.223 bullets spin with Lee Factory Crimp Die

Norincodude

Norincodude

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I've been reloading for thirty years so I am not inexperienced at this. I moved to a Hornady LNL Progressive press about a year ago and had used it for reloading various calibres in large batches. So, today it was the .223's turn to run through the press. I had previously run about 1000 cases (various unsorted) through the deprimer/resizer die and trimmed the necks where necessary. The priming, powder and seating went okay but when some of the loaded rounds went through the final station, with the Lee Factory Crimp die they spun in the case neck afterwards. Some continued to do so even after I lowered the Factory Crimp die to the maximum and even after passing them through once or twice again.

Does the Lee Factory Crimp not work with the LNL? Has anybody else experienced this problem? Any remedies? I am puzzled and seek your advice.
 
sounds like you have a neck tension issue, before sorting out the FCD I think i'd figure that out.
do the bullets spin before going through the FCD? cause they shouldn't. I don't think they would start to spin AFTER being crimped, but I may be wrong. I've only recently started using my lee FCD and so far so good.
 
I've been reading on other forums that it may have something to do with the resizing and the deprimer/necksizer ball. This only started to happen when I put all the dies on the LNL. Maybe I didn't properly adjust the resizing/deprimer die when I put them on the LNL?
 
The older shell plates won't work with the LFCD, iirc - one of the few things that really p!ssed me off about the Hornady LnL.
But that doesn't sound like it matches your issue - I'm guessing your sizing die isn't adjusted right.
 
If the cases are too short the necks fall short of the crimp ring in the factory crimp die. I had this same problem when reloading 7.62x54R in a lee die set. Careful analysis revealed that the loose bullets were seated in cases .004" shorter than the other cases. Still within tolerances of 7.62x54R cases, but too short to reach the ring in the die. If you look real close you'll see that the dents are in the bullet....just in front of the neck but not ON the neck, unless you have the die set to produce a light crimp in which case there may be no marks at all.
 
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Today I altered the process a bit. I added the deprimer/resizer die to the first station and reset it. I also selected 50 cases from the same manufacturer - Winchester. At the end of this run of 50, three of the loaded rounded had bullets that moved slightly but not 360 degrees like yesterday's. Yesterday's batch of 25 had five that moved 360 and some could even be pushed back into the case. It's still not 100 percent to my satisfaction and I remain a little puzzled. I ran a few hundred .308s through it a few months ago with no problem.

To answer another question, they have all been trimmed to spec.
 
sizing issue nothing to do with lee FCD.
All the FCD does is crimp the neck. If your bullet spin, that's a huge resizing issue.
 
Kryogen said:
sizing issue nothing to do with lee FCD.
All the FCD does is crimp the neck. If your bullet spin, that's a huge resizing issue.
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Exactly! Had a similar deal doing .30-06 rounds years ago. The bullets went in with barely enough tension to hold the from falling into the case. In my early ignorance, and never having had this happen before, I set the bullets in, and crimped them in place. Went hunting, WITHOUT checking the ammo for fit. Loaded 2 random rounds into the mag. Fired the first at a cow moose. Immediately operated the bolt. While slamming it forward, the case jammed rendering the rifle useless. I had to borrow my buddy's rifle to finish the job. Upon inspection that night, I found the necks in several cases were .003" larger than the rest. Trying to figure put why, i pulled the bullets and re-sized them again. Same result. I didn't realize they had not sprung back enough. I then remembered the bullets falling in and ignoring it. Turned out necks needed annealing. Did that and they sized fine.
I learned two things that time. When something different happens that does not follow routine, stop and check it. Always try your hunting ammo out in the gun well before you take it hunting!
 
fred0000 said:
do the bullets spin before going through the FCD?
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jethunter said:
Can you spin the bullet before you crimp it?
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well?? you've ignored this question. if they spin before crimping it has nothing to do with the crimp die.
have you taken the FL sizing die apart and inspected the expander ball? do you have a single stage press? use the die in there and see if neck tension is better? maybe the shell plate doesn't allow a full resize? I don't know.
 
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fred0000 said:
well?? you've ignored this question. if they spin before crimping it has nothing to do with the crimp die.
have you taken the FL sizing die apart and inspected the expander ball? do you have a single stage press? use the die in there and see if neck tension is better? maybe the shell plate doesn't allow a full resize? I don't know.
Click to expand...

Sorry Fred. I didn't mean to ignore the question. The answer is I don't know. After all the advice here I reset the resizing die as per post #10 and didn't replicate my earlier results. I'll try to see if they spin after coming out of the seating die and I take your point - it probably has nothing to do with the factory crimp die.

I'd like to thank everyone for their input and suggestions. It's been helpful. I'll post when I try a new batch.
 
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