Do I really need a Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die?

[medium187mph]

I’ve got a set of Hornady 9mm dies and keep hearing about the Lee factory 9mm crimp...

Shouldn’t I be good to go with my current set or do I really need the Lee die as well?

 

[medium187mph]

@mikey357 handloader @Freshly Minted Georgian!

 

[madcow]

nope, you can seat your bullet and crimp with the bullet seating die. read your die instructions, it will tell you how to set it up.

 

[medium187mph]

nope, you can seat your bullet and crimp with the bullet seating die. read your die instructions, it will tell you how to set it up.

I’ve loaded a good bit of of calibers but this review had me thinking...

“The Lee factory crimp die, unlike every other crimp die on the market, has a carbide ring that resizes the case after the bullet has been seated. The carbide ring "irons out" wrinkles and bulges in the case and makes ammunition that has a clearance fit in the chamber. Reloaded ammunition that has been built with a Lee factory crimp die will function very VERY reliably”

 

[medium187mph]

Plus iraqveteran8888 also mentioned it in one of his videos on loading 9mm as well.

I take info with a grain of salt but figured it may be something to consider

 

[palmettomoon]

While not a huge fan of Hornady, their seating/crimp dies are fine. Adjust seating depth using a factory round if you have one and then back off the seating stem. Loosen the lock ring and run the die body down on a freshly seated round (of correct OAL) at the top of the press stroke until you feel resistance, then work in 1/8 turns until you get the amount of crimp you want. Then with the die body locked (using the ring) and the press stroke at the top, run the seating stem down until it stops on your freshly seated and correctly crimped round. You're good to go now.

 

[1006]

I think they are an unneeded gimmick, as are the “small base” undersize dies

 

[medium187mph]

While not a huge fan of Hornady, their seating/crimp dies are fine. Adjust seating depth using a factory round if you have one and then back off the seating stem. Loosen the lock ring and run the die body down on a freshly seated round (of correct OAL) at the top of the press stroke until you feel resistance, then work in 1/8 turns until you get the amount of crimp you want. Then with the die body locked (using the ring) and the press stroke at the top, run the seating stem down until it stops on your freshly seated and correctly crimped round. You're good to go now.

I mixed my dies up, I’ve got RCBS 9mm dies and Hornady 223 dies

 

[palmettomoon]

I mixed my dies up, I’ve got RCBS 9mm dies and Hornady 223 dies

I'm using an RCBS seating 9mm die and a Dillon crimp 9mm on the 1050 right now.

 

[handloader]

I prefer to seat and crimp in 2 stages, especially when using soft hollow points or cast bullets, think .45 Colt. On cast bullets, I will sometimes crimp with a second seating die to avoid swaging the bullet base. If I were using a single stage it would be a lot more work, but on a 5 stage progressive, it's still one pull one round. I vote yes for fmj and jhp, but no for cast loads. Hornady die sets are my favorite for straight wall cases, but I detest their rifle die sets. I have found the Lee rifle style crimp die to be the best for heavy handgun rounds to avoid the bullets jumping the crimp, such as hot loaded 310 grain .44 Mag and up. No issues with standard crimping for 240 etc.