I meant one MUSTN'T get too aggressive on the crimping. Thanks for the correction! :thumbup:

WOW!! They had really gone up in price. I believe that I paid $49 for mine....granted, that was a few years ago. They work very well (simple, and I need that) and once it is set, one can turn out some cannalured bullets. They are nicely made and not a cheap piece of crap.

I wish I still had the 3-finger collet crimper I had back in the 70's/80's...You could adjust the crimp up or down the neck (or case body), and vary the crimp pressure...Took a bit of muscle (it used the press to draw the collet down and impress the crimp) but it was a solid crimp...I can't recall who made it; might even have been RCBS/Huntington...The best part was the crimp 'ring' was at the top of the collet; you could eyeball where it would be...

I dug out my old "ABC's of Reloading" and looked, didn't find it... :(

I have never seen a collet crimper like you describe......it does sound interesting, and useful. The Lee Factory Crimp Dies(LFCD) come in many calibers, but only the ones for bottle neck brass(30 Luger, 38-40, 44-40, etc.) have a collet type crimp. The ones for straight cases have the std. rolled or taper crimp.

Do you have a pic of the collet itself??? I can only find pics of the boxed die...Doesn't tell me anything... :(

I am sorry, I do not.

There is some 30 Luger Lee 'crimp' die on GB but they don't call it a LFCD, but it has the number 90175...Is that the one you have???

Yes, it is. I just checked the LFCD plastic box, and it shows #90175.


I also have/use the LFCD for loading 38WCF(38-40). It makes a very uniform crimp into the cannalure. That is why I am going to add a cannalure to some of my .308 and .309in. FMJ bullets and see what kind of a crimp that I can attain. I don't have a roll crimp die for 30 Luger, only taper crimp and the LFCD.