Shep Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redpillregret Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 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. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B_RAD Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 ^^^^this and let's go ahead and say that crimp does not hold the bullet in place. Best to learn that early on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muncie21 Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrell Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redpillregret Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 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. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beef15 Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrell Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shep Posted April 25, 2019 Author Share Posted April 25, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B_RAD Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmtyndall Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpaw Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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