40S&W Lee FCD?

[Sarge]

I would just buy a separate Lee taper crimp die. They are cheap and work well.

I completely forgot that they have a plain taper die in addition to the FCD.

<sound of hand smacking forehead>

But it's not adjustable like the FCD is if I recall. I love adjustability without breaking the die loose

[d_striker]

I would just buy a separate Lee taper crimp die. They are cheap and work well.

I completely forgot that they have a plain taper die in addition to the FCD.

<sound of hand smacking forehead>

But it's not adjustable like the FCD is if I recall. I love adjustability without breaking the die loose

You can adjust the amount of crimp by adjusting the die higher or lower.

[Sandbagger123]

the FCD is great for ensuring mixed brass cases all work well in guns. if you are one of those that sort your cases and set up for that particular case length then its not needed.

But if you a lazy butt like me and just load cases from whatever it works great. just set it up and adjust as needed. i don;t even adjust it between FMJ/Plated or coated and lead.

one of the tricks to getting it to work well is to use it as the crimping dies instead of an assurance die. in other words use a seating dies that barely closes the mouth enough to hold the bullet and then run the FCD as the crimp die.

[Sarge]

I would just buy a separate Lee taper crimp die. They are cheap and work well.

I completely forgot that they have a plain taper die in addition to the FCD.

<sound of hand smacking forehead>

But it's not adjustable like the FCD is if I recall. I love adjustability without breaking the die loose

You can adjust the amount of crimp by adjusting the die higher or lower.

DUH! Like I JUST said, "I love adjustability without breaking the die loose". If I wanted to just move the whole die body up or down I would use my old Dillon die.

[d_striker]

I would just buy a separate Lee taper crimp die. They are cheap and work well.

I completely forgot that they have a plain taper die in addition to the FCD.

<sound of hand smacking forehead>

But it's not adjustable like the FCD is if I recall. I love adjustability without breaking the die loose

You can adjust the amount of crimp by adjusting the die higher or lower.

DUH! Like I JUST said, "I love adjustability without breaking the die loose". If I wanted to just move the whole die body up or down I would use my old Dillon die.

Umm, it's really not that hard and you don't have to break the die down. Just put a wrench on the lock nut and twist the die. This is assuming you don't have the hand strength of a woman or child.

Even if you got that sucker cranked down, it just takes a tiny but of loosening of the lock nut to be able to turn the die by hand. I wouldn't call this breaking down the die by any means.

Edited December 28, 2014 by d_striker

[louu]

You supposed to tighten them hand tight only.

[Sarge]

You supposed to tighten them hand tight only.

Say What?!? Hand tightening a die is a recipe for a whole bunch of loads to pull. Sizing die works loose and you are stuck with a bunch of unsized rounds. Crimp die works loose and you have rounds with a bell still there to get hung up in your chamber. Can you say "death jam"?

[louu]

I knew you were going to say that

[OPENB]

Hand tightening is the only downside to the Lee dies I have found. That's why I toss al the lock rings with the rubber o-ring and replace with the Dillon small ring and wrench-tighten. Anything that is hand-tightened will loosen.

[Sarge]

Hand tightening is the only downside to the Lee dies I have found. That's why I toss al the lock rings with the rubber o-ring and replace with the Dillon small ring and wrench-tighten. Anything that is hand-tightened will loosen.

Yep, ditch the LEE crap nut with oring as soon as I open the box. Keeping all the rings the same size means one less tool to have handy!

[HAUGH]

The Lee for is great... I have loaded 5k 40sw with it and after a while the roughness dies down with it and the decaying die going at once. But that is a nice thing about the Lee set is that they have the carbide end in both the decaper die and taper die.. Makes nice ammo. However I needed to install a powder cop with all the flake powder I have and also use a bullet feeder so I had to get the hornady seat/taper die set.. And I'm not really caring for how they work and for some reason it's bugging me that the seat/taper die doesn't also resize like the Lee die. The Lee die is so so so easy to setup and like the other guy said it sizes almost the whole case. I'm not sold on the hornady dies but I really need to use a powder cop.

It's funny though because I was appenently tapering to much with my Lee die and and now that I'm using the hornady the taper I've started putting much less taper on my 40sw loads. That Lee die will taper as much as you want, the hornady will do quite a bit but hangs up so bad on the down stroke, I've put a little grease on both dies to help with the hangup and it seems to help.. Anyway your good with the Lee's even if you just end up using just the taper die to resize ammo made with other dies.

