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BTW Frog, that barrel is REALLY clean. What do you use to get it that nice looking? Looks like an M&P barrel?

Interesting comments on the Lee FCD. I have been using one for several years (loaded probably 20,000 rounds with the Lee dies). I had been purchasing my cast bullets from a company out of the Dallas area. They are very nice looking bullets but got some leading in the throat of the barrel (nothing anywhere near as bad as the pictures Jumping Frog posted). I did have to work at getting the lead out of the throat when cleaning. I talked with one of the engineers I work with that is a serious (and knowledgeable caster) about my problem. He took one of the bullets and tested it. He told me the alloy was to hard for 45 acp and would lead my barrel in the throat. He said the commercial casters do that so that the bullets don't get dinged up in transit. He also thought the lube was a little on the stiff side. I started purchasing my cast bullets from a local supplier (a little softer alloy and lube) and my leading problems have disappeared.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you use the Lee case mouth belling die, you will need to use their factory crimp die. The lee case mount die puts a tapered opening on the case mouth (engages the case well down below the mouth). They do this so that it will engage the case walls and shake the die when lowering the case to help get all the powder to drop into the case (when using a powder throw on that die). I also have a Hornady die set and it bells the mouth (deformation close to the mouth). If you use a standard taper die in combination with the Lee case mouth belling die, it may not remove all of the taper out of the case and you may have issues with the cartridge going into the chamber (especially if it is a tight chamber).

One other thing is to check the size of the carbide ring on the Lee factory crimp die. The first one I got seemed to be really tight (my reloading table would shake when I cycled a round through the thing). I sent it back to Lee and they returned it saying it was in tolerance (but on the tight side). I bought a second one that has about 0.001 larger opening and it is easier to get the loaded cartridge through the thing. I like the Lee stuff but sometimes you have to do a little work with them to get things right. Once it is right, it is good.