Question about factory crimp pressure

[Shep]

Just started using a Lee factory crimp on 9mm with 147 Blue Bullets. Some of these are getting a lot of crimp and some feel like they get. I don't sort brass, should I be ?  Or am I worrying about this for nothing.

[redpillregret]

I think that a taper crimp works better on coated lead bullets than does the FCD. It will actually size the bullet down with thicker brass. Just use a Redding taper crimp and accuracy will be better and velocity will be more consistent, especially with mixed stamp brass.


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[Sarge]

I use an FCD for ease of adjustment only. I have it set to just crimp and not really sizing.  Just do some searching on these forums for crimping 9mm. All you want to do is remove the bell, nothing more. Measuring the loaded cartridge case mouth should be in the neighborhood of .378-9 or so.

[B_RAD]

^^^^this

 

and let's go ahead and say that crimp does not hold the bullet in place. Best to learn that early on. 

 

[muncie21]

FCD for semi-auto pistol rounds, doesn't matter if they are coated, jacketed or plated.  You don't want to swage the bullet, just remove the bell

[Darrell]

If the factory crimp die by Lee has the carbide ring in the bottom, it will swage the coated and plain lead bullets down and cause accuracy problems. Use a taper crimp die and set it to .378 and that will work great for any 9mm whether its coated, plated, plain lead, or Jacketed.

[redpillregret]

If the factory crimp die by Lee has the carbide ring in the bottom, it will swage the coated and plain lead bullets down and cause accuracy problems. Use a taper crimp die and set it to .378 and that will work great for any 9mm whether its coated, plated, plain lead, or Jacketed.

 

 

This has been my experience.

 

Certain headstand brass, I can pull the bullet after it’s run through the FCD and it may be 0.002” smaller than it started. I get lots of flyers and velocity variation with Blues when using the FCD. I figured this out after some uncalled Ds and Mikes on 25-30 yard targets when I know I had a good call.

 

It does work awesome for FMJs though.

 

 

 

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[Beef15]

2 minutes ago, Darrell said:

If the factory crimp die by Lee has the carbide ring in the bottom, it will swage the coated and plain lead bullets down and cause accuracy problems. Use a taper crimp die and set it to .378 and that will work great for any 9mm whether its coated, plated, plain lead, or Jacketed.

Since OP has the FCD it's quite easy to knock the sizing ring out with a dowel from the top.

 

FCD is fine for jacketed and plated but can be a headache for lead in 9mm. Haven't seen issues in straight walled rounds.

[Darrell]

2 minutes ago, Beef15 said:

Since OP has the FCD it's quite easy to knock the sizing ring out with a dowel from the top.

 

FCD is fine for jacketed and plated but can be a headache for lead in 9mm. Haven't seen issues in straight walled rounds.

I agree, knock the ring out and now you have an quick adjustable taper crimp die.

[Shep]

Redding taper crimp is on the way. The Blues are chronographed all over the place. I appreciate everyone's input, as a fairly new competition shooter and reloader it's nice to hear others experience and opinions.

[B_RAD]

1 hour ago, Darrell said:

If the factory crimp die by Lee has the carbide ring in the bottom, it will swage the coated and plain lead bullets down and cause accuracy problems. Use a taper crimp die and set it to .378 and that will work great for any 9mm whether its coated, plated, plain lead, or Jacketed.

I just loaded up some coated bullets using a FCD. Guess I'll find out if that causes any accuracy issue. 

[jmtyndall]

19 hours ago, B_RAD said:

I just loaded up some coated bullets using a FCD. Guess I'll find out if that causes any accuracy issue. 

I've not seen any accuracy difference. My Dillon sizing die doesn't size the last few thousandth's of the case. Occasionally this causes a round which will not case gauge. Those rounds get run through a FCD and then put in a separate box. I see no difference in accuracy or PF with that ammo than I do with my ammo which doesn't touch the FCD.

Edited April 25, 2019 by jmtyndall

[Southpaw]

On 4/24/2019 at 5:11 PM, Shep said:

Redding taper crimp is on the way. The Blues are chronographed all over the place. I appreciate everyone's input, as a fairly new competition shooter and reloader it's nice to hear others experience and opinions.

 

Something else is wrong besides the FCD. I use a FCD with blue bullets and don't have these issues. Always have consistent results when chronoing with low SD.