As to Yondering comment on cast bullets being sized down by the Lee CFCD, that has not been my experience at all. I have shot my .41 Magnums out to 780 yards with zero accuracy problems and 90% of the rounds that I make in all calibers use a Lee die and cast bullets. This die eliminated feeding issues for me in several guns.
Have you actually pulled bullets after running through a FCD and measured them? Maybe with the sizes and brass brands you're using it's still good enough, but it's definitely not OK in a lot of other cases. If you do a direct comparison, in most cases you'll find the bullet gets sized down and neck tension is reduced. The degree to which that happens depends on a lot of factors.
Think about this for a minute - if that die cured feeding issues for you, it obviously sized something smaller. If the bullet started off the size you wanted but bulged the brass too much, then what happened to the bullet when the cartridge got sized down by that carbide ring?
It's better to figure out bullet fit and feeding problems without sizing the bullet down after it's loaded.
...honestly...it's like the people who complain that Unique won't meter to their liking throgh powder measures... I get little tiny groups and that is all I care about...
And again how many 10,000s you talking about...apparently in my case not enough to matter....
Bob
In 10mm and 40 S&W (same die) I've seen my Lee FCD size .402" bullets anywhere between .401" and .398" depending on the brass (because brass thickness varies). That's for a nominally .400" barrel. Would that be acceptable to you? (It's not for me!) If so, why not size all the bullets to .399" and skip the carbide band-aid die?
With some loads (i.e. medium-soft alloy and high pressure) you can get away with that, but in a lot of loads it causes problems. It's odd to me how some cast bullet shooters will obsess over whether .401" or .402" (or whatever) bullet size is best, but then run the loaded ammo through a FCD and never measure the final bullet diameter.
For the guys who say it doesn't size down their bullets - then it's obviously not doing anything, so why use it?
The collet version of the Lee crimp die is a completely different thing and has no relevance to reloading 10mm.
