I am having trouble with the die when crimping 30.06. The die seems to close fine when case is not in it but will not crimp or close when case is in it. I have tried several adjustment. No help. I don't see any marks like it is trying to crimp in the wrong place or anything. Any ideas??

Never used one for a bottle necked case (got one on order for my 7mm 08 though). However, the only time I had a problem with my 444 was when I did not screw the die in far enough. I recall directions call to screw it in far enough to touch the shell holder and then back off a bit. When I did not do that, nothing would fix the problem. Don't know if that's your issue but it's all I can think of.


Let us know what it ends up as.

Cannelured bullet? I, personally, have never needed to crimp .30-06 bullets. Neck tension has always been enough for me. Why do you need that crimp?

Rev

probably for his garand, and sometimes a crimp will lower your e/s and standard deviations.
but normally good neck tension will be all that is necessary

There is only one reason for a Lee FCD not to close; the die is too high.

I am spoiled with my 30.06 load. The load I developed 1st time out is the most accurate load I have ever developed in any of my rifles. When I have to do something different, it is the load I always have to compare to. The round was developed for a Rem 760 pump for hunting and I used the roll crimp in my RCBS seater die. The crimp actually improved the accuracy of the round. It has been repeatable and consistant for many years.

I got another 30.06 rifle recently. It is a Tikka Lite. The old round is the most accurate round in it, so far. When I started development I thought I would use the LFC die I had on hand. That is when I noticed the problem.

It just seems to not be crimping. It could be the die or it could be me. When using this die does the slits close completely while crimping?

"When using this die does the slits close completely while crimping?"

They can close but you will have gone too far if they do. You need not crimp that much and doing so will damage most bullets.

You will not see a typical "roll in" crimped mouth with the FCD. It will normally leave a faint circular ring on about the last .030" of the case mouth. That is usually enough crimp.<!-- / message -->

I had trouble when I first starting using Lee crimp dies for my o6 and 300rum. I would reread the instructions and start over also go to lee web site there is a video you can watch.