Recently I assembled some rounds and the crimping was kinda hard on them, I am trying to figure out a way of making a lighter crimp in order not to degrade accuracy.

here is a crimp die I have:
Lee FACTORY CRIMP DIE 223

If I twist it in and out it will control the height of the crimp, but not the way of how hard or light is the crimp. So how do I control the stiffness of the crimp in this die?

Initially I was thinking about just pressing it not hard enough, but that will be inconsistent since I thought that every operation on reloading press assumes the operator to firmly go all the way up and down with the handle.

Screwing the die in and out is the only way to adjust the collet crimp die.

It shouldn't affect the height of the crimp that much.

I did 700 30-30 Winchesters and I was able to adjust it for the perfect crimp.

I guess you could sand or carefully ream the inside, but that's not necessary in my opinion.

alright will try again , thanks.

To adjust the Lee rifle collet type crimp die:

The best way is to look down into the die from the top. Back off the die body so that the gaps between the collet fingers do not close at all when the ram it at the top. Do this with a casing that has a properly seated bullet in it.

Screw the body down until it gets snug. Then lower the ram and turn the die body down 1/4 turn. Raise the ram and watch the cap between the collet fingers.

When you are applying a crimp you will feel a little resistance at the top of the ram stroke. Maximum crimp is when there is no gap left between the collet fingers.

You want to be somewhere between initial contact and closed. So pay attention to the gap between the fingers and adjust it to where you are getting the crimp amount that you want.

Oh BTW: Know your tools. The collet is one piece. The shell holder pushes up on it's base which in turn pushes the collet up into a tapered bore in the die body. The tapered bore forces the fingers to close.

So what does this mean you ask? It means that where the crimp is applied can not be changed even if you wanted to. When the shell holder is against the base of the collet the casing is in the collet as far as it's ever going to go. This is one of the very nice things about this tool.

If you want to see pure evidence of this fact just look at your own photos. The crimps are all the same in relation to the seated bullets. They are not in all the same location in regards to you case mouths because your brass length is not all the same.

Motor

This point might be argued here OP, but there is no real reason that you should be crimping your rounds period.

I crimp everything to varying degrees with a FCD.  Blammo gets more of a crimp as Im seating to the cannelure and Im not interested in ultimate accuracy.  For accuracy ammo, I back it off a little and it just kisses the case mouth.  I use an M-die when loading as I no longer use the expander ball when I size so I have a very slight case mouth flare I need to remove.

The only way to ensure a consistent crimp is uniform case lengths, otherwise you are pissing in the proverbial wind.
Crimping is way over thought!  And, people have been sheep......
Absolute crimp situations.....revolvers, tube fed rifle, rifle rounds for hunting critters that can eat you.....crimping done for purpose built ammo.

On the 650 I put my sequentially loaded round in the crimp station and pull the handle.  I then lower the crimp die until it touches the round.  The I raise the handle and then slowly apply slightly more on the die and pull the lever again.  I look at the round under magnification until I see a slight crimp.  Some argue that no crimp is needed on the .223, so I would suggest not applying much crimp, just enough to see it under magnification.  

I use the FCD on just about everything.  9mm, .45acp, .308, .30-30, and .223.  None of them were difficult to adjust. 

I trim .223 EVERY time.  

Only true if using a taper crimp die actually as they rely on case OAL to set crimp.  FCD is a collet crimp and doesnt care about case OAL and is activated by the press itself.

I never crimp bottle-neck rifle ammo. Never. If I ever decided to it would be the lightest crimp possible.

Unless every case is exactly the same length and you don't mix brands of cases you may be able to get uniform crimping action. For me this just adds a variable that reduces my ability to control the end results.

.0025" to .003" of neck tension (the resized brass neck diameter vs. the same case with the bullet seated diameter) is more than sufficient to hold any bullet firmly in the case.

I skip FCD or any crimp die on bottle neck unless you are running cast boolits. Good advice so far on setup. But consider removing it if not needed.

Exactly what I did. I prefer powder check instead.

OP, I should add for bulk 223, I set neck tension almost entirely with m die as my sizing die (dillon trim) doesnt have expander. My results are fantastic. If you want perfect neck tension for true match rounds, go with a bushing sizing die. Seems that is a popular tool with bench rest guys. I use them on some calibers and they work fine but since I havent tried other die for those calibers so who knows.

Great video thanks to Johnny!  Love his sense of self deprecating humor.  

If you want to get to his final point, tune in at 13:50.  Very well worth watching the whole video in my opinion as the video relates to your question; the how and the why...

Anybody to add anything else to his findings?