RanchDogs FCD for 45colt

[no34570]

Hi Fellas
Ranchdog has these Lee FCD for 44 mag and 45Colt,just like the rifle counterparts,I'm going to get one for my 44 Mag rifle and was wondering if anyone would know,that if the 45 Colt FCD would do a 454 Casull?
Ranchdog is trying to find out,asking his fellow shooters,so I thought that I'd ask here.

I was thinking,that the 454 casull should be fine to use the 45 Colt FCD,it is not that much taller(I don't have a case handy at the moment of either)

What do you think?

[BCall]

Won't work for the 454 without some kind of spacer. They are actuated by the top of the shell holder, not the top of the case. So if the case is 1/8" longer than the 45 it is made for, the crimp wouldn't be on the case mouth, it would crimp 1/8" down the case. Unless you have some sort of spacer to make the die not screw in as far, it won't work properly. Sorry

[MikeS]

Thanks for posting this. I had no idea that they sold rifle type FCD's. I'm going to get one of the 45LC FCD's from Ranchdog as soon as I have some extra money! I was getting ready to order one of the pistol ones, but would much rather have a rifle type.

[no34570]

Won't work for the 454 without some kind of spacer. They are actuated by the top of the shell holder, not the top of the case. So if the case is 1/8" longer than the 45 it is made for, the crimp wouldn't be on the case mouth, it would crimp 1/8" down the case. Unless you have some sort of spacer to make the die not screw in as far, it won't work properly. Sorry

BCall
Would the 1/8th spacer,could it be a 7/8 x 14 washer or bit bigger and place on the reloading press and screw the FCD down on the washer,would that work?
My Rossi L/A 454 Casull,fire 45 Colt as well,might just get one and experiment.
Thanks

[no34570]

Thanks for posting this. I had no idea that they sold rifle type FCD's. I'm going to get one of the 45LC FCD's from Ranchdog as soon as I have some extra money! I was getting ready to order one of the pistol ones, but would much rather have a rifle type.

No worries mate. Ranchdog sells a lot of good stuff !

[LEADHOPPER]

Maybe I am missing something here, but I have the Lee 45 Colt FCD and use it for my 454 Casull. The pistol crimp dies are not activated by the shell holder. Now if the FCD that RanchDog is offering is the FCD for the 45/70 then no you can not use it for the 454 casull. But. I was just over at the Lee website checking into this so I wouldn't look like an huge A** when saying this, and the 45 Colt FCD is listed with the same part # as the 454 Casull.

[LEADHOPPER]

Wait a minute I hate to do this but I must eat crow on this one. I just went and checked out RanchDog's website and I see that they are special order 45 Colt "RIFLE" FCD. I didn't see the "SPECIAL ORDER FROM LEE"

[MikeS]

Well, I decided I couldn't wait, so I went ahead and ordered the 45LC rifle FCD from ranchdog! I don't know the length difference between the 45LC and the 454 Casull but what might work would be a spacer that is as thick as the difference between the 2 placed over the cartridge so it sits between the shell holder, and the bottom of the FCD would probably work. I saw this mentioned in another thread about using a 308Win collet sizing die (which works in a similar fashion to the rifle FCD in that the shell holder pressing against the bottom of the die actuates the die) with the 7.62x54R cartridge. For that application I think a 1/16" thick washer was used (I could be wrong on the size), so if a spacer could be made that's the thickness of the difference between the 2 cartridges could be made, it would probably work.

[Frozone]

A .1" tall "C" shaped spacer glued to the top of a spare shell holder should do the job. Not a lot of side force on it. And it doesn't take that much vertical force to do the crimp

[MikeS]

If .1 is all that's needed, you could also get one of the Redding shell holders that is made thicker. They sell them in several different thicknesses, and I think .1 is one of them. It would be a bit more money wise, but it would work. Another option assuming the die is always going to be used for 454 casull, and never for 45LC would be to glue the washer to the bottom of the Factory Crimp Die itself.

[no34570]

A .1" tall "C" shaped spacer glued to the top of a spare shell holder should do the job. Not a lot of side force on it. And it doesn't take that much vertical force to do the crimp
Frozone
.1" C shaped washer.....what are they???
Sorry for not knowing ,but I dont know if I have seen them???

[no34570]

If .1 is all that's needed, you could also get one of the Redding shell holders that is made thicker. They sell them in several different thicknesses, and I think .1 is one of them. It would be a bit more money wise, but it would work. Another option assuming the die is always going to be used for 454 casull, and never for 45LC would be to glue the washer to the bottom of the Factory Crimp Die itself.
Is it only Redding that make the different size,in thickness shellholders??
I could get a washer and cut a section out of it,to make a C washer and glue it,but to get one at .1" is the hard part,we are all metric[smilie=1:

[Frozone]

Frozone
.1" C shaped washer.....what are they???
Sorry for not knowing ,but I dont know if I have seen them???

~ 2.5mm thick washer with a cutout to let the case slide through will do.

[para45lda]

[smilie=1:

I am not going to say that a nickel is close.

[no34570]

~ 2.5mm thick washer with a cutout to let the case slide through will do.
2.5mm thick,check,no worries mate,thanks

[no34570]

[smilie=1:

I am not going to say that a nickel is close.

Hey,that's not a bad idea,not that I have nickles,but I'll check the 20c 10c we have,good one!!!

[Ziptar]

Pardon my jumping in on the OP with a question.

I didn't even know those were available, hadn't been to the Ranch Dog site in a long time.

Whats the advantage to using the Rifle style FCD for 45 Colt over the Pistol FCD?

Do the collect style dies eliminate possible swaging down of cast bullets?

I haven't noticed any swaging when compare my Pistol FCD and non-FCD reloads but, I'm interested in nonetheless for the price.

In keeping with the OP's original question would something like these 44 Mag / Special Spacers (http://cgi.ebay.com/110726431753) work? (eBay link for reference only) I won a set for 357 / 38 Special from the same guy last week. They are on the way, I can Mic them when they get here.

[BCall]

Those spacers work for regular dies in the expanding/seating/crimping use by raising the die up higher for the magnum cases. Just set the die for specials, then when loading magnums, just add a ring and keep the same settings.

Unfortunately, because the rifle type factory crimp dies actuate off of the shell holder, if you put one of these rings on the die, then it is too high to actuate it and will not work. You either have to have a different die, or put a spacer on the shellholder or guled onto the bottom of the collet as Mike suggested.

In theory, if you set the die to use for magnums, then used a spacer ring in conjunction with a modified shellholder that has the same thickness of spacer glued to the top of it, you could then set the die to use 45 colt, and add the spacer and modified shellholder when loading 454. But those rings by themselves are useless for the rifle type FCD without a way to actuate the collet for crimping.

[BCall]

Oh yeah, as the rifle type FCD dies only crimp at the case mouth and have no sizing ring like the pistol FCD's do, it does eliminate any possibility of swaging down the boolit when crimping.

[Ziptar]

Oh yeah, as the rifle type FCD dies only crimp at the case mouth and have no sizing ring like the pistol FCD's do, it does eliminate any possibility of swaging down the boolit when crimping.


Thanks for both explanations! Appreciate it.