun cals) is about the only Lee product I don't care for. For revolver ammo, I use a Redding Profile Crimp die. For .45ACP, a Lee Taper Crimp die.

[oldfart1956]

Whats the new caliber you're fixin' to reload? If it's .40 S&W the Lee Factory Crimp die can be a lifesaver. I started with a pile of range brass (.40 S&W)fired in dozens of different guns. Some of it was Glocked beyond use but some of it had minor bulging. Yes you could just run it thru the normal size/de-cap die but that never sizes all the way down even when adjusted to touch the shell holder. Take the LFC die and remove the innards and install it in the press. Take any push-pin for a Lee push-thru sizing die that will fit inside the .40 case and put it in the ram as normal. (up to the .358 sizing pin works) Make sure to adjust the die so the shoulder of the pin does not hit the carbide!!!! Now start running the .40 cases base first thru the die. You just converted the LFC die to a bulge buster die. I then put the die (guts re-installed) in the 4th. position on the Lee Turret press. #3 seats and #4 removes any flare and applies an almost un-noticeable crimp. I don't think some folks realize the amount of crimp is adjustable. Just my two cents. Audie..the Oldfart...

[True.grit]

I only use LFC die for j-words in a rifle, due to the chance they will change the diameter of the boolit.

[Larry Gibson]

I load lot's of 45 ACP ammunition on a Dillon SDB and have for years. It has the propriety Dillon SDB dies. Ammunition loaded on the SDB with .452 sized cast bullets in many different cases, commercial and milsurp, has chambered in every 45 ACP chambered firearm I've tried it in over the years. These have been numerous M1911 and other semi-autos, M1917 Colt & S&Ws, several subguns (M3A1s, M1928s and MAC-10s), several semi-auto rifles and several bolt action conversions.

Never had a problem and would have agreed whole heartily that the Lee FCD was "an answer in search of a question". Then I got a Para-14 several years ago with a match chamber. Factory loads and cast bullet loads with .451 sized bullets all chambered with 100% reliability and shot extremely well. With my own SDB loads that function 100% in everything else there were 2 -4 failure to chamber (slide not going last 1/8" or so into battery) out of every 13 round mag.

I re-adjusted the Dillon dies in the SDB, sorted brass, tried 3 different commercial cast and 3 of my own cast bullets sized .452 etc. and even switched to the 45 Colt sizing die which does not size the 45 ACP cases down as much. I could not get reliable functioning regardless of what I did unless I either used .451 sized bullets or ran the Dillon SDB loaded ammunition through a Lee 45 ACP FCD. When I did either functioning was 100% reliable. As a test I loaded all 5 of my 13 round mags and fired them with .452 sized 452-190-SWC cast bullets loaded on the SDB. I ended up with 18 rounds that did not chamber and fire. I then ran 12 of those through the Lee FCD and they then functioned perfectly. I then pulled 3 of the remaining 6 bullets and mic'd them. They all were the same .4522 +/- as before loading. I ran the remaining 3 through the L FCD and then pulled the bullets and measured them. Two of them ran .4518 +/- and the other was .4522 +/-. Obviously some sizing down was going on.

I then ran 50 SDB loaded rounds through the FCD and noticed that about the same % (18 this time) as those rounds that failed to chamber also were obviously being sized or straightened out in the Lee FCD. I removed the barrel from the Para-14 and performed a "plunk" test on all 50. The 18 were a very tight fit but did "plunk". I then did a "plunk" test with 50 additional non Lee FCD sized rounds and sorted out 20 rounds that did not "plunk". I then rolled those on a piece of plate glass and the entire cartridges were obviously a lot out of round. Running them through the Lee FCD reduced the out of roundness to a noticeable degree.

My conclusion was the Lee FCD sized the bullets a bit (how much appears to depend on thickness of the case walls) and also straightens out some rounds the bullet may have seated crookedly in. I will note here that due to the various different cast bullets I load on the SDB I use the Bullet seater for the RN shaped bullets. That may or may not exasperate the second problem. I did also set up my RCBS dies in my Dillon 550B and test loads loaded with those dies. The RCBS seater does have the SWC seating stem and the .452 sized Lee 452-190-SWCs were used. While that reduced the % about in half of rounds that would not chamber in the Para-14 it did not solve the problem. The Para-14s tight chamber requires .452 sized cast to be run through the Lee FCD for 100% reliable functioning.

