need help with my lee 223 dies

[trickyasafox]

Ok so i have 2 lee 223 dies, one is marked 223-k3 and the other is 223-j4

anyone know what the difference is? both are bullet seater dies, i'm hopeful one is a FCD, but I got one of them in trade and am not sure what set it came from

[versifier]

The FCD has no seater plug, the top of the die is open and you can see the petals of the collet. When in use, the boolit of the loaded round sticks up through it and you can see the point at which the crimp is applied. They cost less than $10 - it isn't going to break the bank to buy one, and I highly recommend them - I have them for every rifle cartridge that I load and they are made for. What you have are two seating dies, no bad thing, especially if you settle on more than one load. Leave one set up for your favorite boolit/bullet and label it. I do that a lot, when I have bought both a regular and a collet die set and have a seater from each. I'm not sure what the codes mean, probably either date of manufacture or the operator of the machine. I'm not sure if there is any difference between seaters supplied with FL and collet dies, they appear to be the same, adjust the same, and work equally well. I have never bothered to try to take them apart to find out, and won't as long as they keep working.

[BudRow]

I too have factory crimp dies for everything I load. They are slick and effective however they require an additional step. Lee may be the economy end of the hobby but they are the inovators of some great ideas. I have been satisfied with 95% of what they make. I particularly appreciate their die offerings in some of the more obscure military calibers. Their moulds will give good service with a little tinkering and care - good value for the price. Bud

[Ranch Dog]

The letter/numbers after the dash are simply date codes.

[trickyasafox]

thanks guys! ah well, i should have known the FCD needed the open top, but my pistol FCD's don't have it and i was hopeful. 8 bucks for a bit more piece of mind is something i can deal with