Factory Crimp Dies

[daniel lawecki]

Anyone use factory crimp die by Lee on 44 mag ? If so did it work well.

[versifier]

I have and it does. I always crimp in a separate step and have much better results: no crushed cases, ease of resetting seating die for different bullets, consistant crimps even if the brass length varies a bit. (The dies are different for different applications though they're all called by the same name, collet crimps for bottleneck and revolver cases, and taper crimps for auto pistol cases.) The handgun FC's have a carbide ring to help insure everything chambers and feeds cleanly. The only drawback to the handgun FC's is when shooting cast bullets - the larger cast bullets do bulge case necks a bit, and the carbide ring resizes bullet and case. This ruins neck tension and accuracy. Fortunately, the ring is fairly easy to remove if you need to, still leaving you with the best crimp die on the market.

[daniel lawecki]

Thank-you Merry- Christmas

[Paul B]

All I shoot in my .44 Mag. are my own home cast bullets so I have no use for the FC die. In fact, all I shoot in any of my handguns are my home cast bullets and a good solid roll crimp.
Many years back when I had my first .44 Mag. I was shooting factory ammo to get brass to reload and IIRC it was Remington 240 gr. with a hollow point. I shot a deer on the point of the shoulder and it took off on a run and dropped maybe 40 yards layer. I found the jacket imbedded in the shoulder blade and the lead core had passed though the ribs and exited the deer. Can't really call it bullet failure but the core and jacket did separate. The next year I hunted once again with the .44, this time with my home cast bullets and shot a deer, again on the point of the shoulder and it pnched throug and exited in almost the exact same place as the previous deer. Deer did about a 30 yard sprint and dropped. I haven't seen the need for a jacketed bullet since. For the record, the load was Elmer Keith's pet load of 22.0 gr. of HERCULES #2400 and the Lyman #429241, Elmer's bullet. These days I use 20.0 gr. of ALLIANT'S #2400 s it seems to be faster burning than the original Hercules version. That's why I capped the brand names. The gun was an early Ruger flat top Blackhawk. Thes days I use a New Model Bisley Super Blackhawk or one of two Ruger Redhawks. I do like the .44 mag.
Paul B.

[daniel lawecki]

I shoot nothing but cast in my guns. In fact when I bought LNL they were giving away 1000 bullets. So I still have 1000 240gr xtp jacket bullets unopened.Today I loaded 500 cast 250gr swc for the 44. Another 500 200gr for mt 1911.

[daddyseal]

I use castboolits almost exclusively .32 acp, .380, 38 Special, 9x18 Makarov, 9mm, 40 S&W, 45 acp, 44 mag., plus a couple rifle loads.

I have all the FC dies that came with the sets, and other calibers that I unfortunately bought separately becausde I thought I needed them,...sitting on a shelf.

I roll crimp them all with adjustment of my seating dies.
Revolver rounds get a very light crimp, semi-auto a little more.
Anyone want to buy my FC dies?