Thanks for any advice that is offered.
In adjusting a seating die to NOT crimp, you usually bottom the die against the shellholder and back off a turn or more. To crimp, you usually do the same thing except that you must then seat a bullet to find where the cannelure on your bullet will be so that it is at the neck of the case by adjusting the seating plug. You want the bottom of the cannelure to be right at the mouth of the brass. Then you adjust for crimp by screwing the die down a quarter of a turn at a time, testing until you get the necessary crimp into the cannelure. Most dies adjust similarly but check your own die instructions.
As a caution, don't crimp an uncannelured bullet. Also be certain all cases are trimmed to the same length.
[This message has been edited by Bob338 (edited 05-19-2002).]
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Ray Atkinson
quote:
Originally posted by Longbob:
A Lee Factory Crimping Die will save you a whole bunch of trouble.
Amen, amen, and amen.
Russ
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"Out here, 'due process' is a bullet!" -- John Wayne, "The Green Berets"
If you do decide to crimp, I also highly recommend the Lee crimping die. The Lee die forces you to seat and crimp in two different operations, which you should always do with any die.
It is a big mistake to attempt to set your conventional seating die to seat to final depth and crimp at the same time. This causes the bullet to be forced deeper WHILE the crimp is being applied -- and this can't be good. The nose can be deformed due to the additional pressure required to seat the bullet deeper against an ever-tightening crimp, and the bearing surface of the bullet can be scratched or deformed as the crimp slides over it to come to rest in the cannelure.
I admit that I may be overly sensitive in this area, but if you use a conventional seating die, back it out to seat your bullet to final depth, then go back in a separate operation with the seating stem backed off (or removed) and reset your die body to give the desired crimp.
I wish all problems could be fixed this easily.
Rick.