Lee Crimp Dies

[Jim22]

In a fit of whatever I ordered one each .357 Mag. Lee crimp dies. I have the 'Factory Crimp Die' and I have their 'Collet Style Crimp Die'. I have only used the Factory Crimp die but I wonder about the other. I very much like the look of ammo crimped with a properly set Factory Crimp Die. Where might I use the other to my advantage?

Jim

[recumbent]

I use a Lee collet die on .223 ammo. works good.

[wilecoyote]

usually Lee collet dies works fine on my semiauto bottleneck rifle brass.
FC works at their best on my straight revolver or straight lever rifle brass

[asdf]

In a fit of whatever I ordered one each .357 Mag. Lee crimp dies. I have the 'Factory Crimp Die' and I have their 'Collet Style Crimp Die'. I have only used the Factory Crimp die but I wonder about the other. I very much like the look of ammo crimped with a properly set Factory Crimp Die. Where might I use the other to my advantage?

Jim

I use the collet crimp die to put a roll crimp on .45 slugs that have no grooves. Collets exert more force than the push-type crimpers, so that makes it useful for ungrooved bullets.

[BMW Rider]

Collet die gives consistent crimps when reloading mixed brass of differing lengths whereas FCD doesn’t.

[mdi]

Collet crimp die? Yes! Post crimping sizing die? No!

[tja6435]

I use the Dillon crimp die for 38spl and the Lee collet die on .357. Life is too short to worry about boolit pull from recoil.

[Messy bear]

The factory crimp is kind of misnamed. It is actually a post size die for the last step. It is larger than the regular size die that you use first. The idea is to make sure all rounds don’t exceed a certain diameter that would prohibit chambering.
It has a crimp ring that is adjustable by the knurled stem on top to provide a regular roll crimp or if an auto caliber, a taper crimp.
Some love it some hate it. Usually if people hate it it is because the die is too small for their loaded rounds.

[Ziptar]

10 years or so ago the only way to get a .357, .44, or .45 pistol caliber Lee collet crimp die was through RanchDog, used to have them custom done by Lee before they were a regular catalog item. That's where I got mine. Lee added them to their catalog not long after, so I guess it must've made sense to them and they realized they were useful.

I use the collet crimp die for 98% of my .45 Colt loads, it's a better crimp for cast for two reasons. 1. Under heavy recoil from hot loads it keep bullets from shifting. 2. With light loads it's tight hold results in a cleaner burn using powders like Unique so there's less soot and unburned powder but no over pressure.

I had a Factory Crimp Die once a long time ago, got rid of it. First time I used it I mic'd the diameter of the case at the crimp groove before and after using the FCD. Used it on 50 rounds and damned if it didn't swage every singe bullet down by ~ .003 as I recall so the bullets I took the time and effort to size to 0.452 ended up re-sized to 0.449. That aint't right! I posted about it here, probably can still dig it up.

[Carrier]

I just knock the ring out and no more worries about sizing down bullets.

[mdi]

I knocked the ring out of the only FCD I bought. The remaining crimp was no better (and not as good as most) plain roll crimp dies. At that time I also had a Profile Crimp die which was excellent so the FCD moved to a landfill somewhere in So. Oregon. I now have a collet crimp die in four calibers; two handgun and two rifle...

[Hi-Speed]

I tried collet (Lee) crimp die and it marked the heck out of my 357 cases. I’ve also used Lee FCD for years but I prefer roll crimping more with an RCBS crimp die (removed seater plug) or Redding Profile Crimp die. I didn’t like the extra step of lubing the Profile Crimp die but I use a simple expedient…lightly lubricate a Qtip with Ballistol and coat the inside of the die and then take a dry Qtip to remove any excess. Ballistol is a “wonder” lube!

[GONRA]

Based ln GONRA's vast experience (?) runnin' yer auto pistol reloads thru LFC die
USUALLY is a "good idea".