Shortening an FCD Die

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Shortening an FCD Die

Post by Ranch Dog »

I recently custom ordered a short FCD for a 30-30 Win application that requires that requires a 2.000" case so that the crimp groove on the cast bullet lines up with the case mouth. All this is a star and moon alignment thing that I don't want to change, as the ogive of the bullet fits the chamber's throat like a glove as all this comes into place. I have two applications that are identical; a Sav 340 bolt rifle and a Win M94 Scout.

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The cases for the 340 are "collet" sized and I've never applied a crimp as the stock FCD is too long for this application which uses the 2.000" brass. You can run the case through the die, but nothing happens. I've wanted to try a light FCD crimp with this rifle because the FCD takes about a ¼ MOA off the groups with my two Sav 10FCM scouts chambered in 308 Win and 7.62x39. Both are very accurate rifles that straddle the line of being sub-MOA depending on me. The little 340 is a solid MOA, not MOA and quarter, but MOA so I've wanted to see if the FCD delivers the same results as its younger brothers.

I recently added the Win M94 Scout. Out of the box, it is the most accurate leveraction I own (there is a bunch of them. As it sits, it can compete with the three Sav bolt guns. The cartridge setup is the same as the 340, although it is using a different bullet, the bottom-line is that it ends up with a 2.000" case. I consider an FCD a must for a levergun, so I went ahead and ordered the custom die.

Once the custom FCD die arrived, I thought to myself that I should have ordered two as I have the dies sets on separate turrets. I also have two other 30-30s, a Glenfield 30GT and a Rio Grande, that I thought would be nice if it didn't mix with the Win 94 set of dies as everything is different; they use the standard FCD, and their cartridge OALs are different than both the 340 and 94. That got the wheels turning and things flying out of my Lee storage box. I found an old 30-30 Win FCD, rifle charging die (for the Auto Drum), turret, and round red box, enough parts to support a stand-alone set. Sooner or later I would find a 30-30 Win sizing die and bullet seating die. Oh wait, MidwayUSA has the RGB dies on sale for $17 with free shipping. Done.

So, the next step and the subject of this topic was to shorten one of the two FDCs so my Sav 340 would have one on its turret. I knocked the crimp collet out of the old die, and the custom die. The standard FCD was 1.989" long, and given that it applies a crimp to 2.039" case, the collet is .050" shorter than the case length. The custom die's collet for the 2.000" case was 1.950", so it was obvious that I only needed to match this measurement, removing .050", to create an identical short FCD.

I have a Harbor Freight 1" belt sander which seemed ideal for the job, but I wasn't sure it would be up to the task. I almost goofed up, as it cut the collet down in seconds!
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Below is the old style crimp collet, with the wire spring clip, now shortened to match the custom collet.
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The three dies with a uncrimped case and a case crimped with the bench shortened FCD. I must say, it delivers a very pretty crimp and I'm looking forward to seeing the results downrange.
shorten_FCD_03.jpg
Crazy, three 30-30 Win die sets! :oops:
shorten_FCD_04.jpg
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Re: Shortening an FCD Die

Post by Old Scribe »

Nice. I'm going to wait to find out how it works.
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Re: Shortening an FCD Die

Post by Ranch Dog »

Oh, failed to mention my Sav 170 pump which uses the short case, 2.000", and will share the set the M94 uses.
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