Opinions on the Lee factory crimp dies.

They work for me.
The thing some guys hate about them is they will reduced the bullet diameter if they're slightly oversized. Some guns need a bullet a bit over sized and in those situations using the FCD can cause leading.
For me, it's never caused a problem and it's the best crimp IMO. Plus I'm a crimp-o-holic so I like what it does.

I like them. But I'm not all that experienced, so I suppose it doesn't mean too much.

I use them all the time for pistol calibers. I just set it for a light crimp.

Some will come along and say that the Lee FCD is a solution looking for a problem and that you should not use them. I personally like using them and a light crimp helps me when using Hodgkin Universal, it helps cut down on unburned powder

I don't always crimp, but when I do FCD.

In my opinion, if you have to crimp, the Lee Factory Crimp Die is the best there is.

I tried not using the FCD at first but was getting a lot of unburned powder left in my pistols using Universal, a light crimp took care of that for me.

I love them especially for my lever actions. Trim length isn,t a big issue and your not working the mouth of the case like a roll crimp does.

Got a new Colt Cobra target and the chambers were so tight I had to get one of these dies.

Click to expand...

What bullet? If you pull the bullet from one of your reloads what does it look like? Is the crimp die swaging the bullet to a smaller diameter?

It's a tool and in some instances is a specialty tool. Kind of like welding, most can be done with an arch welder, sometimes a wire feed mig welder works better and sometimes you need a tig welder.

All my pistol loads are done with Lee Carbide 3 die sets with the exception of loads used in a particular Witness 45acp. It too has a very tight chamber and a very short leade. This gun is also 28 years old so I am not going to alter it now. This barrel refuses high generous ogives, truncated cones. SWC bullets and oversized bullets.. Handloads that cycle in any other gun have difficulties in this gun. So now if this was a new gun I would most likely either send it back or have it altered.

I like it. I have a Blackhawk in .45 auto that has pretty tight chambers and if I don't use the FCD some rounds don't fully fit. With he FCD they all fit perfectly. I use one with most calibers I load. Worth every penny IMO.

To me it's cheap insurance. Maybe not absolutely necessary, but it doesn't hurt to use it.

I love them and use them on everything. I just did a load workup on my 300WM. I couldn’t get the SD down into single digits. Finally, the Lee die showed up in the mail. Boom! SD of 2 in my preferred group.

Walkalong said:

I don't use them. Have no need. Not a fan.

Click to expand...

I really love this forum and learn so much from reading many posts. You are one of the posters that I always enjoy following. I know you have probably posted your feelings on this subject many times but I am curious to why you are not a fan.

If it's made by Lee I'm not interested.

donut1953 said:

I really love this forum and learn so much from reading many posts. You are one of the posters that I always enjoy following. I know you have probably posted your feelings on this subject many times but I am curious to why you are not a fan.

Click to expand...

Actually, I agree with him 100%.

I don't use them... why, when I have either a roll crimp, a taper crimp, or no crimp already available to me? That covers the 'have no need' part, too.

Not a fan... I actually bought one for the .348WCF, thinking I could get away with not trimming all my brass to the same OAL for proper roll crimp. I could not even get it to work properly. I understand how it works, and what I'm guessing is the shellholder I have didn't actuate it properly... I don't know. All I know is I've gotten along without it OK these past 35 years, and that's probably because the proper crimp is... a roll crimp, or a taper crimp, or no crimp.

EDIT: Granted, I'm not fighting chamber issues like some of you seem to be... so I go back to 'whatever works.'

I have a Lee 38 Special Factory crimp die that I only use when I have a 38 wadcutter cartridge that will not chamber. Then I can shoot the round instead of disassembling it. I maybe have one in 500 or 1000 rounds that I have chambering trouble with.

'Otherwise, I have no use for them.

38 spec and 357 mag often failed the plunk test with various range brass. FCD fixed it all no sweat.

Charlie98 said:

Actually, I agree with him 100%.

I don't use them... why, when I have either a roll crimp, a taper crimp, or no crimp already available to me? That covers the 'have no need' part, too.

Not a fan... I actually bought one for the .348WCF, thinking I could get away with not trimming all my brass to the same OAL for proper roll crimp. I could not even get it to work properly. I understand how it works, and what I'm guessing is the shellholder I have didn't actuate it properly... I don't know. All I know is I've gotten along without it OK these past 35 years, and that's probably because the proper crimp is... a roll crimp, or a taper crimp, or no crimp.

EDIT: Granted, I'm not fighting chamber issues like some of you seem to be... so I go back to 'whatever works.'

Click to expand...

So I trim my brass on rifle...ALWAYS. Consistency in brass helps with consistency out in the field. I’ve found rather than dealing with different neck bushings, I can use the lee factory crimp to get even neck tension on my loads, every time. Plus, I don’t have bullets sliding around in the case in magnum loads when they’re in the magazine.

You may have “gotten along without it” for 35 years, but perhaps it could help you produce better loads now. I would argue that tech has improved in 35 years and the Lee die is an improvement worth considering. Read my post above for my 300WM loads. The one factor I changed to finalize the loads was the Lee Factory Crimp Die.

mrawesome22-250 said:

If it's made by Lee I'm not interested.

Click to expand...

Really? I don’t like all reloading equip by Lee, but that’s the same for all the other companies as well. I try to pick the best from them all.

Another note:

I don’t use the Lee FCD on loads that are traditionally crimped. So, I don’t use it on .44 mag. I use a roll crimp. I have a specific Redding taper crimp die for 45 ACP set up on my Dillon.

I only use it on bottle neck rifle loads.

After reading many posts, it seems many that don’t like it are using it in place of the traditional crimp method on loads that required a crimp of some sort. I think this i my Ah ha moment on this die for folks that don’t like it.

So the rifle version I have played with a little for 223 and I can see using it on bulk ammunition that have crimp rings on the bullets. I load lead in pistol so the sizing ring is problematic, and they dont use the same type of collet for the crimp. I dont plan on ever owning the pistol version.

Discussion isn't very useful unless making the distinction between FCDs that have a post sizing ring and those that don't. Lee still calls them "factory crimp". Also we shouldn't be referriing to the dies as all cartridges having a roll crimp. They don't.