Loaded 80 rounds now for my 375 Ruger and am running into an issue with the 300 gr bullets. I cannot get the seating die to put any crimp on without causing a bulge in the case below the shoulder. This doesn't seem to be an issue with the 235 gr bullets I started with in the starting load. However, when I get to even a 95% load with a 300gr bullet the bullets in the cartridges in the magazine will clearly move back past the cannelure into the case mouths.

Any thoughts? The brass is a bit thick, but not absurd after I compared it to other calibers.

Matt

I have run in to something like that before myself. First I would try and raise your seating plug and/or raising the die just a little. It maybe crimping too soon for the larger bullet. A few other things are to clean the die in case something is stuck in there. Had that happen to with excessive cast bullet lube. (OOPS) Then the last thing I found that may contribute is make of the die.
Everyone's personal experiences are different.
I v ALWAYS had bad luck with most of Lee's equipment. But you pay for what you get.
(No Offense to the Lee guys)

Hope some of this helps and I m now blowing smoke.

Try doing the seating and crimping in two separate operations. First back out your die body so it doesn't crimp and seat the bullet to the desired length. Then back out the seating stem and screw in the die body to form the crimp. If this works then you know the problem is trying to seat the bullet and crimp in one operation. The solution is a separate crimping die or if you don't load many rounds just continue to do it in two steps with your existing seater die.

Call Lee. They can make you a Factory crimp die. You send them a dummy case w/ bullet that you want to uses. They cost $29. I have 3 FC dies that they made for me and they work great.

Looks like labman and i are on the same page.

I am with Mr. Albert on this one. A Lee Factory Crimp die costs one dummy round, shipping one way, and about 30 bucks. I replace the Lee lock ring and voila, perfect crimps. The idea of adjusting seaters to accomodate each different bullet sounds like work to me.

I also use more than one seater die for calibers where I will be shooting softs and solids.

I have found that the "crimping" groove on some bullets, particularly Hornady, is no more than knurling and not a goove as such. Some bullets lend themselves to crimping better than others.

Cheers,
TheKiwi

Well, I removed completely the seating part of the seating die and used only the outer "shell" with the crimping collar. I adjusted the die to just touch the top of the brass and kept increasing the contact in 1/16 turns until the cases once again started to bulge at the shoulder........no crimp resulted! Are the Lee crimping dies made like a resizing die (i.e. to exact case dimensions) or are they like the one I have now with the seater removed?

I might try annealing the brass to soften it on the next batch........crimp doesn't really matter at the range.........but I do plan to hunt with the gun in the next couple of years.

Matt

Did you try and raise the die? You may be hitting the crimp line before it has reached the top of the "stroke". So if you raise the die up it should help keep the shell from squishing and bulging.
RCBS may have a vid on there home page about crimping and seating. RCBS.com
They also make a wicked dvd on every step of the reloading process. But sense they are a reloading co. they talk about all there stuff. But most of it all applies to most other reloading equipment too.

Just wondering who makes your dies?
Personally here I would never suggest lee equipment. But that my opinion.

Check this out, maybe it will help?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwij06rnabA

Good Luck!!