Lee Fcd 44

[Edward429451]

Mrs Claus brought me some reloading stuff and since everyone seems to speak so highly of the Lee FCD's, I had her include some of those to try out.

With the 44 FCD I got more than I bargained for and more than I wanted. It sizes the case too instead of just crimping it. I suppose this is fine for someone who loads only j bullets, but I'm a leadhead and like my oversize boolits (.430)

From what I can tell from mic'ing it, it reduces it .002, and did not include a lead remover kit lol.

Can I drill that carbide sizing ring out of it, or larger, so it wont touch my case? I don't need my ammo to fit in any gun, just mine and I know my loads just went downhill without even testing the (one) that I crimped with it. Don't like it no siree bob. I do want to try the crimp only because I'm playin around with H-110 and am tryin to get them to ignite more consistently.

I have a drill press but am unsure if I'll need a special bit for the carbide or will a standard bit be ok. I have a dremel also but mostly use it for polishing so am unsure which bit to try with that. Hmmm. Please advise!

[ANeat]

Ive heard of guys knocking out the carbide ring. I dont think you could ever drill it out. I dont know if you could just cut off the end of the die above where the ring is. I dont have one here in front of me.

Might try taking the adjuster out of the top, install the die in a single stage press. Insert a punch from the top and knock the ring out.

[MT Gianni]

return it and hope for a proper size or just do with out it. If your loads shot and chambered well before, why would you want to add an extra step? Gianni

[ANeat]

The crimp part is real handy and easy to adjust but on a straight cased round the carbide ring is almost always to small for a lead bullet. Ive heard of some guys ordering one from Lee without the ring.

[WKAYE]

Edward,
Just remove the guts of the die and screw it in your press. Take a punch and reaching through the top, tap on the top of the ring and knock it out. Move the punch from one side to the other for each tap. I once had 4000 empty 38 Sp cases and enough carefully cast bullets to load them, as well as a new progressive press and a Lee FC die. Took me a while to figure out why those ammo cans of fresh rounds didn't shoot nearly as well and leaded my 686 , unlike the rounds loaded on my Rockchucker not using the FC die . :( That was a tough lesson.

[VTDW]

You can also reduce the amount of crimp considerably just by adjusting the die. I shoot nothing but .432 boolits in my .444s and RH .44Mag along with .311 boolits in my .308MX and have absolutely no problems with accuracy or squeezing down the boolits. I will say that on the special order LFCD for the .308MX I did have to polish the inside of the die body and the sleeve that pushes up thru the body for a smooth crimp.

Dave

[Edward429451]

return it and hope for a proper size or just do with out it. If your loads shot and chambered well before, why would you want to add an extra step?

I already crimp seperately so it isn't an extra step. I'm trying to get a load with H-110 working better. H-110 is (supposedly) crimp sensitive.

I like the FCD for Rifle rounds (collet type).

WKaye, I only got one round crimped and said oh no. I guess I'll give er a try punching it out tomorrow. Thanks

[mtgrs737]

I don't use my Lee Factory Carbide Crimp die in 45 acp, I use a RCBS Taper Crimp die on the crimping station of my Dillon 550B and it works fine, all my reloads pass the camber gauge 100%. Now my 9mm Luger loads are a different story, on those I needed the Lee die to take out that last little case bulge down near the base that my re-size die couldn't quite reach. I have heard that some reloaders will buy an undersized sizing die or even grind off a little of the bottom length to remove some of the radius of the sizing die to get it to size down lower to eliminate this problem on the short 9mm case, but I like the Lee FCCD as it is less trouble for me.

[utk]

I have a drill press but am unsure if I'll need a special bit for the carbide or will a standard bit be ok. I have a dremel also but mostly use it for polishing so am unsure which bit to try with that. Hmmm. Please advise!

Can you use the drill press to spin the die body and use the Dremel to open up the carbide insert just so much as not to squeeze the boolit but still helping with aligning/centering the case in the die?

[Dale53]

I use the Lee Factory Crimp die for .32 S&W L /.32 H&R, .38/.357, .44 Special/Magnum, and .45 ACP. I have not had a problem with the ring being too small. I use .313" bullets in .32's, .358" in .38/.357, .430" in the .44s, and .452" in the .45 ACP, all with out the bullet being sized down. I have tried the Ed Harris method of loading larger "as cast" bullets in the .32's and it works as advertised (using as cast bullets the cartridges are too large to freely chamber before using the FCD - putting as cast bullets in unsized cases and then running them thru the FCD does work). However, since I use the Dillon 550B, I just run them normally, The FCD gives me a nice, easily adjusted crimp and does NOT size my properly sized bullets down. However, the carbide ring asssures me that my outside diameter is not excessive and is especially welcomed when using auto loads (.45 ACP, etc).

The Lee FCD's are just like ALL tools, they have to be correct for your needs. Nothing is "one size fits everything".

As an example, I have three .32 revolvers chambered for .32 H&R. I can use "as cast" bullets in two of them but one is sticky with .314" bullets. The factory crimp die reduces the .314" to .313" in the case without damaging accuracy. However, I prefer to size the bullets to .313" in my Star luber/sizer so the FCD does NOT size anything down. It IS there to assure that all of my .32's will chamber in ALL of my revolvers.

Of course, if it did not fit my needs, I would remove the carbide ring or optionally, would increase it's size (possible, but not easy). Maybe a diamond lap??

