Are any of you guys currently handloading for the .500 S&W finding it difficult to put enough crimp on your handloads with the factory loading dies now offered? Lee doesn't offer a Factory Crimp Die as of yet in this caliber, and I've never found the crimp that can be applied with the standard bullet seating dies to be all that effective with heavy bullets in large caliber magnum revolver loads. I'm going to be loading 500 rounds in this caliber shortly, and am a little concerned if I'll be able to put a firm enough crimp on the loads with the standard Carbide RCBS dies that I have. billt

I've got both RCBS and Lee dies and have no problem getting an adequate crimp with either die. I seat the bullet and then crimp in a separate operation.

I used some 420 grain hard cast lead bullets with the RCBS dies and they seem to crimp abit low but the crimp is nice and tight.

Billt, I don't know if Lee is producing the FCD yet, but if not all you have to do is send them a dummy round and thirty dollars (I believe) and they will make you one. I use Lees FCD and Hornadys taper crimp die and they have worked well so far in the BFR and S&W 500. My biggest complaint is that I have a hard time getting alot of the cases through Hornadys sizing die, it seems very rough. Think I will get a set of RCBS and see what happens. Greg

I use the RCBS set and the crimp seems fine to me. I just do it the regular way as part of the bullet seating operation.

Greatnorth, I have Lee carbide dies and they seem to take as much force to run a case through as my steel RCBS die. The .500 has a lot of surface area so I use just a dab of Imperial Sizing Wax on my cases, even with the carbide die. Works great.