Lee FCD Mod Step-By-Step w/images

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Re: Lee FCD Mod Step-By-Step w/images

Postby Wicked Hunter » Thu Feb 16, 2012 5:33 am

found this at midway. I wonder if it would be the right height to move the FCD die up and get good threads on the lock nut? Anybody have one? I can't find anywhere that specifies the height.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/176111/rcbs-extended-shellholder-3-308-winchester-30-06-springfield-45-acp
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Re: Lee FCD Mod Step-By-Step w/images

Postby Hoot » Thu Feb 16, 2012 8:17 am

Wicked Hunter wrote:found this at midway. I wonder if it would be the right height to move the FCD die up and get good threads on the lock nut? Anybody have one? I can't find anywhere that specifies the height.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/176111/rcbs-extended-shellholder-3-308-winchester-30-06-springfield-45-acp


While it looks helpful for other tasks, I don't think it would help with the .45-70 FCD because the 450b, being shorter than the .45-70, needs to go further up into the die before the shell holder engages the collet. That extension is the same diameter, if not wider than the shell holder. All it would accomplish would be engaging the collet before the handle was pulled down as far as it normally would have to go. You would need an extension, no bigger in diameter than the 450b case in order to pass up into the die with the case.

Does that make sense? I could take time and make a drawing to illustrate it if need be.

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Re: Lee FCD Mod Step-By-Step w/images

Postby Wicked Hunter » Thu Feb 16, 2012 12:55 pm

i thought the collet of the crimp die was actuated by the shell holder? If that is the case this Is just an extended shell holder (minus the priming hole). Maybe im confused and need the drawing. Is it actually the case that moves the collet up to form the crimp?
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Re: Lee FCD Mod Step-By-Step w/images

Postby Hoot » Thu Feb 16, 2012 5:36 pm

Wicked Hunter wrote:i thought the collet of the crimp die was actuated by the shell holder? If that is the case this Is just an extended shell holder (minus the priming hole). Maybe im confused and need the drawing. Is it actually the case that moves the collet up to form the crimp?


No you have it correct. It is just an extended shell holder, which engages the collet base which protrudes below the die body. The only place the entire die touches the case is when the fingers collet down and contact the point where they press the crimp in. Assuming you have ordered an FCD, once it arrives you'll see what I mean.

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Re: Lee FCD Mod Step-By-Step w/images

Postby Wicked Hunter » Thu Feb 16, 2012 6:29 pm

I have the FCd and have modded it. I guess what im trying to say is that by using an extented shell holder you would have to run the die up higher in the press which in turn would give you more threads exposed on the die for the lock-nut. I was just curious if there would be enough die left sticking through the bottom of the press for it to still work.Hopefully i have explained this better? Whats your thought
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Re: Lee FCD Mod Step-By-Step w/images

Postby Hoot » Thu Feb 16, 2012 7:28 pm

Wicked Hunter wrote:I have the FCd and have modded it. I guess what im trying to say is that by using an extented shell holder you would have to run the die up higher in the press which in turn would give you more threads exposed on the die for the lock-nut. I was just curious if there would be enough die left sticking through the bottom of the press for it to still work.Hopefully i have explained this better? Whats your thought


Like you, I don't have one of those extended shell holders, so at best all I could venture is a guess. The bottom of the top of the Lee Classic Cast is solid and you could run the shell holder up that far. In the case of the Rock Chucker, things get more tricky as there is a cavity up into the bottom of the top of the press. There's a chance that the extended shell holder might go slightly higher up into that cave, but it may get stuck up in it. Not having one, that is strictly conjecture. You should not have a problem reaching the die without the extended shell holder. I do not know what it is designed to correct.

I own many brands of dies, including Lees. I do not like the Lee lock nut and have relegated all of mine to a drawer and picked up a bulk pack of more conventional die lock nuts with set screws. I use them instead and as a bonus, their thinner composition, combined with threads which go all the way to the edge does not leave me in a situation where I don't have enough die shank sticking through the press to get several turns of the lock nut to secure them.

About the only recommendation that comes to mind, would be to omit the lock nut and put a couple of wraps of plumbers tape around the threads to make it more resistive to rotation.

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Lee FCD Part 2

Postby Hoot » Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:42 pm

I have added a second part to the article that follows it back on the first page.

Enjoy

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Re: Lee FCD Mod Step-By-Step w/images

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:00 am

After review, this has got to be one of the most informative posts on here. Fantastic job, Hoot.
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Re: Lee FCD Mod Step-By-Step w/images

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Fri Nov 15, 2013 1:03 am

Hoot, where did your original post go? The information is gone now.
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Re: Lee FCD Mod Step-By-Step w/images

Postby Hoot » Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:40 am

Texas Sheepdawg wrote:Hoot, where did your original post go? The information is gone now.


I've never looked into it, but I suspect it's "Tiny Pic Syndrome"

If an image is not visited every x number of days, it is deleted. Not enough ad revenue being produced.

Not just this thread, but many of my threads have suffered that fate. Right now, my dad is visiting through Thanksgiving and he's glued to my hip when he's awake. If I get some time to kill, I'll see if this is one of the articles I have archived on a thumb drive and re-host it on my local ISP storage, which is what I should have been doing all along. In the first iteration of this forum, the Tiny Pic link was just too easy to use. Had I known and I should have guessed as much, that it was not an indefinite storage solution, I would have hosted them myself all along.

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