I aquired a lee .223 dies set however, I do not have a .223 (picked it and a bunch of other things up for $5 at a yard sale. The die set is brand new). I do have a .222 and I was curious if anyone could tell me if I could use the factory crimping die from the .223 dies set on my .222 ammo?

My answer is - YES, But..

You got to have something to boost the height of the 222 so the neck mouth is in the correct level to the FCD.
I have crimps 300 whispers with 308 Win FCD, and done it very successfully with similar method.

any chance you could elaborate a little, i am not sure exactly how to go about it.

sounds like a great excuse to by a mini 14!!!!
you may be able to trade them for a calibre/cartridge you do own aswell.

.222 = 1.7" .223=1.76" I think Gelan was saying you might need to find a shim to elevate the case in the die. You may not either, sometimes those dies are made with enough tolerance to reach. Or you could take a little off the top of a shell holder. if you end up grinding on something a shellholder would be the cheapest to replace.

You may be able to put a light crimp on without shimming. Adjust the de down o max. touching the shell holder. Try a dummy round. You will know if it is crimping when you get resistance before the die bottoms out on the holder. You can also look down the die and see the fingers closing in on the neck of the case.

I'd be happier using the correct die - they're not expensive at less then $15.

Well I plan on getting a .223 so I am not planning on getting rid of the die set. I just thought I may give it a shot if I could make it work. No harm in trying. I usually do not crimp my .222 but I thought I may try it out and see if I seen any difference in my results.

If you are curious, by all means try crimping but, crimping isn't necessary in a 222 or 223 and hardly ever helps anything. The times I've found it helps is as follows:

1. In heavy recoiling handgun or rifle loads to be fired in a cylinder or magazine fed gun (like 460 S&W Magnum, 454 Casull, 378 Weatherby Magnum) crimping is needed to keep bullets from moving. Sometimes, like in the aforementioned, I was unable to apply a heavy enough crimp without crushing cases with anything but the Lee Factory Crimp die.

2. Sometimes in seating Barnes bullets, the bullets have been loose and a factory crimp die can be used to tighten them up. With Barnes bullets, some of my most accurate loads have been with crimping but crimping generally doesn't help accuracy with other bullets and not always with Barnes bullets.

3. I got an accuracy advantage with relative low pressure 45 Colt loads.

fnuser wrote:

.222 = 1.7" .223=1.76" I think Gelan was saying you might need to find a shim to elevate the case in the die. You may not either, sometimes those dies are made with enough tolerance to reach. Or you could take a little off the top of a shell holder. if you end up grinding on something a shellholder would be the cheapest to replace.

Yeah That