crimp for .223?

[Raven Armament]

What is it you don't like about the handgun FCD? I use the Lee FCD for 9mm, 45 ACP & 223 and haven't had any issues. Just curious, thanks.

It swages down a loaded cartridge and especially in lead bullets, it reduces the bullet size so the bullet is undersize for the application and causes leading in the barrel. It also gives the idea that you can run a cartridge through a die and all your problems are solved, instead of using properly sized dies to assemble ammunition in the first place.

The FCD in rifles is a collet type crimp die and the above doesn't apply.

[Raven Armament]

I've only run one of their pistol resizing/decap dies. Other than that... just the old Dillon die kits for hand gun ammo.

I run mostly Redding dies but have a few Lee and RCBS mixed in. The only Dillon die I have is the .223 trim die.

[karlglen101]

The only Dillon die I have is the .223 trim die.

What is the purpose of a trim die? I finished my first 100 on the Dillon btw. I'm going to take 20 with me to my shoot on Saturday to see how they do. My dummy rounds seemed to cycle quite well, with the exception of one. The one that failed, had been crunched down a little in the powder drop while I was still adjusting it. It buckled the neck at the shoulder a little. I ran it back through the sizing die and it looked OK. However, the oil ring from my chamber around the neck/shoulder area told a different story when I had to tug on the charging handle to get that puppy out!
I physically inspected them, and checked the primers. Tomorrow I'll run them through the case gauge and call it good. I checked every 7-8 rounds or so for powder as I'm still paranoid and this is my first time loading rifle. All is well, I love that machine!

[Raven Armament]

The trim die coupled with Dillon's trimmer motor allows one to trim brass on the press. As you fire then resize the case, it grows longer and needs to be trimmed to proper length.

I have one toolhead to size and process brass and one to load ammo using a Dillon 1050. It has 8 stations and is a dream to work on.

Here's my setups:

Processing Toolhead
1 case feeds onto shellplate
2 universal decapping die
3 primer pocket swage
4 prime (only if processing customer brass with priming option)
5 body size
6 neck size
7 trim to length
8 [blank station]

Loading Toolhead
1 case feeds onto shellplate
2 universal decapping die to ensure flash hole is clear
3 swage (more of a swage "check" since swage was already done during prep)
4 prime
5 powder charge
6 powder check
7 bullet feed
8 bullet seat (I don't crimp per above posts)

[maindish]

Price is one thing going for them. Dies are pretty decent, except their handgun FCD. Yikes. The rifle collet type FCD are fine. The whole post sizing handgun cartridge stuff just boggles my mind.

I'll add one anecdotal warning for the .223 FCD. When we set up our XL650 we were so tickled with the speed of loading and having 5 stations that I just HAD to have the FCD. Somewhere along the way it got sticky. My buddy was reloading fast when the collet stuck shut, smaller than the neck OD. He pumped out 200 rounds or so of squished, loaded cartridges.

Has anyone else had this experience with the collet FCD? Can you think of any reason not to lube it internally?

[markm]

I'll add one anecdotal warning for the .223 FCD. When we set up our XL650 we were so tickled with the speed of loading and having 5 stations that I just HAD to have the FCD. Somewhere along the way it got sticky. My buddy was reloading fast when the collet stuck shut, smaller than the neck OD. He pumped out 200 rounds or so of squished, loaded cartridges.

Has anyone else had this experience with the collet FCD? Can you think of any reason not to lube it internally?

I've had this happen a few times. Take the die appart, clean it, and lube it and it's back in action.

Stuff like this is why I like my progressive simple... and I like to take my time and watch everything that's going on. Quality over volume for me.