Lee factory crimp on 9mm

[Stumpy68]

Some reloading manuals say you're not supposed to crimp 9mm, but I'm worried about setback in my handguns. Since I don't have a lot of experience as a reloader, I wanted to ask how many of you crimp your 9mm handgun reloads, if you do it with a Lee FCD, and if you do use Lee FCD does 1/2 turn of the die (as indicated in the Lee instructions) give you enough or too much crimp. Thanks

 

[Grumulkin]

I don't crimp 9mm or 40 S&W and there has been no problem with setback.

When you resize straight walled cases, you then have to expand (bell) them again to seat a bullet. The reason for a taper crimp which is all you should use in a rimless case is to remove expanded portion of the bullet. I don't crimp the above cartridges at all because I only bell the case just enough so I can reliably seat a bullet without shaving the bullet or crushing the case.

If, for some reason, you need to remove the bell of a case, you don't need a Lee FCD to do it; just use the function built into your seating die.

For 50 AE I do use a taper crimp since the recoil is such I need every bit of grip on the bullet possible.

 

[Skinnedknuckles]

I crimp mine and I use the Lee FCD. The 1/2 turn adjustment works pretty well. I double check it by measuring the mouth after crimp. I like to crimp the case about .002" (bullet diameter plus 2X wall thickness minus .002") to insure smooth feeding and positive headspace but I'm not too anal about it. Actually, it is the neck tension, not the crimp, that prevents setback of the bullet.

 

[edleit]

Since I flare to ease bullet entry & seating, and I do not sort by length or trim 9mm brass, I found the FCD provides a consistent means to remove the flare without the need to putz around with the taper crimp feature in the seating die. For some reason I had a dickens of a time trying to set that up and was not satisfied with the results. FCD was much easier for me.

Ed

 

[TfflHndn]

Straight-wall or no, and 9mm is not a straight-wall case, resized cases have to be flared to accept the bullet, with rare exception. My only exceptions are .223 and .22TCM. A taper crimp should only remove the flare you put into the case. The FCD does a very good job, but is often not necessary, unless you have a tight chamber like you get with some after-market barrels or match pistols. Try with and without the FCD and see if it does anything for you.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I use a Lee FCD on 9mm and 45 ACP ammo but only to remove the flare. Any crimp die would due for that job but that's the one I have. Neck tension holds the bullet in place, not the crimp.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Walkalong]

Correct. Neck tension holds the bullet in auto cases like ,32 ACP, 9MM. .40, & .45 ACP. No amount of "crimp" will make up for poor neck tension. The taper "crimp" that is proper for the 9MM should remove the bell and maybe a hair more. Set it up so the shortest cases get the bell removed completely, which means the longest ones will get a bit of inward crimp, maybe .001 or so.

Welcome to THR

 

[Potatohead]

Welcome to THR, these guys will teach you everything their is to know, you'll be saving tons of money in no time


Not to start a flame fest and not that I have much to back this up with, nor is this probably the place to get very far into it, but i think I'm coming to the belief that a crimp could possibly, if only a fraction of an infinitesimal smidge, "help" hold the bullet.

Im not by any stretch saying that superb neck tension is not a requirement 100% of the time either though.


Walkalong, or anyone else who's qualified , do you happen to know the crimp measurement I'm going to be looking for with 40 cal?



Oh also to the op: once I learned to use the seater to crimp, I never used my fcd again. I don't think I even know where that thing is now... Not to say there's no good uses for it, as AACD inferred.

 

[Stumpy68]

Thanks to all you guys for your help

Thanks to all of you guys for your advice / answers!

 

[meesterdon]

My first couple of weeks reloading I could not have produced a decent round of 9mm ammo without the FCD. As time passed a funny thing happened, I learned to properly use and adjust my dies so that the FCD became unnecessary. Loading on a single stage press this saves me a whole bunch of handle pulls.

Do what you need to do to make reloading safe and enjoyable for yourself.

 

[Potatohead]

Stumpy, I should mention to ignore the part of my post about me being of the opinion that a crimp just might have a (very small) sliver of something to do with holding onto the bullet. In hindsight that was not a well placed post on my part due to the fact that youre just learning about all of this.


I also agree with the previous post about the fcd, that it's doubtful I could've turned out a decent round without it when I started. Iirc I could barely turn out a decent round regardless. Certainly no shame in using any tool you have at your disposal to accomplish the final goal.

 

[Dudedog]

Welcome to THR!
Lots of great people here.

Some people like the FCD some people hate it. Do you need it, NO. I happen to like it. There is no set adjustment that will work for everything. Take Lee's info as a start and work form there. With the FCD in 9mm less is maybe better. When some manuals are saying no crimp for 9mm they may be referring to no roll crimp as it headspaces on the case mouth. I can't say for sure because I don't know what manuals you are looking at.

 

[LiveLife]

While I like Lee products, my position on FCD is that reloaders and match shooters successfully reloaded and won matches for decades without the use of FCD.

I consider FCD (for straight walled pistol calibers) a "finishing" die used when finished rounds are out of spec or out of round (result of improper reloading process or out of spec/round bullets) that require "fixing" to reliably chamber in a pistol.