I thought it was just my Para-14 that was the problem until my grandson showed up some months back with a Kahr 45 ACP. Sorry don't remember the model but it was the small polymer framed model. It also would not reliably chamber any cast bullet 45 ACP ammunition with .452 sized bullets unless they were ran through the Lee FCD.

I have several solutions; forst is to keep separate 45 ACP ammunition loaded on the SDB and then run through the Lee FCD for exclusive use in the Para-14. Second solution is to just use .451 sized bullets and continue loading 45 ACP on the SDB. Accuracy and absence of leading remains the same in my other 45 ACP firearms (2 M1911s, a S&W M1917 and a M98 converted Mauser). The other solution is to load my 45 ACP ammunition with .452 sized cast bullets on the Dillon 550B with the Lee FCD in station 4. Haven't made up my mind yet but I have indeed found the Lee FCD to be a useful tool.

Larry Gibson

[W.R.Buchanan]

I use the Lee FCD's on High Volume rounds like .223/5.56. The reason is, that I can't get a consistent roll crimp with a normal seating die with the seating stem removed due to slight differences in the case length. Most all of my .223's are one way trip so I'm not going to trim them and the Lee FCD fixed the problem. Wouldn't hesitate to use one on .308 or .30-06's to be fired in a autoloader or bolt gun. This is the collet type FCD.

The pistol FCD is a completely different animal and has a carbide sizing ring in the bottom to deal with any cases that get bulged during the loading process since they wouldn't chamber in your guns.

On pistol rounds I use a Lee FCD in .40 cal to debulge cases. This sizes the cases to @.422-423. An .011 case wall thickness would allow a boolit of .401 in most cases. A .402 boolit would probably be sized a small amount. However many cases I have only have .010 case wall thickness. This would allow a bigger boolit before sizing would occur.

It kind of depends on your exact circumstances, and you have to measure everything before you blame failure on these tools. They will work within a pretty narrow band of tolerances.

If they didn't work nobody would buy them. Mine work just fine. A little more to this than simply stuffing a round in the die and expecting success.

Randy

[bart55]

Have much the same results as Larry,452 sized lead runs in my WW2 Remington Taurus, Springfield and the 17's but my Colt commander or my brothers Kimber will only run with 451 sized bullets or I can run them on the 550 with the Lee FCD and they work . It was a huge pain until I figured out that simply installing the fcd solved the problem . My two cents anyway

[Groo]

Groo here
Unless you have a gun that is most over sized chamber/bore the lee fcd will NOT cause a problem .
Yes there is a problem that the die fixes, the bullet that is not started correctly or an oversized round.
Most important on auto or all SD rounds where fit and function overrides accuracy .
If you custom make loads for a specific gun you don't need it.
If you make general loads for many guns you want it.
If youmake loads that "must" work no matter what , the fcd or similar is almost required.....

[ROGER4314]

I posted this in another thread but it seems to fit well here.

Been loading .45acp since the late 60's and never had a problem chambering my reloads until recently. I use a cartridge gauge to check my reloads and the finished rounds began to hang up before the rim seated in the gauge.

I use "zero bell" crimp. Simply put, I seat the bullet and only squeeze the case mouth enough to remove the "bell." I've always able to do that with the standard RCBS seating die. I got tired of fussing with it, so I bought Lee Taper Crimp dies for .45, 9x19 and .40 caliber for $12 each at Midway.

On the 4th hole in the Dillon RL550B, I install the Lee taper crimp die and use the RCBS die only to seat the bullet in position 3. I rotate to position 4 and apply the taper crimp die on the cartridge. The finished rounds slip into my gauge like a comfortable old shoe, now!

I don't know why after decades of use, the rounds started coming out tight in the gauge. I CAN say that the Lee $12 taper crimp die solved the problem completely!

Flash