lee carbide sizer/crimp die 45acp

[CHEVELLE427]

Anyone use this, you place a loaded round UN crimped in this and it gives a factory taper as it resizes the loaded case. Seems to work good, and makes the loaded case more Uniformed.
some that would not fit in my OAL gauge fit nice after I ran it in the new die.

just wondering if anyone has tried this die set

 

[rantingredneck]

Are you talking about the factory crimp die?

In that case, yes. I run all my .45ACP loads through it. Has worked great so far.

 

[CHEVELLE427]

i have a fact crimp die but i found this at midway last time i was boucing around there site, it is a fact taper crimp die but it is a carbibe die that resizes the loaded round, does not seat the bullet just size and crimp.

 

[Walkalong]

It is a Lee Factory Crimp Die. It's only reason in life seems to be for squashing bad reloads so they will work in any SAMMI spec chamber. A solution to a non problem. Just do a better job on your reloads. The Lee FCD for pistols can actual harm well made reloads.

 

[rantingredneck]

So, tell us how you really feel about it .

 

[CHEVELLE427]

OK with this said.
if the case is sized, a round is seated to proper oal for that gun. and it still is tight in the chamber or wont seat all the way in,
how is this a bad reload on my part.
out of the ones i loaded last night most felt fine but about 10 were tight now this could be from a case imperfection or a bullet that might be out of spec a little.
. after they were run in that die all was well again, 10 rounds more to shoot. less to pull, this has to be a good thing you would think.what harm is it useing this die to fix those imperfections?

to me it looks like it would make all the rounds the same, how is this a bad thing?

 

[Jim Watson]

A cartridge gauge as sold by Midway, Dillon, and others will reject 10-20% of .45 ACP Dillon progressive reloads with bulk cast bullets in mixed brass. A lot of those will still chamber in a real gun barrel, but some won't.
To avoid that, you can either go to better bullets (handcast and rigorously inspected, or swaged, or jacketed) in matched brass or you can iron out the irregulars in a Lee CFC die. Depends on your application. NRA 50 yard slowfire - better components and more care. IDPA - cheap stuff run through the CFC.

 

[mjrodney]

More than 18,000 200 grain lead semi-wadcutters thru my own Lee Factory Crimp Die to date, from five different casters, fired though 5 different handguns, and never a FTF.

Nothing wrong with ensuring consistancy in your reloads.

 

[Walkalong]

I have fired 1000's of the cheapest cast bullets I could buy in a horrid mix of .45 brass over the years with none ever not fitting a regular chamber. (not match chambers) That was years before the Lee FCD was even invented.

The only use for it is if you have cheap bullets, mixed brass, a tight chamber, and you don't want to check each and every one to see if they will fit before you participate in a match where failures will just ruin your score. That I can understand.

I just don't see much of a need for it other than that, and it's routinely touted as the best thing since sliced bread for reloading, when it just allows poor handloading practices to get by. I think it allows new reloaders to get by with things they should be addressing and not just covering up.

So, tell us how you really feel about it .

I usually do.

I have to gauge all my 9MM brass after I size it. I have an EMP with a chamber right at SAMMI minimum and if it won't fit in that gauge, it will lock that EMP up. That same brass will fit just fine in all my other 9MM guns, but because of my EMP, I gauge it all after sizing and reject any that don't fit. (toss it in the recycle bin) I load all the others with no worries. I shot that EMP this weekend with no problems.

 

[mkl]

I may be wrong here, but it sounds like the OP is not talking about the Factory Crimp Die, but running a loaded round through the carbide sizing die again.

If that is the case, while it will smooth out the case dimensions, I don't think a carbide die will put a taper crimp on the cartridge. The old steel dies would put a sight taper on some handgun cases (38/357, etc.).

 

[CBS220]

I have one and use it, but quite frankly if you're doing things correctly you don't need it.

 

[CHEVELLE427]

pic worth a 1000 words

directions for the die set up







pic of both kinds of dies


this one has carbide insert



i as well have loaded many thousand rounds for 30+ years now from.
380, 38/357, 9mm, 40/10mm, 45acp, 44spl/mag, 50ae, 41mag ,270, 8x57 made out of 3006 cases, 7.62x39 ,223, 7.5x55swiss out of 284 cases,

maybe i should think about reading up on this here reloading stuff, now that all this info is out here on the web, might be there is more to this then just packing it full of powder and hammering a projectile down in there with a brick.

 

[RustyFN]

The only use for it is if you have cheap bullets, mixed brass, a tight chamber, and you don't want to check each and every one to see if they will fit before you participate in a match where failures will just ruin your score. That I can understand.

