Lee Factory Crimp Die

ripitup911

ripitup911

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Fort St John BC
I Ordered RCBS 9mm and 45 acp carbide dies but have been thinking about getting the Lee factory crimp die like so many recommend. My question is if i get a different crimp die for crimping will i need a different seating die instead of the seating/taper crimp die that comes with the set or cane i make that one work.

Thanks
 
I have and sometimes use the Lee Factory Crimp Dies (FCD). The pistol Dies are not the same as the Rifle Factory Crimp die, they crimp differently, and also the pistol ones have a carbide sizer ring to size the entire case (almost to base).

What I prefer to do, unless the rounds have a problem chambering is to buy a seperate taper crimp die from Lee (your seating and FCD both taper crimp for rounds like 9mm, .45ACP) to crimp in a seperate step after seating.

I don't like to post size my cast boolits that I have made over size on purpose. If I stick a cast .453" boolit in a .45 ACP case, but the ring on the base of the FCD sizes this particular brass/boolit combo down, I have just swaged my boolit smaller, thus it no longer meets the size I needed for accuracy or to prevent leading.

Many people reloaded fine for years and still do without the Factory Crimp Die, it is not always needed, and sometimes can create a problem. I like to have them anyways, just another tool in the drawer for pistol reloading, but I don't always need it.
 
What kind of bullets are you using? I've found the FCD to be helpful if you're using lead, TMJ, or other bullets that may be out of round or slightly oversize because it post-sizes the case to the correct diameter. Not an issue for 99.5% of my rounds, but nice for the 0.5% that would cause a stoppage.
 
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