Lee Rifle Collet crimp

[Blanco]

So
As with most Lee tools there always seems to be a mixed reaction to everything they make. I suppose it may be from the fact that the price puts it the hands of a lot of inexperienced reloaders.
I do not count myself as an expert by any means, but I have generally had good luck with Lee equipment when used as intended. I have almost no experience with the Rifle Collet crimp.
I can see that it could easily overcrimp a case with a bit too much adjustment. I have not used it on bullets with a canalure yet.
I have made the assumption that a light crimp on smooth bullets would be ok, as I have not seen anyone say it was dangerous?
My adjustment method has been to adjust the die until the collet just closes on the neck. I then add about a 1/8 turn more to apply the slightest pressure to the neck.
this still leaves a nice bit of the squared lip exposed that you can see and feel.
So is this the proper method or should I do something different?

[newrib]

Hello Blanco, I use the same die with good results on cast bullets in 303s, crimping just slightly to remove the flare caused by belling. I have found that the best way to get consistent results is to check your brass for length after sizing and trim if they are too long.

[sdcitizen]

I'd say you have it about right, I had to over-crimp some non-cannelure bullets and pull them to find out how much crimp to use.

[EDG]

If you examine factory ammo you will find that crimp can vary a good bit. Some cases are crimped so hard onto the facotry cannelured bullets that the case mouth gets saw teeth impressions. I stop short of this with my own crimping.
I close the case mouth down on cannelured J bullets until the inside of the case mouth is locked against the front edge of the cannelure. This is for tube magazine and autoloaders to keep the bullet from being driven into the case.
For other rifles I only use the factory collet crimp die to remove the flare from the case.
I would never crimp a smooth jacketed bullet - I don't care what Lee says about that. He has his share of good ideas and he has his share of goofy ideas too - like round dies boxes and rubber o rings that prevent the die from ever being set the same exact way twice.

[popper]

Blanco - you are doing it right. All I use on S-A & tube rifle anymore. Just get rid of the flare. If they push back BEFORE crimping, neck tension is wrong.

saw teeth impressions Only time I've seen that is factory Hornady 308MX and the case is made that way. Most of the Rem & Win I've seen is FCD'd at the canulare, pretty deep. Non canulare seems to be taper crimped (308W).

[725]

With the LFCD I use very little crimping. Just a bit goes a long way for me. Don't want to deform the bullet / boolit, but rather take out any flare and add a snug.

[popper]

Blanco - I forgot to mention that neck thickness variations will change the crimp. I usually set the FCD to remove the flare on the thinner cases and just use feel (single stage press) to do the others. I don't crimp in the cannular (don't have any on my cast) for bullets, even 30/30 or semi 308s.

[MT Chambers]

Why not save your money and just crimp with your seating die, crimp hard or just remove the flare, some find it better to crimp as a separate step after seating.

[FLHTC]

I have found something quite interesting about the Lee collet neck size die that I routinely do. If you remove the aluminum cap and push up the decapping pin and remove it, the die produces a beautiful crimp without over working the case mouth. The pressure can be adjusted to provide just enough grip on the bullet and do it the entire length of the neck.

[AntiqueSledMan]

They do work very nice for heeled bullets.

[Garyshome]

Why not save your money and just crimp with your seating die, crimp hard or just remove the flare, some find it better to crimp as a separate step after seating.
So it doesn't shave the cast boolit.

[jcren]

Have great luck putting a couple thousanths squeeze on my hunting/accuracy loads. Found out the hard way that the 1/4 turn medium crimp is pretty tight ( had to pull down some skrew-ups) and switched to just past straightening the flare. Dime sized groups with Sierra j-words in a stock rem 700 don't lie.