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Posted: 1/15/2010 9:55:49 PM EDT
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Ok i was reading through THIS guide and i then followed everything step by step, and my crimps look nothing like his, or what i expected.
This is a picture from the guide of what it should look like 
This is what mine looks like... As you can see there is a "scratch" marking where its touching the casing but its about 1mm from the top of the casing, no matter how "much" of a crimp i do it gives the same result. 
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Since Lee crimp dies are basically self adjusting so you will probably only get the results you are looking for via trimming the case until it is just nicked by the collet. I would ask the OP what length he is trimming to and match that. Alternatively trim some cases a bit more until you find a length that works with your collet, then seat the bullets to an OAL that fits the mag. Note that a shorter trim length but with bullets seated to a proper OAL will result in more cannelure being exposed, as in the first picture. Once you get the crimp you are looking for make sure they will fit ok in a few mags before you commit to crimping the whole batch that way. So, the short answer is trim your brass a bit more to get a crimp like in the first pic. However, the crimp in the second picture (your crimp) isn't too bad actually. Some trial and error will get you the results you are looking for. Just remember that adjusting the die does very little toward changing the crimp and case length is everything with these dies. Myself, I trim everything and seat almost the entire cannelure within the case and crimp in the area you show in your second picture. As there is a lot of cannelure under the collet I get a decent military type crimp. The reason why yours are so light is probably because there is not enough cannelure under the collet to crimp the case neck into. Hope this helps and was not confusing. |
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Looks good. You could check the case length and possibly trim them a bit more to match the picture, but your crimp looks fine. What is the case length? Do they function in your magazine? (Load one full to check for too much over all length) Do the loaded rounds fit perfectly into a case gauge? ( Not sticking out of the end). Do your rounds chamber? How to they shoot? Better or worse than factory loads? Do you have signs of excess pressure? (Flattened primer, bulging or split cases)
Start from there, and if they are all good tweak one item at a time and work towards a better load. It is good that you are asking questions. |
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My crimps on .223 with a lee factory crimp die look alot more like yours than they do the picture from the info thread. Honestly, the guy in the thread photo has waaay more crimp than I would put on my .223 rounds. My crimps are barely noticable unless you look close. His almost look like they bend the whole casemouth in. Mine are more pressed from the sides with equal force from the mouth to the bottom of the crimp. Which is where you see that line there. You don't need as much crimp as that guy has. Follow the instructions that came with the FCD and you will be fine. Alot of people don't even crimp their .223. I do because I feel with a semi auto it's a good idea to have a light crimp.
According to Lee, it is not as important (with the FCD) for the cases to be trimmed identically, but I typically do that anyway. Once again, I dont' think that guys pictures are representative of what my lee FCD produces. |
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Quoted: Looks good. You could check the case length and possibly trim them a bit more to match the picture, but your crimp looks fine. What is the case length? Do they function in your magazine? (Load one full to check for too much over all length) Do the loaded rounds fit perfectly into a case gauge? ( Not sticking out of the end). Do your rounds chamber? How to they shoot? Better or worse than factory loads? Do you have signs of excess pressure? (Flattened primer, bulging or split cases) Start from there, and if they are all good tweak one item at a time and work towards a better load. It is good that you are asking questions. I can't much to the above. When I used the Lee crimp die, my loaded ammo looked just the ammo in the picture. |
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I just looked again at the picture of your crimp. It is fine, seriously. If you are worried, take your calipers and see how much crimp you are actually putting on there.
One thing I do is I end my stroke abruptly (if that makes sense) and then I take it down, turn that round a little bit and recrimp the same round. That way the lines from between the collet sections are smoothed out. ETA: I just looked at the thread from that guy and saw that he was trimming to 1.740. Sorry for not reading the thread clearly before. I agree with the above replies. I think his look different because of how far they were trimmed and how the cannalure was positioned. My 55 gr cannalure FMJ loads are seated to the top of the cannalure when using the recommended COAL of 2.200" and a recommended trim to length of 1.750". With the brass covering that much of the cannalure, I think the crimp looks different than how his is only slightly into the cannalure. That "scratch" you are talking about looks like the bottom of the crimp. That die doesn't come down from the type like some other crimps, it squeezes from the sides, so it is a flat looking crimp with a line at the bottom of the crimp, about where that scratch/line is on yours. Are you saying that no matter how far you screw the FCD die into the press, that is all the crimp you get out of it? |
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The crimp looks good. I use the same crimp die for my .223 loads. The case lenght is the one your should be worried about. From experience consistent case trim produces consistent crimp. I put a set screw on the lock nut of my crimp die to keep everything consistent. Over crimping will buckle your case. |
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