There is one more use. I use it for a crimp die because I like to seat and crimp in separate steps. But as you said in an earlier post, learn to setup your dies correctly. I use the FCD for every caliber I load for and in thousands of rounds I have only felt the post sizing ring come into play on two 9mm rounds. I load 9mm, 38 spcl and 45 auto. In my opinion it's no different than somebody loading on a Dillon with the separate Dillon crimp die, it's just a lot easier to adjust.
Rusty

 

[mkl]

Ahh...

It is a crimp die.

Your original post heading said sizer die. That's where I got confused.

 

[CHEVELLE427]

my mistake but it does resize a loaded case

 

[RustyFN]

my mistake but it does resize a loaded case

Only if the case is out of spec. I would suggest that if you feel it sizing a lot of cases then you need to adjust your dies. It's OK for once in a great while but it's not good to count on it to fix most of your loaded rounds. On my FCD's I use so little crimp that when I run the case in the die and back out you can't feel anything happen.
Rusty

 

[rcmodel]

my mistake but it does resize a loaded case

Overdo it, and it will also resize the loaded bullet!

The bullet will squeeze down and not spring back as much as the case.

Then. you have an undersize, loose bullet in a perfectly sized case!

Yea!
Thats the ticket to great handloads!

rcmodel

 

[CHEVELLE427]

i have a oal case gauge. its good for an idea,but if the round will drop in my older 1911 all the other 45's will except them as well, seems this SF 1911 IS PICKEY
(case has to have a slight crimp or it aint going in the pipe) even though it has had many thousands rounds out it.

 

[MMCSRET]

On a loaded round that won't fit the chamber-----If I pull that cast bullet and put it in another case and it still won't chamber------- do I quit or do I pull it and do it again in a third case------let's see-- the cast bullet is starting to look pretty bad, maybe I should recast it and start over----UH!-- how many times do I do this to get it right? With the Lee carbide crimp die I can have the enjoyment of shooting in stead of turning the loading, reloading, remanufacturing of that one piece of lead into a career. I'll take the carbide sizing die any day, thank you!

 

[243winxb]

Lee Factory Crimp die

Not this subject AGAIN :banghead:

 

[Walkalong]

Not this subject AGAIN :banghead:

Yep.

Any good argument is worth doing over.

I have my well documented opinion. Others have theirs.

I like RustyFN's approach, and agree that if too many rounds are being "post sized" you have a problem to be looked at and fixed, not just keep squishing into shape. The one I tried was doing some sizing on everything, so I discontinued it. I thought when I read the advertisement that it would only touch rounds out of spec, but that is not true.

My 9MM brass that will not chamber after sizing (only in my tight chambered EMP)(with either my Lee or my Redding sizer) is too big near the case head, where a Lee FCD will not help. I do not have issues where the bullet is seated in the case. Not in any caliber actually.

 

[highlander 5]

I've been loading my own for the last 38 years and can't ever recall having a round not chambering in any of my pistols UNLESS I screwed up something before hand ie missed a crimp.
I have used both single stage and progressive presses never had a problem. Even had someone thinking I was shooting factory ammo once. I will admit to not using mixed brass for my reloading that I'm almost obsessive. Never understood the need for the Lee FCD,tome it's a solution to a non existent problem.

 

[SSN Vet]

The bullet will squeeze down and not spring back as much as the case.

Then. you have an undersize, loose bullet in a perfectly sized case!

Not all LFCDs are use the collet crimp.

Looking at the diagram in the instructions, what I see is a taper crimp die with a floating crimp sleave and a carbide post sizing ring.

One of the problems I find with Lee equipment is that they aren't real big on pushing the boundaries of the English language. They use the same "Lee Factory Crimp Die" name to describe all of their crimp dies, even though the ones for auto-loading pistol calibers have a very different funciton.

Then you've got the whole "Lee turret press" and "classic Lee turret press". Almost identical name for two presses that are far from the same.

The same "issue" goes into their instructions and load manuel.

 

[Griz44]

Hmmmmm. I use the FCD as well, but I size all my cast before using them. The sizer just barely kisses the case occasionaly. If the sizer portion is dragging the round heavy, there is probably something wrong with the way the real sizing die is working or the bullets you use are out of spec. Much more needs to be looked at to find the real problem.

 

[CHEVELLE427]

agree that if too many rounds are being "post sized" you have a problem to be looked at and fixed, not just keep squishing into shape

may be wrong but i dont think 5-8 out of a few hundred would be excessive.

this has turned into a debate ,:banghead:

all i asked was if anyone used one.