I ordered the Lee Deluxe Carbide Handgun 4-Die Set 44 Spec., 44 Mag. For my Dillon 550b. I know they will work but do you guys like them compared to the Dillon? What is the fourth die for if it is not for crimping?
Thanks for the help

The 4th die is for crimping. It is the Lee factory crimp die that will iron out any problems in the case (if needed) and put a roll crimp. The advantage is that you can crimp as a separate step. Disadvantage to some folks is it may resize a lead bullet.

You do not have to use it. You can set the seating die to to seat and crimp at the same time but must allow for the bullet to be seated a fraction more before it crimps. I think without looking it's .05".

I like the FCD.

Now your Dillon may cough and spit, groan and get all upset if a horrible Lee die is inserted in it. Spray paint them blue and it will not know.

I have nothing but Lee dies and they work fine for me.

__________________
Still Running Against the Wind

4-die set: Size, flare, seat crimp.

My beef with Lee dies is the locking ring. I swap out dies frequently and the ring never stays set like an allen screw lodked ring does.

You can buy Hornady locking rings. They have an allen wrench screw that tightens the ring tangentially and doesn't drive the screw into the threads like other lock rings. They also have 2 flat edges so you can use a wrench to help tighten/loosen them. About $3 each. Just buy a bag full and swap 'em out when you buy a new die set with the money you save with the Lee dies.

well said sir, that has been my practice for years with Lee die sets. I got fed up with Lee's (almost) locking rings, & started swapping them out with rings taken from my duplicate die sets. Lee's carbide dies are great, but their rings leave much to be desired.

Another hint with Lee dies. In some presses (such as my Hornady LnL AP), the Lee die screws down so far that there are no more threads left for the Lee lock ring. If you didn't already have the aftermarket rings, you can still use the die with the Lee lock ring by flipping the lock ring over.

Are the Lee dies long enough for the 550?

I have only a few Lee FCDs on my 650 die mounts. I have to put the locking ring on the bottom of the mount, but that works fine too.

Once you get them set as needed, there's no need to change the adjustment.

__________________
Dum vivimus Vivamas

Lee dies are long enough to work on a Dillon but, you have to use the lock rings from Dillon. Some I have had to put on the bottom of the tool head because they run out of threads. It can be done though.

There was a thread recently that informed us Lee added threads to their dies in ~2003 to make them work better in progressive presses like the Dillon 550.

__________________
Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437