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Old April 22, 2014, 11:33 AM   #16
mkl
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 25, 2008
Location: DFW area, Texas
Posts: 494
To Badubet:

Quote:
The Lee die set I bought in 45 has the factory crimp die. I was just wanting to see what a correct crimp on a hot load should look like.
The optimum crimp is the lightest one possible that will still hold the bullet in place during recoil. A crimp heaver than this will only work the brass neck (lip) more than necessary and shorten case life. Start on the lighter side, use a caliper to measure as I mentioned in my post above, and then increase the factory crimp die 1/8 turn until the bullet stays in place.

For heavy Ruger blackhawk loads I'd suggest starting with the Lee factory crimp die turned in 3/4 of a turn after the base of the die hits the shell holder and the lock ring is screwed down. This should hold your heavy loads; If not, add another 1/8 turn until the sixth bullet stays in place after firing the first five.

Excessive crimp only shortens the case life. There is no need to embed the case brass into the bullet unless there is no other option to prevent bullet back out.

If the carbide sizing ring on the Lee die is consistently resizing your cartridges as you extract the case from the die, you very probably are using too much crimp and are buckling the case.

Last edited by mkl; April 22, 2014 at 11:39 AM.
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