Do I need 4 Dies

I just won a 4 hole Lee press, and will start gathering the rest of the items I will need as time and money allow.
I do know to buy carbide dies from reading here and elsewhere. Do I need 4 dies, or just 3. For loading 9mm, do I need a FC, or will the seating die do well enough.

Also, if there is any reloaders in my area ( Golden Triangle ) I would love to see you work, and pick your brain.

Thanks,
Paul

STation 1. Size an re prime.2 flare case an add powder.3 seat bullet.4 crimp....same setup as my dillon

Lt Dan just bought a lee loadmaster

Yes, for 9mm you will need 4 dies. #4 being a taper crimp die.

.

I have yet to see why the world needs taper crimp

Beladran wrote:I have yet to see why the world needs taper crimp

... cause it eliminates a TON of headaches!! IMHO!!

captain-03 wrote:

Beladran wrote:I have yet to see why the world needs taper crimp

... cause it eliminates a TON of headaches!! IMHO!!

And some reloading SNAFUs.......................

Bel, you are young..... you will learn.....



.

lol lord im gonna start a new thread on roll crimp vs taper crimp now.. i need educating

I use a single stage, but I still crimp separately.

shoeshooter wrote:I use a single stage, but I still crimp separately.

... me, too ...

I'd like to suggest you call Lee Precision and order the current catalog.

They have a lot of different dies sets...some 3 die set some 4 set depending on what you wanna do. Carbide you can use without lube....think pistols here...it can be a little confusing for a newbie...

Personally I like their crimp dies...and their collet die aint too bad either once you figure out how to get it set correctly

This years catalog is quite nice and might clear up a few things for you.

Lee makes great reloading gear for those on a budget

Duhbob wrote:The crimp, on an always finnikey round like the 9mm, only needs to remove the bell at the mouth of the case. Too much crimp causes pressure problems and not enough will leave your bullet slipping in (or out) when rolling around in an ammo bag or box. The extra $ is gonna be worth it for the carbide factory-crimp. You're gonna experiment with seating depth while you develop the "perfect" round anyway, and the crimp will be on it's own

Ditto. Although I don't load 9mm any more (I'm loading 40 cal), I like to use the Lee factory crimp die as the last step. Use just enough crimp to remove the bell shape from the mouth, so that you're bringing the brass back flush with the bullet.

Lots of good info here guys. Thanks alot.

Paul

Thanks for the plug Beladran haha. I started with just the 3 die set and now I'm using 5 haha. I started with the Lee classic turret 4 hole press in single stage mode. I only used the three dies and I did run into issues while crimping/seating so that's why I invested in the FCD. I would crush/buckle one in every ten rounds or so and that was with the die barely touching the case. With the FCD there are no issues at all, well in that department at least. I do a very light crimp on my .40 enough to keep tension and feed smoothly in my XD.

I don't crimp 9mm. I expand ever so slightly. Just enough to keep from destroying the brass when seating the bullet. It's never been a problem. I'm shooting these hand loads from a Glock factory barrel so that may have something to do with the lack of feed problems. Something with tighter chamber tolerances could pose a problem

I'm with Caleb on this one. My xd feeds my non crimped 9s perfect. I do use the seating die to return the brass back flush after (as Caleb said) a very light bell.

So in a way I guess I do somewhat crimp but only use 3 dies