Do you crimp rifle rounds....?

[The Bushmaster]

Hummmm...

Eastern Kansas...

Maybe you need to enter my Man cave and get lessons on how to use a Lee FCD...

When I was experimenting with the FCD on .30-06 I notice that it left the vertical crimp marks. After playing with crimped and uncrimped .30-06 and finding that the uncrimped were just a (almost unmeasurable) wee bit more accurate. I sold the die to a friend (cheap)...

 

[Uncle Chan]

rcmodel and others,

The collet moves freely. I just don't get crimp marks, it's that simple. Maybe I'm the one with the odd die, but I use the Lee FCD for my 30-06 and I don't get crimp marks on it either.

Edited:

I just went and checked my 30-06 and 223 and not vertical crimp marks. The 223 FCD is solid. How would one move the collet? It doesn't free float and appears to a solid part of the die. Base of the collet is flush with the die. Same for the '06 die. The only real diff is the '06 collet is spread apart. The 223 collet is nearly completely together.

I'm confused. I've never had a problem with either and accuracy has been good. So, I have to wonder if I'm crimping or not? And, how do I remove the collet? Out of the top or bottom? I presume the top.

 

[moooose102]

it all depends on several things for me. on my 223 rounds, i NEVER crimp these, as the rifle i use them in is a single shot. of course, anything that has a tube mag. (30-30, 45/70) , has to be crimped, unless i am going to feed it like a shigle shot (which i do when working up a load from scratch sometimes). my .300 win. mag, is a sometimes caliber, depending on what i am doing. target / practice ammo USUALLY does not get crimped, while hunting ammo always get crimped. and every round of all of my handgun ammo gets crimped.

 

[rcmodel]

The 223 FCD is solid. How would one move the collet? Out of the top or bottom? I presume the top.

Aha! Stuck collet just as I suspected!

Place a chunk of 1/2" wood dowel rod in the top and hold the die body from moving.

Now smack it with a hammer and the collet will pop out the bottom.

Clean & look for burs or rough spots that need to be polished off.
It should move back and forth with finger pressure slightly. The final collet compression can only happen by the shell holder pushing it into the die body though.

Once you take one apart, you will better understand how they are supposed to work.

rcmodel

 

[Oddbod]

Everything, with a Lee FCD.
It has produced consistently better groups from the .270 than uncrimped rounds loaded to the same specifications.
Once I've finished load development for the .243, I'll load some cartridges without a crimp & see if there's a difference there too. Same goes for the 22-250.