lee factory crimp dies

[coalman]

i load for the 30-30 win and the marlin 308mx. decided to get a crimp die for these rounds i can find crimp die for the 30-30 but nothing for the 308mx. was reading some reviews of the crimp die and one person said you can use same crimp die for the 30-30 ,30-06, 308win, and 300 savage. i know the necks would be same but the cases are all different. anybody know this for sure

[Bama Man]

I would ASSUME that the crimp die is sraight shouldered all the way through , with a taper at the very top, same idea as the universal de-capper die, which has no shoulder inside.
It costs a lot to ream the dies with shoulders, etc.
Look inside the die and see if it has a shoulder in it.
If not, then I would think that it would only be a matter of turning the die in or out to the length of the casing to provide the crimp needed.
In my opinion , anyway.

[Jake Mc.]

With a lee factory crimp die the sleeve inside the die pushes on the shell holder in the ram of the press. This means the crimp is placed at the same distance from the shell holder every time. If the cartridges are the same length, then the factory crimp die will work.

This video will show it a little better...

http://www.leeprecision.com/html/Hel...fc%20die-1.wmv

Hope this helped.

(info added to clarify)
I use a 7.62x39, a 30/30 win, and a 300 win mag lee factory crimp die. Each cartridge is a different length, so none of the dies are interchangeable.

[Lar5]

I think your only solution would be to order a custom LFD from Lee. A 30-30 FCD won’t work because the die is not wide enough to accept a 308mx case at the base. In order to get a different caliber die to work it would need to have a larger inside diameter than a 308mx round. It would also have to be almost exactly the same length to activate the collet at the right time since it is activated when the die bottoms out on the shell holder. I ‘m not sure but I don’t think Lee makes a die that for a .30 caliber that is close enough to the same length.

[spooter66]

Call Lee's customer service and ask them. They have a very good customer service dept and will tell you if any of their other dies are compatible.

[andrewjs18]

Lee is BAD at labeling their dies. If you're experienced it's ok, but if you're a newb, it can be annoying.

[Farbmeister]

The collet on the crimp die is not THAT length sensitive. The collet only crimps maybe the very top 3rd of the neck. It doesn't squeeze from top of shoulder to top of neck.

IT CANNOT.. otherwise boat tail bullets would pop out!

Max outside diameter is most critical. The collet on my .30-06 must have at least 2-3/32s play. The amount of final crimp is determined by how far down you screw the die.

[Jake Mc.]

The collet on the crimp die is not THAT length sensitive. The collet only crimps maybe the very top 3rd of the neck. It doesn't squeeze from top of shoulder to top of neck.

IT CANNOT.. otherwise boat tail bullets would pop out!

Max outside diameter is most critical. The collet on my .30-06 must have at least 2-3/32s play. The amount of final crimp is determined by how far down you screw the die.

I agree it only crimps the case mouth near the very top. However, I also know case length does matter. I would love to see you crimp a 30/30 Win or a 300 Win Mag in your Lee 30-06 factory crimp die! It Just won't put the crimp anywhere near where it needs to be!


The 30/30 is about 15/32 shorter than your 30-06, and the 300 Win Mag is about 1/8 longer the 30-06.

Please try it on 30 cal cases of different lengths and let us know how it works out.

I apologize in advance if this post offends you!

[Farbmeister]

Um... yeah.. your case would need to be within a few 16th's to use the same die... but definitely not as close as taper crimps need to be (a few thou)

That was obvious so I omitted it.. my mistake.

8mm, .308 and .30-08 are all basically the same case (just shorter versions of each other). If you wanted to, you *could* cut the die down and still have it work.