My Dad recently inherited a 25-20 and I'm working up some loads for it. I have never loaded ammo for a lever action.

The case necks are very thin on this case. Speer recommends that crimping be done as a separate operation after seating. I don't want to swap from seating to crimping with one die. That sounds like a a lot of adjustment to the die, that would make it difficult to keep things uniform.

I crush cases when I try and do it in one step. Does someone make a crimping die that simplifies the process?

I have always just used the seater die to seat then reset to crimp. If Lee doesn't make a factory crimp die you could buy a second seater die and leave it set up to crimp.
C.G.B.

Lee makes a factory crimp die for the 25-20, they work quite well.

http://www.leeprecision.com/cg...alog/dies-crimp.html

I've reloaded the .25-20 for thirty years and use only the original RCBS dies I bought way back then.

I do it in two steps....first seat the bullet such that the case rim comes to about 2/3 to 4/5 the height of the cannelure and then crimp them

You cannot mix brass doing this as Remington brass and Winchester brass are not the same length.

If you are trying to crimp them where there is no cannelure.....get a different bullet.

I'm using a set of three Hornady dies and Speer 75 gr bullets with a cannelure. Do you bell the mouth of the case, if so how much? It seems help prevent crushing when I use the mouth expanding die before I seat the bullet.

quote:

Do you bell the mouth of the case,

No I do not....but chamfer the case ID to help start the bullet.

I use the Hornady 60 gr Flat point. Crimps quite nicely.

My old Savage M23 bolt action doesn't require a crimp and shoots more accurately without it.

For my M1894 I don't bother to crimp at all. There is plenty of case neck grip with my Redding dies and RP cases so no crimp is needed. I check every round I remove from the magazine and the bullets never recede into the case neck - the light recoil and minimum magazine spring tension are contributing factors. An article by Jamison in the 90s mentioned the same thing - no crimp needed.

OTOH if your dies do not resize the neck tight enough, a crimp may be necessary. YMMV


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Make sure of which one you are working with the 25-20 WCF or the 25-20 Single Shot.

My dad has a Stevens in 25-20 SS.

God Bless, Louis

I usually don't crimp for my M53 but I do slightly bell the brass after sizing. .25-20 brass is very thin and doesn't take much abuse.
C.G.B.