Dale53

[mtgrs737]

The 45 acp case has only a slight taper to it of about .003". If you load bullets that are .002" over nominal size then the Lee factory carbide crimp die may not work as it is intended which is to iron out any bulges in the loaded round so that they will fit a minimum chamber. If you size the brass and then try it in the chamber and it fits fine then the sizing of the lower non bullet holding part of the case is small enough to fit. When the case is expanded and the oversized bullet is seated and the case bell is removed the round still should fit the chamber of the gun. If it does not then the brass case has too thick of walls, or the chamber is too tight, or the bullet is too large in diameter to work in this gun, (or all of the above). The Lee die is designed to swage down the loaded round to fit a minimum chamber gun and if it has to it will swage the bullet and case to fit via the carbide sizing ring. Removing the ring turns this die into a crimp only die, so why bother, just use a taper crimp die to begin with and keep the Lee to iron out bulges that the regular sizing die can't reach. You could also sort cases by the thinnest case wall thickness to minimize the effect of oversized bullets. :castmine:

[WKAYE]

Removing the ring turns this die into a crimp only die, so why bother, just use a taper crimp die to begin with and keep the Lee to iron out bulges that the regular sizing die can't reach. You could also sort cases by the thinnest case wall thickness to minimize the effect of oversized bullets.

1- All I want a crimp die to do is roll the case mouth into the grove in the bullet.
2- If my regular sizing die didn't resize my cases properly , I'd toss it.
3- I'd love to watch someone sort 4000 cases by neck thickness. :roll:

[38 Super Auto]

From what I can tell from mic'ing it, it reduces it .002, and did not include a lead remover kit lol.



Thanks for the heads up. I need a roll crinp die for 357. I think I'll go with the Redding Profile crimp die

[Edward429451]

I couldn't get my punch to not skate off the thin lip of the carbide ring so I dropped a scrap piece of 44 mag brass down in the die and punched into the web of the case. It came out with about 3 taps easy as pie and I am a happy camper now. The 44 case rim is smaller than the die body and large enough to support the ring all the way around for removal.

Thanks guys!

[utk]

Thanks for the heads up. I need a roll crinp die for 357. I think I'll go with the Redding Profile crimp die

I also wanted a separate crimp die for .357 Mag but I don't quite like the Redding Profile die, it seems to make a long slow taper that ends in a roll crimp into the cannelure of the boolit.
So instead I ordered Dillon's crimp die for 38/357 and I'm much more happy with "the looks" of this roll crimp.
I don't shoot good enough to tell if there's a difference though...

[snuffy]

I got a lee FCD for loading my 44's for my SBH. First try at loading 44's on the 650. I did NOT like the looks of the TAPER crimp the FCD put on my 44 cases. Yeah, I know it was supposed to be a roll crimp!:roll: So a suggestion on some forum said the Redding profile crimp did a great job of roll crimping. I just loaded 4-500 rounds using the redding profile. I'm extremely happy with the results!

I too love the rifle,(bottleneck), FCD. And the FCD for the 357 sig is also a collet type.

[lmcollins]

I only use Lee FCD's for my auto pistol cartridges. These are close range guns, and accuracy is not a premium like my hunting guns (revolvers.)

If you have access to a lathe the caarbide ring could be polished oout to a larger size buy using standard Silicone Carbide wet-or-dry paper that you get at autobody supply stores or Homedepot. Start with something like 220 grit. The coarser the better. You might need to use something like WD-40 for a lube to keep from loading. A silicone grinding wheel is what we use to sharpen carbide lathe tools. It is called a "greenwheel."

[Ranch Dog]

II like the FCD for Rifle rounds (collet type).

Lee will make you a FCD of this type for the 44 Mag.

[Edward429451]

That's what I thought (she) was ordering in the first place, collet type. Would that be a special order item, complete with 2 year wait, lol?

I tried mine out last night on some 245 Keiths and I like the crimp. Now if it just shoots better...

[EMC45]

Well fellas I tried the whole beat out the ring on My FCD 45 ACP Lee die thing. No luck! It took a Craftsman round punch and chewed it up pretty good. I am going to leave it alone. Unless there is another way. I too would like to crimp without the sizing operation.

[Edward429451]

Try dropping an empty case inside the die and punch into the web of the case. That's what worked for me on the 44 die. (no primer of course, and the case web will prolly be damaged making it a pc of scrap brass...)

[EMC45]

Would hitting it with a self loading machinists punch work to crack the tring?

[Lloyd Smale]

another way is to just a standard lee seating die (or any seating die of the right caliber) and take the seating plug out of it and use it just to crimp as a forth station on your press.

[EMC45]

I have a standard seating die (RCBS) and I have a FCD by Lee. I would like to seat and taper crimp in 2 steps. The rounds I do load with the FCD shoot great, shot 50 rds yesterday and they worked great!

[Woodwrkr]

I've not tried this myself but I've heard of someone on another forum (M1911.org) who used a diamond burr in his Dremel to grind two grooves in the carbide ring in order to pry (or punch) the carbide sizing ring out of the Lee FCD.

[utk]

I hack-sawed off the bottom of the die with the carbide ring and then trued up the die body in a lathe (not really necessary but looks nicer).

Never tried it out afterwards, though. Changed my plans and bought a Dillon crimp die instead, figured it would align the case better before the actual crimping action began.

[GSPKurt]

I just called Lee and had them send me a FCD for my .454 Casull and specified I was using .454, not .452 bullets, and they are sending the proper FCD. They were very helpful. If you call, ask for Pat.

[GSPKurt]

another way is to just a standard lee seating die (or any seating die of the right caliber) and take the seating plug out of it and use it just to crimp as a forth station on your press.

That's also a good idea.