[grouptherapy]

I knocked the ring out of the bottom of my fcd over 5000 rounds ago. My plated and coated bullet accuracy went up without affecting reliability. It's a modified taper die that won't collapse the case. The case length variance of mixed brass makes it better than an older style taper crimp die. Just my experience. Best wishes. Btw I knocked the bottom ring out of my 9,40, and 45acp. I have extra fcd for bulge busting.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KustomHolsters]

How did you knock the ring out?

Thanks

[bowenbuilt]

Mounted in a vise with the jaws just touching the threads and the nut holding the die on top of the vise or mounted on a single stage press with all of the internals removed, a few good raps with a hammer on a steel rod and the carbide ring pops right out. I usually take a Dremel and clean up any sharp edges left where the ring was mounted and then you have an excellent taper crimp die with a very large opening on the bottom.

Edited January 1, 2015 by bowenbuilt

[grouptherapy]

I knock it out while in my single stage press after I pull the guts out. Can't remember if I used an empty case with a drift or just a drift punch. I've knocked several different size fcd rings out. Takes a pretty good rap. I have used just a drift but ya will have to dress it up with a round file if it gets a burr.

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Edited January 3, 2015 by grouptherapy

[newmexicocrawler]

I use them on all calibers in one way or another and have figured out how to set them. Once you learn how to set them up and get them set right they work just fine

[AJE]

I just set up and loaded about 1600 .40's on my 650 in a couple of days with the Lee 4 die set.

I was case gauging every round but after the first 600 I didn't have any fail so I gave up on it. The FCD works for me!

[tires2burn]

The LEE 40 cal carbide die set with some one-shot loads my ammo with zero problems. My FCD is right at the shell plate when its all the way up. The case gets sized and the crimp adjustment takes the bell out. Follow the LEE FCD directions and you can't miss. You Tube has a factory adjustment video that explains the procedure well.

[Jaxshooter]

I use Lee FCD dies for every caliber I load including my 38 super revolver loads.iuse the following for all calipers

Lee U sizing die

Redding Micrometer seating die

Lee FCD

I also use Dillon Case Lube thinned with alcohol. Takes very little effort to size brass and makes the machine operate smoothly.

You can buy plain lanolin from the drug store and thin it with alcohol and have the same thing as the Dillon Lube.

[redwoods]

I took mine out of my 1050 and use the Lee Undersize sizing die and a Dillon crimping die.

Works great and less work on the press. The FCD was messing up my ammo with resizing when it was already sized just right.

[earthshine402]

yea, I had a Dillon crimp die come loose on me in 9mm, what a nightmare that was! I had to re-run everything back through the crimp station.. I definitely tighten all nuts with a big wrench - so they don't work their way loose and cause issues.

[redwoods]

I purchased some locking rings/nuts and double up some of them. Once they are set where you want them, lock them down with two nuts!

[leoparddog]

I've always been a big believer in the Lee FCD and have them for most of the cartridges I reload. When I started running lead bullets through my M&P and Glocks (Aftermarket Barrel) I was getting poor accuracy - or at least worse than when I was shooting plated. I measured some 155gr LSWC at .401 before loading and then pulled them with an impact puller after running through the FCD. They measured .3985 to .399 after passing through the FCD. I did get 100% reliability in feeding though.

I put the Dillon crimp die back into the 650XL and after some adjustment (yes it is a bit coarse) I'm back to 100% feeding and improved accuracy.

[redwoods]

I was running a FCD in my 1050 for 9mm. I was having issues with the bullets being set back.

I take the completed round and push it against some wood with my thumb pushing on the primer and the bullet pushing against the wood.

It would change the OAL with an amount of pressure I was not comfortable with.

I took out the FCD and changed it to a Dillon and I didn't get any more setback.

Randy

[durdy1]

Ok I have always questioned the crimp and my accuracy. how do your now how much to crimp.. I run the die down to to the plate on the 650, lock in the die. Run a round up to the top of the stroke and screw the adjustment down until it touches the round, then run the shell plate back down and screw the adjustment down 1/2 a turn. Friends both say "touch plus half turn". My bell is gone when the bullet is seated.