Lee 223 Crimp Die

[NKBJ]

What's your experience with .223 using Lee's factory crimp die?

Good, bad, eh, maybe or not, good points, bad points?

 

[Pistol boy]

I have had good results with it. I'm pretty new to reloading and it's worked well with 68gr at 200yrd. What I do is crimp it then quarter or so turn the round and crimp it again. With 55gr I just crimp and go

 

[lovemywoods]

I've had good success for several years until my last batch of .223. Every now and then a round would come out with the shoulder smashed down and flared out a bit. The round is ruined. I figured out that the crimp die wasn't releasing after the previous round and when the next round was inserted, it got jammed up.

I cleaned the crimp die (not very dirty) and put some Kroil in it. It's working well so far. I also bought a new replacement Lee crimp die as a backup. For $17 new, I can't afford to smash too many rounds. If the old die fails again, it's gone.

 

[bocefus78]

My limited testing with it, h335, and 55gr varmageddons showed a significant decrease in accuracy with any crimp whatsoever. 2+moa crimped. 1 moa uncrimped

 

[cmann250]

I use it for my 55gr w/cannelure loads. There is such a thing as too much. I do not use it for my 69gr SMK loads for the reason mentioned.


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[55fairlane]

I do not crimp any of my rifle loads anymore.......223 will go 2+M.O.A with crimp (I do load them to .030 under magazine leanth) no issues even in the rapid fire part of the matches

My 22-250 no crimp either....groups open up........

Now that being said, the Lee die works well, I did crimp every round for a long time and the die works well.....

Aaron

 

[gds]

I've had the same experience as bocefus78 . As long as your neck tension is tight enough to hold the bullet where you seat it , you'll get better groups out of the longer heavier bullets. I can't tell much difference either way with the 55 gr. bullets .

 

[Sniper 79]

Used it for years. Worked great. No time for rifle loading these days.

Didn't notice groups opening like others have mentioned. Made me feel better to crimp AR rounds. I only kissed it with a tiny amount of crimp. Used it on all weights and brands. Will be purchasing another some day.

 

[2in1evtime]

I use no crimp on rifle ammo in my bolt guns, and a light crimp on anything running thru a semi auto. All my crimp dies are lee also.

 

[bigedp51]

Whidden custom dies sells expander kits with 5 expanders from bullet diameter to .004 under bullet diameter. Meaning these expanders let you decide on the amount of neck tension/bullet grip.

Below is a Lyman type "M" .223 expander, please notice the expander is .003 smaller than bullet diameter and its increased bullet grip.

Bottom line, I use the Lyman type "M' expander above and do not crimp any of my AR15 loads.

I wet tumble my cases with SS media and then dip my case necks in powdered graphite to ease seating force.

 

[NKBJ]

Thank you all for the experience input.
To my knowledge I've never had a bullet move. I think the individual hand loader generally performs much closer inspection and quality control than commercial concerns and hence the likelihood during cycling of the bullet being pushed into the case or moving forwards due to inertia are much smaller. But, I'm always wondering about such things. Picked up a Lee crimper from 10Ring in Houston (always my go-to guys seeing as they always seem to have what I ask for) and will try it out.