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If you start at the lowest starting load you can find in at least two manuals and adjust COL. Many manuals lump all their bullets of a given weight and caliber under the same data, so that should tell you something right there. Any time you change bullet, you need to work up the load again. COL is dependent on the bullet's ogive, the magazine (if using one)--particilarly the feed lips and when they release the cartridge, and the barrel's feed ramp and chamber. Thus, as you change gun or bullet, COL can change.

I prefer a Redding Profile Crimp Die for all roll crimping. Have you pulled any seated bullets and measured the OD to be sure you are not swaging the bullet down? Usually, I would say to slug the barrel and determine the barrel's groove diameter and make sure the bullets, after seating, are still at least 0.001" larger than the groove diameter. Are the bullet fairly snug slip fit in the cylinder's throats? They can be a bit larger, and COL needs to adjusted for that, but they can't be much smaller than the throat diameters.

If the Lee FCD is shaving lead, you are doing something wrong, since the bullet is already seated and doesn't move during crimping. If your bullets are not over 0.002" oversize, there should be no swaging. The FCD die is an excellent crimp die; however, for my lead bullets (since I shoot as-cast lead bullets that are generally at least 0.002" over "nominal" lead bullet diameter), I use a separate taper crimp die. Gave up seating and crimping in one step back in 1975 and never looked back. Also note that I made a recommendation for the FCD that does not involve using it to crimp that is worth more than the cost of the die, so it certainly is not gimmicky crap.

How did pressure get in the jacket to blow out the core? How would a lead core build up a higher velocity than the lighter jacketed, that was the only thing being impacted by the pressure?

If the seating die removes the case mouth flare/bell sufficient to chamber the round, that is all the "crimp" that is needed. On my Hornady, the set-up is usually: 1) size/deprime prime on down stroke 2) expand case, flare mouth, and charge case 3) RCBS Lock-Out die 4) Seat 5) Crimp Why aren't you using the powder measure that came with the press to do exapnd/flare/charge in station 2? Get the cartridge/caliber specific PTXs. The FCD does an excellent job of crimping. It, plus the bulge buster kit, also "irons out" any slight bulges in the case that could form a ridge/ring during sizing that could hamper chambering.

Bullets: lead round nose (L-RN) and full metal jacket-round nose (FMJ or FMJ-RN) are just about the LAST bullets used in target shooting. Their claim to fame is that all guns should be able to feed and chamber them. However, they are NOT the most accurate so you will see few in Bullseye competition or other competitions where accuracy, over speed of hitting, is the name of the game. lead wadcutter (and plated wadcutter) bullets are used in certain cartridges for best accuracy and they cut very clean holes in the target so scoring is easier and less subjective. Bullets look like small soup cans. Some have hollow bases and some don't. lead semi-wadcutter (and plated semi-wadcutter) have a significant shoulder at the bore bearing surface to punch clean holes and a nose section that is generally designed to hit the gun's feed ramp at the same location as round nose bullets. These are "the" accuracy lead bullets in most revolvers and semi-autos. Full wadcutters are basically only used in .32 S&W Long and .38 Special, whereas SWCs are used in those two cartridges and almost all other straight-wall cartridges. jacketed hollow points are the "normal" self -defense rounds with a hollow cavity in the nose of the bullet. These bullets are almost always the most accurate and, where a wadcutter or a semi-wadcutter is not deemed adequate, will be on the line at Bullseye matches--particularly Nosler 185gn JHP in .45Auto. Bullet weight--the lighter the bullet, the lighter the recoil and higher the velocity. This is true as far as physics goes, but in action pistol shooting, most shooters want the gun to recoil back and not up. Thus, for non-compensated action pistol guns, heavier bullets loaded as light as possible to make power factor is preferred. However, the use of very heavy bullets for the cartridge and very fast powders has probably contributed to many of the KBs in those sports. Heavy bullets can encroach on the case web and will produce extremely high pressures for very small increases in charge weights or very small decrease in COL (if bullet sets back). All of this is covered in reloading manuals and you should consider reading a reloading or shooting manual.

For bottleneck (mostly rifle cartridges), you can get by quite well, or even best, with a single-stage press. I have loaded .30-06 on a Lee Reloading Press (about $30-35 at MidwayUSA. It is perfectly adequate. Get a reloading manual: "ABCs of Reloading," Lyman #49, Lee #2 Reloading manual, or the manual by the manufacturer of bullets you plan to load. You can bolt most any press to a board and then C-clamp the press to a table/desk. Any single-stage press is adequate, but this one is great for a beginner who might not like reloading, so initial investment is small enough to not matter. You can even load your very first batch of rounds with just the following: 1) Lee Reloading Press (~$30) 2) Lee die set (comes with shell holder and dipper, and loads for use of dipper with specific bullet weights and powders)--see the Lee Pacesetter 3-Die Set in 223 Remington for ~$28. It has a full-lenght sizing die (perfect if you a firing something other than a bolt action), seating die, and a collet crimp die (perfect for semi-autos). This will be an excellent die set even if/when you move to a larger/heavier/more expensive press. 3) A Lee Ram Prime so you can prime on the press (~$10) or hand prime using the Lee Auto Prime--Lee Auto Prime XR Hand Priming Tool for !$19 or the Lee Auto Prime Ergo Prime for ~$26. 4) The Lee case trimmer--Lee Case Trimmer Cutter and Lock Stud for $6 and Lee Case Length Gage and Shellholder 223 Remington for $5. 5) Start with commercial and not military brass. The military brass requires removal of the primer crimp. Not something you need when you just start off. 6) Purchase bullets and powder based on loads that use the dipper included with the die set. 7) At least 100 small rifle primers (not small rifle magnum primers). You can not load an unsafe load using the dipper and the Lee specified loads and you'll be surprised how accurate these light starting/target loads can be. After a few weeks or so, after you know that you like handloading and want to load up some different powders and bullets and really find out what your rifle can do, you will want to get a powder scale/balance and a powder measure or powder trickler. Then you'll want to get a 6" caliper and possibly a small lathe-type case trimmer so you can ream case neck ID or uniform case neck OD. All of this will require reading several of the referenced manuals.