Question on Lee dies

[dacaur]

The other thing about neck sizing is you can only do it for cases fired in one specific rifle that will be fired in the same rifle. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule... One person I Talked too said said that he has two bolt guns the same caliber, and when he neck sizes cases fired in gun A, they load fine into gun B, but when he neck sizes cases fired in gun B, the bolt wont close when he puts them in gun A..... YMMV

Ive also always heard that you can only neck size for bolt guns, but again, every rule has exceptions. I have talked to a few people who say they neck size for their semi autos, they only full length size after every 2-3 firings and thats enough. For shooting paper or steel, thats fine, a malfunction only means you get a chance for a failure drill, but for hunting or in a self defense weapon, I would definitely full length size for a semi auto.

[Servant]

So, after reloading a particular case a # of times, a person can "anneal" (sp) the necks of the case in order to soften them back up? Full length sizing lets a person reload approximately how many times, if they were not pushing it to the limit with powder?

Peetzakilla, as with most things for me, the day after I take in info is when it clicks for me, and your right. I just shouldn't have bought the "extra" FCD. At least I didn't pay full price for them.

I did begin to use the FCD yesterday for the .45ACP. I put an empty case in the die and screwed the die down until it touhed the case, then tightened it down. Then I seated a bullet in the case the correct amount, and ran the case through the FCD and screwed the adjuster on top down until it touched the top of the bullet. Pull the case out of the die and screwed the adjuster another half turn. Is this the proper way to adjust this die, because although the bullet did not move when pushing lightly on it, when I tested a mag of 6, the last two had lost .020" in col. Should I have screwed the adjuster down further?

[Brian Pfleuger]

It's all in the different learning styles, my friend. Don't worry. Post your extra FCD in the classified ads here. Someone will buy it.

Adjustment of the FCD for handgun rounds should be as follows (IIRC)

1)No die in press, raise ram fully.

2)Screw die into press until it touches the shellholder.

3)Lower ram and screw die 1/4 turn farther to remove slack, tighten lock ring.

4)Unscrew "adjuster" almost all the way. (This is actually what gives you the crimp)

5)Place finished round in shellholder and raise ram.

6)Screw in adjuster in until it touches finished round.

7)Lower ram.

8)Screw in adjuster 1/4 additional turn.



Now, raising the ram will cause the adjuster to crimp the case mouth. Adjust from here to desired crimp. You don't need much adjustment. This die is very strong. Excess adjustment will LITERALLY crush a cannelure into the bullet.

As to your questions on annealing and number of reloads....

Annealing cases is something that has to be done carefully. There are temperature indicating markers available that tell you when the proper temperatures have been reached. Over-annealing a cartridge can cause catastrophic failure. It is critically important that the annealing does not progress down the body of the case or get ANYWHERE NEAR the head. It can be done safely but I personally consider it to be "advanced reloading" and would not recommend it to someone just starting out.

Number of loadings is something that can not be precisely predicted. Various brands of brass last much longer than some and other brands last much less. I have never full-length sized cases any number of times so I can't really say. Seems like from reading 3-5 might be "typical" but I could be wrong.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

If you are having setback you may have a couple problems. A couple things to be mindul of:

1.) Do not over expand case mouths. Expand the case mouth as little as possible so the base of the bullets just fits in the case mouth for seating. Over-expanding case mouths will shorten brass life and can lead to stback issues.

2.) The FCD is there to just remove the bell (when you expanded the case mouth). After you seat a bullet, this is how you should set up the FCD:

Put round in the shellholder and raise the ram all the way. Screw the FCD in until you feel the case mouth just touch the die (you may have to adjust the knurled stem down a bit to contact the case mouth). When this happens, tighten the lock ring. From here, you will use the knurled adjuster on top of the die to fine tune the crimp. Screw this stem down until the proper amount of crimp is achieved. It won't be much. Just enough to remove the bell. With a pair of dial calipers I think some people try to get the measurement at the case mouth at .470-.471 for 45 acp. After you do it enough you will get the hang of it.

NOTE: Overcrimping can squeeze the bullet down to a slightly smaller diameter. When this happens, the brass springs back a bit, thus leaving less case tension on the bullet. This can lead to setback issues.

I would check these 2 variables and I bet you find your setback issue goes away.

[dacaur]

I put an empty case in the die and screwed the die down until it touched the case, then tightened it down.

the two guys above got it right, but just to remove any doubt, you do NOT want to have a case in the press when you adjust it. You just want to install the shell holder in the press, and use that as your measurement to adjust it. The way you did it the crimp die is still one case lenght away from doing anything......