dies for 44 special

trekker73 said:

Fellas looking to get a die set to load mostly 44 special in leverguns. I see Lee does their 4 die set in 44mag/44 special( part number 99096). Will this cover everything I need to do? Or should I add another type of crimp die as welll?

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get the 4 die set with the Famous Cake Die

I loaded 44 Mag for 20+ years with a Lee 3 die set. No Factory Crimp Die.

Now I use a 4th die, but it's a second crimp die, so I can seat and crimp in separate operations.

You Lee die set will produce very good handloads, as good as any if you do your part. I cannot recommend the Lee FCD for handgun cartridges. Learn how to adjust your Lee dies any you will have no reason to post crimp resize. I started my 44 Special/Magnum reloading with a stock roll crimp die, readjusting the seat/crimp die. Soon purchased a second seat/roll crimp die and then later purchased a Redding Profile Crimp die, excellent tool. Reloaded several thousand rounds with the Redding die, worked quite well. I since purchased a Lee collet crimp die for my 44s and it also is an excellent tool...

trekker73 said:

Fellas looking to get a die set to load mostly 44 special in leverguns. I see Lee does their 4 die set in 44mag/44 special( part number 99096). Will this cover everything I need to do? Or should I add another type of crimp die as welll?

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The four die set does everything but trim to length and make coffee.

I have the Lee 4-die set and a Dillon set.

Funny enough, I much prefer the Dillon resizing and crimp die, Lee flare/powder and seating die.

The Lee resizing die isn't the best, I feel the Dillon die does a much better job. I hate the Lee FCD, especially with 44 spcl/magnum and the various sizes of projectiles I use. One thing I've noted is that with some lead or larger sized projectiles (like zero bullets), the Lee FCD will actually squeeze the projectile back out a bit. I'll have to run it through the Lee FCD, then back through the seating die once more to get it back down to where I want it to be seated.

I'm of the opinion that the Lee handgun factory crimp die is a solution looking for a problem. The carbide sizer ring in the FCD can size the bullet to a smaller size if all the measurements line up. Not a good thing for accuracy.

But, I do have one for 38 Special.

I use mixed cases for my plinking 38 Special wadcutter loads and I occasionally get a cartridge that will not chamber. Too thick a case mouth or too big a bullet, who knows. I take the cartridge home and run it through the FCD and it chambers.

I maybe get one in 500 or so that I need to run through the FCD.

I prefer to crimp in a separate operation from bullet seating but it does not happen that way. The standard Lee seater has a two step crimp where if set lightly, it taper crimps and roll crimps if set deeper.

You could knock the carbide sizer ring out of the FCD die and have a nice crimp only die or buy the Lee three die set and a crimp only die if you want to crimp in a separate step.

Several good ways to skin this cat, all are acceptable methods and are dependent of the reloader's wants and desires.

I would opt for the Dillon set, because of the separate seating and crimping dies.

I have been using the .44spec/mag and 38/357 lee 4 die carbide sets for years to load mags and specials in both calibers. I just roll crimp when seating and make life real simple. It's really very simple to set the right depth and crimp all in one stroke of the ram. I have never used the FCD and never felt the need to.

I have used Lee dies in this caliber for many years. They work great. I got a set of Hornady's in a trade and they worked nicely, also. I really don't think you will go wrong with any of the major manufacturers of dies. Best wishes!

kerreckt said:

I really don't think you will go wrong with any of the major manufacturers of dies. Best wishes!

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^^^^^^THAT! exactly^^^^^^

I think I'm going to bang that carbide ring out of my Lee FCD this weekend, why not, I'm bored. Looked up some videos on it and it seems pretty straight forward.

I know a lot of folks here seem critical of the Lee FCD. I've always thought there were two versions of it--one called the Carbide Factory Crimp Die, which is a taper crimp die and uses a carbide ring to size the finished round to minimum SAAMI chamber specs, and another version that provides a roll crimp, and does NOT include the carbide ring. The FCD for .44 Spl/Mag would not have a carbide ring and would not resize the finished round.

Maybe I'm mistaken?

I have both the Lee and RCBS 44 dies. The Lee carbide is what I size both the MAG and SPL with. I flare and seat the MAG's with lee dies. I flate and seat the SPL with RCBS dies so there is less adjusting involved. never bothered to use the FCD, no need to.

Alaskamike said:

I know a lot of folks here seem critical of the Lee FCD. I've always thought there were two versions of it--one called the Carbide Factory Crimp Die, which is a taper crimp die and uses a carbide ring to size the finished round to minimum SAAMI chamber specs, and another version that provides a roll crimp, and does NOT include the carbide ring. The FCD for .44 Spl/Mag would not have a carbide ring and would not resize the finished round.

Maybe I'm mistaken?

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Possibly, I'm not sure. I bought the Lee carbide deluxe pistol 4-die set:

https://leeprecision.com/reloading-dies/hand-gun-dies/4-die-set-pistol/

I'm near 100% it applies a roll crimp, and save the resizing issue, it does a really solid job of applying a crimp. My favorite part is that my Dillon die is "set and forget" as adjusting it for different loads is a serious pain. The Lee has an adjustment knob that I can move on the fly.

Typetwelve said:

I think I'm going to bang that carbide ring out of my Lee FCD this weekend, why not, I'm bored. Looked up some videos on it and it seems pretty straight forward.

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I removed the carbide ring from the FCD I had, 44 Magnum. No big deal, I just put my, die with ring in my padded vise and used a long pin punch from the top. The first use the FCD sized down my perfectly sized 420421s .003" and resulted in a bit more barrel leading and a bit less accuracy. Resulting crimp was OK but I put it somewhere (?) and used the Redding Profile Crimp for the next few thousand rounds until I got the Lee Collet Crimp...

Alaskamike said:

I know a lot of folks here seem critical of the Lee FCD. I've always thought there were two versions of it--one called the Carbide Factory Crimp Die, which is a taper crimp die and uses a carbide ring to size the finished round to minimum SAAMI chamber specs, and another version that provides a roll crimp, and does NOT include the carbide ring. The FCD for .44 Spl/Mag would not have a carbide ring and would not resize the finished round.

Maybe I'm mistaken?

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Possibly three different FDCs if you include the Collet Crimp for straight sided, handgun cartridges. There is the FDC for handgun cartridges (a post crimping sizing die) and an FCD for rifle cartridges (a Collet Crimp for bottlenecked cartridges). I believe Lee added the "Carbide" to the handgun die to lessen confusion. I have noticed that waaaaay to often some posts about the Lee FCD and does not specify which one they are talking about, sometimes adding confusion to a thread...

I just looked at the Lee Precision web site for factory crimp dies.

There are three different designs.

1. The Carbide Factory Crimp die is for straight walled cases and has a carbide sizing ring in the bottom of the die. They have either a roll crimp or a taper crimp depending on the use of the cartridge.

2 The Short Bottle Neck Pistol Factory Crimp die. This die is for short bottle neck handgun cases such as 30 Luger, 357 Sig, and several others. It applies a collet style crimp. There is no carbide ring.

3. The Factory Crimp die. This is the collet crimp die for rifle cartridges.

Among other thin gs, it looks like Lee has adjusted the name to attempt to limit confusion about which die someone is talking about. Of course, the customers do not always use the correct terminology.

*UPDATE*

Yeah...so I knocked that carbide resizing ring out of that lee die, used a crummy socket I had laying around and tapped it out. It came out in one piece just fine, I'm sure I could press it back in if I ever wanted to. It really wasn't that hard to do. I reassembled the thing and made some loads, MUCH improved, no more smashing the brass. I should have done that a year ago when I first figured out what a FCD did.