I was loading some shells the other night (first time with this cal.) and became a little worried about crimping too hard.

The shoulder is so sharp and narrow, I'm a bit concerned about collapsing the shoulder, even a little bit.

How much of a problem could this cause, since it would make the OA length somewhat shorter? How can I be sure that I'm getting a decent crimp, but not risking collapsing the shoulder?

Same issue exists with the 505 Gibbs and others. Just make sure that you use a bullet with the cannelure in the right place for the Rigby OAL and seat it so that all you are doing is rolling the edge into the grove. For me this means seating the bullet until the groove just barely disappears below the case mouth.

When it's set up right you can barely feel resistance as the case mouth rolls over but when you pull it out, there is a well defined crimp. Woodleighs are especially deep-groved and work well.

FOrget all that die adjusting headaches. Call up Lee Precision and order a custom factory crimp die for 25 bucks. I have LOTS of trigger time on the Rigby and it was a pain in the ass trying to fiddle with the die itself. With the Lee Crimp, it's "sailor proof," Works fanstastic on mine. jorge

Be sure if you are going to crimp, to trim all the cases to the same length. Critical to attain a uniform crimp.

Unfortunately for me, Lee won't go any bigger than .458 on Factory Crimp dies. I tried to talk them into it last year and failed.

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:
Unfortunately for me, Lee won't go any bigger than .458 on Factory Crimp dies. I tried to talk them into it last year and failed.

Tiggertate, I just got off the phone with Lee this morning. They are doing my 460 & 378 Weatherby for me. It will take about 6-8 weeks. Maybe they are ready to do the big bores now..steve

Lee has made .416 Rigby Factory crimp dies in the past if you send them a dummy cartridge. I have also heard that you can buy a .416 Remington factory crimp and then ream the die to 416 Rigby and get the same thing.

I won't use anything but Lee crimp dies, they are fool proof and you will never have a worry about deforming the shoulder
A couple of years ago I sent in a 458WM case for a custon crimp if I recall it was $25, but they ended up making them a stock item so I got a refund. Drp them an email on what you want and I am sure they will take care of you. I have one for every rifle cartrig=dge I load over 22 cal

Just received my 416 Rigby Crimp die from Lee Precision, 2 week turn around....it is based on their Large Series (1-1/4 by 12) die body.

Price was $50 plus 4 dollars ship.

Works like a charm.

Do the Lee crimp dies work or crimp differently than regular dies? I have no experience with them.

They utilize a collet that squeezes the case mouth without applying downward pressure on the shoulder. They are a lot less sensitive to case length uniformity too.

They are especially useful on tiny cases like the Hornet which are so easy to distort with conventional roll-crimp dies.

lee actually does make a factory crimp die for 50 cal. unfortunately it's for 50bmg and they're a little more expensive than the normal sized rifles AND you'll need a press that has a removable top adapter (i forget the thread size but i think is 1-1/4 x12). i didn't expect it to work as it is - and it didn't - and was planning on modifying it accordingly. as it turned out, all i had to do was screw it into the press upside down and it worked well enough rolling a nice crimp on 500 jeffery's into the woodliegh crimp groove. should work fine on 500NE, any other .510 dia bulleted ctg and probably 505 gibbs as well.

roger

quote:

Originally posted by jorge:
FOrget all that die adjusting headaches. Call up Lee Precision and order a custom factory crimp die for 25 bucks. I have LOTS of trigger time on the Rigby and it was a pain in the ass trying to fiddle with the die itself. With the Lee Crimp, it's "sailor proof," Works fanstastic on mine. jorge

+1 -- what jorge says! Well worth the bucks.

Solved all of my problems when I wanted to seat bullets in my .375 H&H out further than their cannulure was meant for.

In general I'm not a particular fan of Lee equipment, but their neck sizing collet die is just great!

John