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Thread: Lee Factory crimp 9mm: yes or no?

  1. #21
    Boolit Master

    jcren's Avatar
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    Also check the roundness of the bullets. I found out the hard (and embarrassing, as I was demonstrating reloading to a friend) way that out of round bullets will tend to tilt when seating. Even some of my store bought bullets need a pass through a sizing die to be round.
    "In God we trust, in all others, check the manual!"

  2. #22
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    I am with the bullet seated crooked group
    Make sure you have enough case flare/bell .
    The seating punch may be a poor match for the shape of the bullet nose or ogive which makes it more difficult to seat straight .

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by nueces5 View Post
    Hello, everyone.
    I have been quite successfully loading my glock 17 with the MP 135 g and RNFP cast boolits. The precision was adequate and I am quite happy with the 4-inch groups at 10-15 meters. I thought it was the precision I could get with a pistol that is not precision specific.
    Until I use some boolits that I had from the RCBS 124 CN mold. And the group was much better. I was amazed at how accurate that boolit could be. So I have used it again, I have encountered a problem. When it enters the brass, the base of the boolit bulges out, generating a small bump, something I knew when I started using dies dillon (the 9mm round looks like a bottle of coke).
    So I took one that didn't fit into the glock chamber, and I painted with a marker. I put it on and turned it a little so that the place where it is bulging is marked, and it showed me that it is at the height of the base of the boolit.
    Here is the pic.



    I was thinking I would go back to using the LFC so that I could leave all my loads the same. Has this happened to anyone?
    With Dillon dies my 9mm rounds looked like a bottle of coke also, solution I sold the Dillon dies and bought a new set Hornady dies.

    Another thing you might try is to back the sizer die off one turn so the brass is not sized as much providing you still have adequate neck tension to prevent bullet set back.

    I have absolutely no use for a LFC, I your dies are adjusted correctly you won't need a LFC.

  4. #24
    Boolit Master
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    I've used pretty much only Winchester 9mm brass for the more than thirty years I've been loading cast bullets in this cartridge. Maybe it's thinner than other brass, I don't know, but
    I seldom get any kind of bulge. Any bulge is usually due to me getting sloppy in placing a bullet in the case mouth just prior to seating. Much of my brass has been loaded many times and usually with cast bullets that have gone through a .358" die, though they come out of the die slightly smaller.

    I use a round nose .38 Special design (#358212), about 150 grains. Cartridges function perfectly in three pistols I've had for a long time, a Walther, a Beretta, and a Sig. The bullet is quite accurate and I've tried many, many designs over the years. I tried my loads in an H&K and a Glock; they would chamber in neither gun, but fortunately I didn't own these pistols.

    I use a taper crimp die, though I'd have to check to see if it's a Redding or a CH. I crimp only enough to prevent bullet movement and no more. This is probably a lesser crimp than many use. A Lee Factory Crimp die might work here, but I've yet to find a need for one.

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by lotech View Post
    I've used pretty much only Winchester 9mm brass for the more than thirty years I've been loading cast bullets in this cartridge. Maybe it's thinner than other brass, I don't know, but
    I seldom get any kind of bulge. Any bulge is usually due to me getting sloppy in placing a bullet in the case mouth just prior to seating. Much of my brass has been loaded many times and usually with cast bullets that have gone through a .358" die, though they come out of the die slightly smaller.

    I use a round nose .38 Special design (#358212), about 150 grains. Cartridges function perfectly in three pistols I've had for a long time, a Walther, a Beretta, and a Sig. The bullet is quite accurate and I've tried many, many designs over the years. I tried my loads in an H&K and a Glock; they would chamber in neither gun, but fortunately I didn't own these pistols.

    I use a taper crimp die, though I'd have to check to see if it's a Redding or a CH. I crimp only enough to prevent bullet movement and no more. This is probably a lesser crimp than many use. A Lee Factory Crimp die might work here, but I've yet to find a need for one.
    Curious, do you use a carbide or steel sizing die? A steel die doesn’t give the same wasp-waisted look that a carbide die does...or at least not so pronounced.

