Lee Factory Crimp Die "faults"

[prs]

On another board, a fellow caster loader lamented about how his Lee FCDs post sized his boolits quite a bit. He was working with several hand gun calibers and the FCD appeares to be "swaging" them all. Not just by squashing the cases in on them too much, but also by sometimes contacting the upper parts of the boolits above the case mouths. I don' use my FCD die very much, but had not noticed that trouble. My cases, when sized and then internally sized with a fixture designed for lead boolits and then with boolit seated and not crimped, will fall right into the FCD. But now I notice some folks on this board mentioning the same troubles. Educate me about the troubles with the FCD.

prs

[462]

prs,
The FCD, for hangun calibers, is designed to size the case to jacketed dimensions. If you are loading a boolit, which is larger in diameter than a bullet, you will end up with a boolit that is smaller than what you want. The bottleneck rifle caliber FCD works on a different principle -- crimping just the very top of the case mouth -- and is not problematic.

I had Lee regular handgun seating dies that were downsizing boolits, and got rid of them.

[DLCTEX]

Oversize boolits are going to get sized and the cases with oversized boolits will get squeezed. I size my boolits .001 oversize and have not had any problems. I have had the FCD drag when over crimping and creating a bulge. I like the FCD and believe the majority of people experiencing problems are trying to use it on too large boolits. It is possible to get a die that is a little tight on the size ring, but I haven't seen one. We are talking about pistol dies, the rifle dies are entirely different and work great if not adjusted too tight and is crimping in the crimp groove. It can actually crimp a canalure in a jacketed bullet if you desire to, or crimp on a gas check if the boolit is long enough to reach it while holding the boolit. I think both are fine tools if you aren't asking them to do something they weren't designed to do.

[Frozone]

The carbide in the crimp die is supposed to be to chamber dimensions. The Idea is to ensure you never build a cartridge that won't chamber. If it wasn't swagged a little you couldn't get it to chamber without forcing it anyway. At least that's the plan, I can see were tolerances can add up to make it on the - side. I have a FCD in 454 that is just a nat's hair to big and will let me reload one that won't chamber in my Casull. I can feel it rub as I pull the cartridge out but it's still big at the crimp and won't seat in the chamber that last 1/16". Then again the gun is a Ruger and probably isn't up to snuff on chamber dimensions!!!

[sdelam]

I use the handgun FCD's as a fail safe. I just unscrew the crimp screw all the way so it dosnt put any extra crimp on the round. Most times it dosnt do anything but fill the last hole on the LNL.

When I first stared loading Cast 45 rounds I was setting it up like the instructions and had bad leading problems. After pulling some rounds, I found that they where all swedged down. After unscrewing the crimp screw on the FCD they run great. I know this is really not needed if the seating die is set up correctly but it gives me a warm fuzzy knowing nothing will drop out that wont chamber.

I do use the rifle FCD in semiatuo's. Even with a light crimp I have a hard time pulling a round apart with a inerta (hammer type) puller.

[1hole]

"The carbide in the crimp die is supposed to be to chamber dimensions. The Idea is to ensure you never build a cartridge that won't chamber. "

'Ezactly so!

For those who have an oversized chamber that doesn't much matter but the FCD is THE way to go if you want ammo that will chamber in any handgun, the first time, every time.

[prs]

Thanks for the responses. That's pretty much the way my take on it is too.

prs

[Adam10mm]

Properly sizing your cases will eliminate the need for the smoke and mirrors solution that the FCD offers. I care too much about my ammunition to put it through a FCD.

[RobS]

Properly sizing your cases will eliminate the need for the smoke and mirrors solution that the FCD offers. I care too much about my ammunition to put it through a FCD.


I Agree. I have had and have used the FCD and although it is a good crimper, either their roll crimp or taper crimp, I would rather not have a post sizing carbide ring swage down my rounds/bullets. Should a person size all their bullets then it shouldn't be necessary to add the FCD to "perfect" up a round as it leave the reloading press. Although, I can see how this die could help in making consistent rounds that are loaded with un-sized bullets i.e. bullets that are shot as cast and lubed with tumble lube alox or pan lubed. As for me I size bullets in my handguns that are usually too large in diameter to run through a Lee FCD and I have simply cut out the carbide rings and still use the Lee die sets with equal satisfaction.

FWIW

[1hole]

"For those who have an oversized chamber that (post seating sizing feature) doesn't much matter ..."

[Lloyd Smale]

I dont use them anymore either. Ive just seen to many times where it reduced accuracy in cast handgun loads. I do like crimping in a forth station so what i do is buy an extra seating die and pull the plug out of it and crimp with that.