LEE 3 or 4 die set???

[fusil]

Salut,
I'm at my wits end.:confused:

I'm looking to order my next sets of dies for my 9mm & 45 ACP.
I have the 4 die set for loading 38spl's-de-cap/flare & powder/ seat/ roll crimp.
The fellas at the range this morning have totally confused me (which aint hard).:veryconfu

Why do I need the 'factory crimp' if the 3rd die seats and crimps???

Merci,
fusil

[MtGun44]

I would strongly recommend a separate taper crimp die for both 9mm and .45 acp
for best reliability.

A very large fraction of feeding reliability problems with .45 ACP is due to inadequate
removal of the flare. It is more reliable to seat in one die and then set up the taper
crimp die to push about half the thickness of the brass into the lead as a separate
operation.

Also, use your dismounted barrel as a gage when setting up bollit seating depth and
taper crimp amount. You should ideally be able to drop a loaded round into the
chamber (bbl held muzzle down) and have it drop in. No more than 1 lb pressure should
be required to fully seat the round in the chamber, flush with the hood on a 1911 type,
or similar parts on other designs. You can get the boolit engaging the rifling and holding
the cartridge out too far or with inadequate taper crimp you get the case mouth scraping
on the chamber and also causing difficulty fully seating the round. Also you can get
'roof jams' with inadequate taper crimp in some 1911s (bullet stuck against the top of
the chamber, half out of the mag). If you used the search feature, I have been involved in
several long threads on this very subject (taper crimp, feeding problems in .45ACP) and
they may be of interest to you. Note that roll crimps can work just fine on .45 ACP, but I
know I have far more consistent crimp with revolver ammo when I trim to common length,
so with my hugely heterogenious brass mix in .45 ACP I fear missing roll crimp on some short
rounds that TC will work for. YMMV.

Some 4 die sets (Lee notabley) add a "factory crimp die". I have not used one of these but
from the discussions here, it seems that they are a crimp and overall resize die. Some folks
like this, some have found the sizing function to compress the boolit with the case springing
back, resulting in loss of case neck tension against the boolit. Personally, I think it is an
ingenious solution to a non-existent problem and would not use it. Some folks like them,
and as a general rule Lee stuff is usually very innovative, and while I really like the collet
type Lee Factory Crimp Die for RIFLES, I will not buy one that fully resizes the loaded round
for pistol.

Bill

PS I really enjoyed our recent visit to France. We took some great tours of Normandy, spent
time on the std Paris attractions and generally had a great time.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

MTGun has it, you need a taper crimp die with the auto pistol rounds , NO roll crimp.[smilie=1: