Asherdan
Member
So I've been spinning around on this issue...
I've been using the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die for 44 Mag in my 1894. No problems with jacketed, decent taper crimp and smooth operation with both Speer and Hornady .430 HP's. I've been shooting a lot of Laser Cast 240g RNFP's that mike out right around .431 lately, which is a good fit for the barrel on this rifle at 1400fps. In the Lee die the carbide ring is kicking in and doing some post sizing of the round, not too heavily because I can cycle them in a hand press, but the bullets are getting squeezed down a bit. I've loaded these bullets from 1200 to 1650 using Unique and 2400 and I always get leading the first 1" to 1.5" of the barrel then a clean run out the rest of the way. What I'm assuming is the crimp die post sizing is squeezing the .431 bullets down just enough that they're "bumping" back up in that first inch or so. The leading is not bad, maybe a dozen scrubs for 50 rounds fired, but if I can get away from it that'd be my choice. I may be picking nits here, the Unique load at 1400 is going ~2" consistently at 100. Anyway, I gave Lee a call and they only produce them in the one standard dimension, they can open them up a thousandth or two no charge but the ship and wait is a pain in the butt and some cost as well. I seat these bullets out to 1.6" although the crimp groove is set up for 1.585" because accuracy is much better at the 1.6" length, that's why I'm not just saying to heck with it and putting a standard roll crimp on these bullets.
So, what's it take to open up a carbide ring in the home shop? Any other crimp ideas?
I've been using the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die for 44 Mag in my 1894. No problems with jacketed, decent taper crimp and smooth operation with both Speer and Hornady .430 HP's. I've been shooting a lot of Laser Cast 240g RNFP's that mike out right around .431 lately, which is a good fit for the barrel on this rifle at 1400fps. In the Lee die the carbide ring is kicking in and doing some post sizing of the round, not too heavily because I can cycle them in a hand press, but the bullets are getting squeezed down a bit. I've loaded these bullets from 1200 to 1650 using Unique and 2400 and I always get leading the first 1" to 1.5" of the barrel then a clean run out the rest of the way. What I'm assuming is the crimp die post sizing is squeezing the .431 bullets down just enough that they're "bumping" back up in that first inch or so. The leading is not bad, maybe a dozen scrubs for 50 rounds fired, but if I can get away from it that'd be my choice. I may be picking nits here, the Unique load at 1400 is going ~2" consistently at 100. Anyway, I gave Lee a call and they only produce them in the one standard dimension, they can open them up a thousandth or two no charge but the ship and wait is a pain in the butt and some cost as well. I seat these bullets out to 1.6" although the crimp groove is set up for 1.585" because accuracy is much better at the 1.6" length, that's why I'm not just saying to heck with it and putting a standard roll crimp on these bullets.
So, what's it take to open up a carbide ring in the home shop? Any other crimp ideas?
