LEE FCD

[Chief-7700]

Lately, I have seen many posts where people are depending on the Lee FCD to finish their reloads. I'm wondering if the FCD is so great why don't all the die makers offer them? Quite happy with my Dillon three die set.

[ar15barrels]

I don't like how they chew up the brass.

[Fjold]

I use them on my 375 H&H for heavy recoiling loads and on my 22.250 because experimenting with it showed a measurable improvement in accuracy (about 10%). The trick is to adjust them to where they just uniform the neck tension without distorting the brass. Use a light crimp not a heavy one.

[Mac Attack]

I use a Lee FCD for my .45 ACP loads with hardcast bullets. Hardcast bullets are thicker than jacketed bullets and the crimp die helps to resize the loaded round. If your firearm shoots your reloads just fine then the die is not necessary. However, in my case my reloads work just fine in my 1911's but the same rounds not run through the FCD have a difficult time chambering in my .45 ACP revolver or my Glock 30. I will say that I have had crushed cases and wavy cases on some rounds run through the die, but overall I like the idea that I can run them through all my .45 firearms.

[Chief-7700]

Mac, If you need any assistance is setting up your 650 let me know. A fix for the spent primers all over the floor and a few more.

[C.W.M.V.]

I cast very soft lead bullets. After getting VERY heavy leading I started looking around trying to find the cause. Came to find out that my Lee FCD was re sizing my .452 bullets to .445-.448 range. I have since stopped using it on my 9mm and 45 ACP and the leading is gone. The seating dies do a good job with the crimp on a low pressure round like 45acp anyway.

[gadjeep]

That must have been a defective die. I don't see how it could resize a bullet without doing significant and visible damage to your brass.

[C.W.M.V.]

That must have been a defective die. I don't see how it could resize a bullet without doing significant and visible damage to your brass.

The calipers dont lie.

[Fjold]

The calipers dont lie.

The amount of crimp with the FCD is adjustable.

[uscbigdawg]

Lately, I have seen many posts where people are depending on the Lee FCD to finish their reloads. I'm wondering if the FCD is so great why don't all the die makers offer them? Quite happy with my Dillon three die set.

Shhhh....Richard Lee is going to be [Elmer Fudd voice] vewy, vewy mad at you for stating the obvious and that Dillon dies are awesome!

[Elmer voice off]

While I'm pretty cavalier about my loading, I will admit I'm pretty obsessive about the brass. I roll size all my brass (even new) prior to throwing them into the casefeeder and then just Dillon dies from there and case gauging after that.

The Lee FCD is a gadget and some folks swear by it. Your Dillon dies are more than the right tool for the job.

Rich

[ar15barrels]

That must have been a defective die. I don't see how it could resize a bullet without doing significant and visible damage to your brass.

The die squeezes the case down on a loaded round.
Since the bullet is softer than the brass and the whole case is being sized, the softest thing is going to give first.
It's not like you are going to be able to squeeze the outside of the case and NOT make the inside smaller too...

Therefore, the bullet sitting inside the case gets re-sized smaller which causes leading of the barrel.

[ar15barrels]

The calipers dont lie.

Actually, the calipers DO lie.
Micrometers don't lie though.

[Chief-7700]

If you use the right equipment to do the job right the first time, guess you don't need the gadget to fix a nonexistent problem.

[ar15barrels]

If you use the right equipment to do the job right the first time, guess you don't need the gadget to fix a nonexistent problem.

Yep.

[gadjeep]

Randall, I will certainly defer to your experience and skills as a veteran reloader and I understand what You are saying That commonsense dictates That you can't change the OD without affecting the ID. My point is That when I set mine it only crimps approximately the last .015 and then it only crimps to .468 from a resized dimension of .472-3 leaving the rest of the case in the same dimension as it was. That leads me to believe that either the resizing sleeve is out of spec or the die body is turned in to the press too deeply. Let me reiterate, I am here to share, learn and gain understanding of a process that is new to me. Please don't misunderstand my posts on the subject to be anything more than that. Thanks.