While FCD is a good insurance tool to have, if you are new to reloading, it is a good practice to learn first to reload without the use of FCD so your finished rounds function reliably in any pistol. If you want to seat and crimp in separate steps, you can always use a separate taper crimp die.

do you happen to know the crimp measurement I'm going to be looking for with 40 cal?

Since case wall thickness averages .010"-.011", I usually add .022" to the diameter of the bullet for my taper crimp amount which just returns the flare back flat on the bullet.

So for .400" sized bullet: .400" + .011" + .011" = .422" taper crimp

If you have a tight chamber barrel/thinner brass, you may need .420" taper crimp but I would try .422" taper crimp first to see if it works reliably with your pistol.

 

[gonoles_1980]

Lee FCD works fine for me, I basically crimp out the flare from the seating.

 

[beag_nut]

Lee FCD works fine for me, I basically crimp out the flare from the seating.

Almost exactly the same for me, except that I use the Lyman bell-mouth die before bullet seating, then the Lee FCD afterwards. All works perfectly.

 

[hdwhit]

What Walkalong said.

The cartridge headspaces on the mouth so you need some part of the brass that isn't turned into the bullet.

 

[Walkalong]

do you happen to know the crimp measurement I'm going to be looking for with 40 cal?

I measured one randomly some time back when someone was asking questions about diameters etc.

 

[berettaprofessor]

Lee FCD crimp here. I've done it with the seating die in a single stage, but what is that 4th hole in the turret used for else wise anyways?

 

[ljnowell]

Lee FCD crimp here. I've done it with the seating die in a single stage, but what is that 4th hole in the turret used for else wise anyways?

Many people will seat and crimp separately using regular dies as opposed to a FCD. Others just leave one hole empty and seat/crimp together.

That's also why many people like the three hole presses.

 

[Capt. Ct.]

I've been using the FCD for years. It works for me.

 

[Skinnedknuckles]

Many people will seat and crimp separately using regular dies as opposed to a FCD. Others just leave one hole empty and seat/crimp together.

That's also why many people like the three hole presses.

To each his own, but I've always felt it was better to seat and crimp separately. It just seemed that forcing the case mouth into the bullet (instead of a cannelure or crimp groove), even a small amount, while the bullet was still moving increased the chance of damage to the plating (I reload plated bullets almost exclusively).

That said, since I came into possession of an older RCBS progressive press I now seat and crimp 9mm in the same operation. I'm just not willing to give up the powder check die in order to have room in the press for separate seating and crimping dies. And no, I haven't noticed any detrimental effects to my reloads from the change. It doesn't mean I don't miss my Lee FCD.

 

[Toprudder]

To each his own, but I've always felt it was better to seat and crimp separately. It just seemed that forcing the case mouth into the bullet (instead of a cannelure or crimp groove), even a small amount, while the bullet was still moving increased the chance of damage to the plating (I reload plated bullets almost exclusively).

That sums up my opinion on the subject, exactly. I also reload plated bullets almost exclusively (and a few coated bullets - same problem). I am another vote for separate seat and crimp operations.

The negative on the Lee FCD is that it can also post-size the round with the carbide ring at the bottom. While this is typically not a problem with plated or FMJ bullets, it can be a problem with cast lead, as you typically want the bullet to be sized 0.001" larger for a better seal in the barrel. If the FCD squeezes the diameter of the case down, it is sizing the bullet to a smaller OD at the same time. With a cast bullet, this can cause leading. Or so I have been told - I don't do cast bullets. I've also been told that the carbide ring can be knocked out of the die so that this won't happen.

 

[ARJJ]

I've used both the FCD and a standard taper crimp die with both 9mm and .40. I prefer the regular taper crimp die, as it is smoother in my presses. Both get the job done, but the standard taper crimp die doesn't "post size" the entire round. This is important to me since I shoot coated/plated lead almost exclusively.

As for proper crimping, I shoot for .377-.378" on 9mm and .422-.423" on .40. Those measurements have given me trouble free service with various bullet types.

 

[vaalpens]

I reload mostly plated bullets in 9mm and 40S&W and use the Lee FCD with 1/2 turn for both. I do verify the applied crimp and will adjust the FCD, but this hardly happens. The key with cartridges head spacing on the mouth is not to use a roll crimp.

 

[ljnowell]

To each his own, but I've always felt it was better to seat and crimp separately. It just seemed that forcing the case mouth into the bullet (instead of a cannelure or crimp groove), even a small amount, while the bullet was still moving increased the chance of damage to the plating (I reload plated bullets almost exclusively).



That said, since I came into possession of an older RCBS progressive press I now seat and crimp 9mm in the same operation. I'm just not willing to give up the powder check die in order to have room in the press for separate seating and crimping dies. And no, I haven't noticed any detrimental effects to my reloads from the change. It doesn't mean I don't miss my Lee FCD.

I can take it or leave it. I have no problem doing it either way. On my pro1k I seat and crimp together since it's a three station press. On my loadmaster I seat and crimp separately. I plan on using a bullet feeder on the loadmaster though so I will probably start seating and crimping together there too.