Why I Crimp

ButterBean said:
It's awesome on Yote's and anything else for that matter, I'll never be without one
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Yes indeed I agree with Mr. Butterbean, the .270 Winchester round is truly one of the better rifle rounds that have been with us for quite a few years. It was introduced to the world in the year 1925 which would make it 96 years young next year. ( that 's a long time for any cartridge to survive, so that means that it does posse some magic still )
 
Not having a Lee FCD die for my 7mm Practical I went a different route. This results from having seen benefits (some more and some less) from crimping. I drilled out the "cap" on my Lee collet die. This allowed the seated bullet to pass thru. Reductions in neck OD were set at .00075", .0005", and .00025". The latter showed a noticeable improvement at 100yds. .2" +/- groups for three/3 shot groups. This isn't beyond what I've seen before but the consistency was high considering the rate of fire and time behind the trigger lately. I don't have any chronograph data because it's frickin' cold in the north of Idaho and my time is limited due to work demands. So take it for what it is.
 
ButterBean said:
Here's how I use the Lee FCD for accuracy, I'm not trying to push it on anybody or saying that what anyone is doing is wrong, I love reloading and I have spent a small fortune on the latest and greatest and 30 years later I have come full circle and am almost where I started finding I can do a lot with a little. Anyway The Lee FCD, It comes with instructions and they work fine set to those specs but here is how I use it to "Fine Tune", Back the die way off and raise a round, screw the die in until it tightens up against the round, (Hand tighten really snug and I take a fine line sharpie and mark the die, lock nut and press at this point for reference), lower the round and give it a 16th to 1/8th or so of a turn, ( I prefer to cam over doing this with the Rock Chucker press so I know I'm consistent ) it may not look like it did anything but I assure you it did, crimp a string of however many you want and see if it helps, if it didn't give it another 16th to an 1/8th of a turn in and repeat. You can take bigger swings if you like but I don't .The way I use the Lee FCD its the same as finding a powder charge or seating depth. Once again I'm no professional and I'm not a competition shooter I'm a hunter who loves fast accurate rifles and this works for me and i use it on everything I load for, I have seen it help various calibers and I will say that I personally have never seen it hurt one in any way, , I do a lot of unconventional things from the Case Lube or the Dies I like to use some folks think I'm crazy I reckon, Once again this is just how I do things, I just want to say this again so it doesn't get all twisted,

ButterBean
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I just received a FCD for 300 WSM and I'm giving your method a try. I've got it shooting 0.4 moa with a roll crimp and I have 1.5 gr charge weight left to play with before I get to max. Can't wait to see how the Lee FCD works.
 
ButterBean said:
The LEE FCD is adjustable, it comes with set up instructions and they work fine but i have found this a very effective tuning tool,This is my procedure, work up a load as you always do Brass Prep, powder, charge weight and seating depth, once you have this established set your die up and loosen til you just have a few threads left, raise a loaded round as if you were gonna crimp it and screw the die down until it touches, take a fine point Sharpie and mark both the Die and the Press, lower the round and turn the die in about 1/16th or so lock the die crimp 5 rounds shoot and compare ( you wont see any indication of a crimp but i assure you if you try to pull that bullet that it did) and then just keep increasing pressure on the Die in small increments until you find the sweet spot. This is my final step in Load Development, I am not a competition shooter by any means and I have never claimed to be. This has been discussed a million times but I will say again that I personally have never seen a load that i loaded that did not respond to FCD, Some more than others but that's another story
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ButterBean said:
A lot of times if you trim to spec the crimp will be at the very top of the case and that makes it hard to see and control most folks leave brass .003- .005 long, I take the material off of the die if I have have this problem and I have but is rare
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ButterBean,
Sir, I don't know if you still check this thread but after reading it start to finish, I'm sold. I already use it on my 300 AAC and 270. I'll start on my 6.5 PRC and might as well try my 30-30.
I have some questions:
One of the posts -
cape cove said:
Do you guys keep your cases trimmed to the exact same length for this.
I do but I sand my die to adjust the crimp height
What does sand my die mean?
RevJim said: I could have had the die ground off some too
And you responded I'm lucky in having a machine shop.
Are you talking about the same thing, sanding your die, grinding off the die, and having a machine shop to do it in?

Last question, once you get you FCD set, is it set for good? Can I switch out dies on my chucker and put it back on without worries...?

Thanks for all you do on this site. I've learned so much.
KʘLʘ
 
Butter bean is not a fool, the idea of crimping is good relative to the situation. Personally I'm a fan of consistancy. If crimps give you that then crimp away...if you anneal, trim and etc.
crimp by itself means little.
 
ericbc7 said:
Butter bean is not a fool, the idea of crimping is good relative to the situation. Personally I'm a fan of consistancy. If crimps give you that then crimp away...if you anneal, trim and etc.
crimp by itself means little.
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I'm a fan of constancy as well and I do anneal and trim etc every firing and the LEE FCD still improves my groups and while you make may think the "crimp by itself means little" it's the little things that add up to make things big,
 
Last edited:
jumpmasterkolo said:
ButterBean,
Sir, I don't know if you still check this thread but after reading it start to finish, I'm sold. I already use it on my 300 AAC and 270. I'll start on my 6.5 PRC and might as well try my 30-30.
I have some questions:
One of the posts -
cape cove said:
Do you guys keep your cases trimmed to the exact same length for this.
I do but I sand my die to adjust the crimp height
What does sand my die mean?
RevJim said: I could have had the die ground off some too
And you responded I'm lucky in having a machine shop.
Are you talking about the same thing, sanding your die, grinding off the die, and having a machine shop to do it in?

Last question, once you get you FCD set, is it set for good? Can I switch out dies on my chucker and put it back on without worries...?

Thanks for all you do on this site. I've learned so much.
KʘLʘ
Click to expand...
They are sanding the bottom of the die to adjust the height of the crimp ring, and yes once you set it and lock it, your done
 
I have been using the Lee FCD for my AR loads (223, 300 BLK, 6.5 Grendel and 308). I like the way it crimps from the sides and is not a swaging type crimp like a taper of roll crimp. After reading this I will be getting Lee crimp dies for all of my loads. Thanks for the tip Bean!
 
The first time I heard of the factory crimp die was in the 80's.
While visiting a friend in another state we were working up loads for his rifle at a range and just using the seating die to crimp the bullet in place and just fired a shell and was checking the poi when a guy down the line to our left fired and it sounded hard!People screamed and we ran down there to find the shooter had metal in his face and a kid screaming.The action on his rifle was split.We helped him off the ground and noticed several people injured so the R O called police and ambulance.It was later determined that a bullet suffered setback and blew up due to that.
Thats why I use neck tension but check EVERY shell before I load it in the chamber as I use a sharpie on where the case mouth meets the bullet,that was I can see bullet set back from a distance.
Many law suits and several injuries make me wonder about the dangers of bullet set back due to recoil.
I may return to FCD as I have one for every cartridge I shoot.
Thanks ButterBean.
Old Rooster
 

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