Lee FCD for 9 Major

[regor]

Are there any concerns with using the Lee Factory Crimp Die with 9 Major? My RCBS crimp die that I had been using for the last two years has started giving me issues, it's snagging on the down stroke with the new Montana Gold bullets I am using. I can back it out a bit and the issue goes away, but then some of my rounds don't plunk.  

 

I saw that the Lee FCD is fairly cheap so I could just swap to that rather than trouble shoot the RCBS one. 

[echotango]

I don't use anything but a FCD. No issues with MG. 

[Glock17open]

37 minutes ago, echotango said:

I don't use anything but a FCD. No issues with MG. 

Same here, I was having issues with my Dillon die. I switched to the lee die and my problems were solved.

[George16]

The main concern is if you’re using .356 or bigger diameter bullets, the FCD will swaged it down to .355.

[Sandbagger123]

if you are using .355 fmj bullets in 9mm major it will work just fine.   just use it as a final crimp die.    i shoot a lot of coated so i no longer use the FCD and jsut went with a lee taper crimp die and see no difference from the fcd other it does not resize the coated bullets 

[zzt]

I use it for .355" JHPs, plated and .356" coated.  The die does swage the portion of the bullet inside the case down to .355", but the is no leading and no loss of accuracy.  I don't worry about it anymore and use an FCD for 9mm, 40sw and 45, including my 45 bullseye loads.

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: i just use the Dillon crimp die and have used it for a very long time. Coated, plated and jacketed bullets with no problem, major and minor as well. My setup is Dillon or Lee deprime die, Redding or Hornady seating die and a Dillon crimp die for 9mm. Thanks, Eric

[Sarge]

I use the FCD as a crimp die only. I have it backed way out and then turn the crimp down further.

[MikeyScuba]

I’m not buying the swage argument.  I’ve loaded 30k+ of .358 coated and maybe a few I pulled and measured were .3575, most weren’t.  No accuracy issues.

[Banacek]

Good to know. 

[regor]

Didn’t realize you could setup the FCD to crimp and not do the swage portion. They are pretty cheap so if I can’t sort out the RCBS one then I’ll give it a try. 

[Farmer]

3 hours ago, regor said:

Didn’t realize you could setup the FCD to crimp and not do the swage portion. 

You can’t. It has to pass through the lower carbide ring to get to the floating taper crimp ring. Only way would be to press out the lower size ring and then you may as well just get the std crimp die. It’s generally not a problem with jacketed, just soft lead.  Did you try running a stainless brush in your RCBS die? I had a similar problem and it was a small sliver of brass that was swaged into the crimp section with bullet lube too. A good cleaning cured it. 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Farmer

[zzt]

The FCD can be set up to crimp only, but it WILL swage lead inside the case to .355".  You can see this quite clearly with plated bullets.  Poly coats have a thick (usually) coating.  They are swaged, but the coating springs back some when pulled.  Those with thin coatings like Summers, not so much.

[Farmer]

3 minutes ago, zzt said:

The FCD can be set up to crimp only.

How? 

[ChuckS]

14 minutes ago, Farmer said:

How? 

you can use a punch and knock the sizing ring out of the die.

[Farmer]

1 minute ago, ChuckS said:

you can use a punch and knock the sizing ring out of the die.

That’s what I said in my previous post but everyone makes it sound like you can just adjust it to crimp only. I guess a punch or press is an adjustment eh? 

[ChuckS]

3 minutes ago, Farmer said:

That’s what I said in my previous post but everyone makes it sound like you can just adjust it to crimp only. I guess a punch or press is an adjustment eh? 

Yup

 

[regor]

32 minutes ago, Farmer said:

You can’t. It has to pass through the lower carbide ring to get to the floating taper crimp ring. Only way would be to press out the lower size ring and then you may as well just get the std crimp die. It’s generally not a problem with jacketed, just soft lead.  Did you try running a stainless brush in your RCBS die? I had a similar problem and it was a small sliver of brass that was swaged into the crimp section with bullet lube too. A good cleaning cured it. 

I used a polishing bit on a dremel and it did seem to help some but did not totally remove the problem. 

[Farmer]

Is it leaving any marks on the brass? Maybe your brass is TOO clean and need s a little sizing wax to slide into the die.  Either way you can at least send it back to RCBS for fixin if you get a Lee and then have a spare. 

[regor]

5 minutes ago, Farmer said:

Is it leaving any marks on the brass? Maybe your brass is TOO clean and need s a little sizing wax to slide into the die.  Either way you can at least send it back to RCBS for fixin if you get a Lee and then have a spare. 

No clear marks. Brass on its own does not snag, tried adding some case lube and it didn't really make it any better. I actually found a second one I had lying around (originally ran a RCBS seating die and then a second one to just crimp, but swapped the seating die for the Hornady one), so I'll try swapping them and see if the problem goes away.