  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by JimB.. View Post
    Curious, do you use a carbide or steel sizing die? A steel die doesn’t give the same wasp-waisted look that a carbide die does...or at least not so pronounced.
    I've always used a carbide size die for 9mm.

  7. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by ioon44 View Post
    I have absolutely no use for a LFC, I your dies are adjusted correctly you won't need a LFC.
    That's an oft quoted web guru "observation" about Lee's FCD and, once again, it sure sounds knowledgeable. But, once again, and no matter how many times it gets repeated, it's still not true.

    Die adjustments can't make oversize bullets pushed into thick wall cases produce finished ammo any smaller than the sum of the two and that's a fact. So, day by day, how important a too fat reload may be depends on its intended use and the actual diameter of the user's chamber (and that's not adjustable either).

    People who want/expect bench rest accuracy from handguns may not want a FCD anywhere near their range box. But, people wanting good defense ammo that's absolutely going to feed and chamber every time it's used would do well to have an FCD on their bench. And, in my experience, any potential loss of accuracy from the FCD will be small anyway, much less than minute of street goblin.

  8. #28
    Boolit Master nueces5's Avatar
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    As always happens in the forum, there are many solutions to a problem. And as we who do surgery say, if there are many techniques to repair something, it is because none of them work perfectly.
    I think that next week, I will be able to go to the range, and then we will know if I have the solution, or I will continue looking.
    Likewise, it is very good to read all points of view, I also learn a lot by reading. Long live the forums.

  9. #29
    Boolit Master

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    I had a heck of a time with loads not letting the slide close. Im my Taurus PT92 and my Walther PPX. With .356 cast. The Lee FCD solved my issue. So i just keep it in the turret and use it for all my loads.
    One round at a time.
    Member of the NRA,GOA and FAOC. Gun clubs Zerby rod and gun club. Keystone Fish and Game Association.

  10. #30
    Boolit Bub gifbohane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ioon44 View Post
    Another thing you might try is to back the sizer die off one turn so the brass is not sized as much providing you still have adequate neck tension to prevent bullet set back.

    I have absolutely no use for a LFC, I your dies are adjusted correctly you won't need a LFC.
    I totally agree.

    The Lee crimp die just squeezes the whole thing together, which is masking a processing error, in my case it is usually too much crimp. "Lee Factory Crimp Die" is a brilliant marketing term.

  11. #31
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    I size ALL my boolits to ensure they a round and uniform

    I use a powder through/expander (based on the NOE expander) Made for me by a fellow member on this site (you can use the NOE then add powder on another step)

    I use the Lee FCD only to where the the boolit won't move when I push the round against something.

    IF it won't chamber, I will add crimp until it will chamber in my barrel.

    I then pull the boolit to see if I have downsized the boolit

  12. #32
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    Lord knows that I spend plenty of time being wrong on this site, but isn’t the 9mm FCD just a .378” carbide sizing die?

    I don’t understand folks that say that they have rounds that don’t chamber, they apply the FCD and then they do chamber, they pull the bullet and it hasn’t been swaged down...where did the extra stuff go?

    The collet FCD is different, but I think those are just for rifle calibers.

  13. #33
    Boolit Master 44magLeo's Avatar
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    Lee makes the collet style crimp dies for mny pistol cartridges.
    I have one for my 44. My 44 is a Marlin 1894. needs a boolit sized to .433 or a touch bigger for best accuracy.
    The 44 revolvers I had used a boolit sized to .430 well. Much larger and wouldn't chamber.
    In the revolvers most any crimp die works very well.
    In the Marlin most die sets are set up for .430 bullets. Loading the .433+ boolits they got sized down enough so they wouldn't shoot very well. The Lee Carbide FCD didn't help with this at all. I bought the Collet FCD and this doesn't size the boolits. I also like the fact that case length has no effect on the crimp.
    If you look on the Lee web site you will find listings that tell which pistol cartridges they sell the Collet FCD for.
    Leo

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check