Crimping

[dzrtram]

Somewhere on some reloading site or gun forum I read that only a few cartridges benefit from the Lee Factory Crimp Die. I believe those included were the .30-30, .30 M1 Carbine, and maybe the .38 special and 9mm. I just can't remember all the details. I thought I bookmarked the site, but I didn't. The bottom line seemed to be that handgun calibers don't need the FCD, and not all rifle calibers do. I reload the .30-30, .308, .223, 9mm, .38 special, .45acp and .45 SUPER. Do these calibers benefit from the Lee Factory Crimp die? Can you give me a general answer as to what benefits and what doesn't, and/or maybe a link to a discussion on this topic? I sure would appreciate it.
What's the difference between the Redding Profile Crimp Die and the Lee Factory Crimp Die? When do you use one rather than the other?
Thank you

[dvdstdg]

I reload for the .223, .308, .357, and .45acp. I don't crimp either of the rifle calibers. I crimp the .357 to assure the bullet doesn't back out under recoil. The .45acp headspaces on the case mouth, therefore it is important that you trim your .45acp to the proper case length and taper crimp (light crimp) if you crimp this cartridge at all (I usually don't and haven't had any problems). I don't have any experience with the Lee crimp die so I don't know if it taper crimps or not.

[mbott]

What's the difference between the Redding Profile Crimp Die and the Lee Factory Crimp Die?

I've never used the Redding Profile Crimp die, so I can't comment, but I do use the Lee Factory Crimp dies for all the calibers I reload where they make one. I've observed that in the rifle calibers, like .30-06, my groups tend to shrink a bit with use of the die. In the pistol calibers, I've never had a reload fail to chamber when the FCD had been used. Lee will make a special run of FCD dies for calibers not now in regular production (like 9mm Mak), but the minimum order is something like 30 units, IIRC.

I've have not encountered a situation where the use of the FCD created an issue, so for the time being, I'll continue to use them.

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Mike