Experienced reloader with handgun reloading questions

[JDGray]

Low pressure Cartridges probably do not need to be resized, unless the Bullets seem to fall in when being placed...

This is incorrect, all fired brass must be resized.

Lee Carbide dies will last forever, and flat out work, trouble free. I like the FCD that Lee offers for autoloaders, and like their very simple trimmers for the Mag brass.

 

[Walkalong]

For a Taper Crimp, I would guess that seating to depth, and Crimping, in the same Pull, would be fine, ideal even...


Not so sure on a Roll Crimp though, if maybe seperate procedures would be a little more perfect than doing it one Pull would..? Ideally? Or, Mox Nix?

With a light taper crimp seating and crimping at the same time is no problem. With a heavy taper crimp it needs to be done separately for best results.

A roll crimp can be applied while seating as long as you have a good cannelure or crimp groove to crimp in to. Some cheap jacketed bullets these days have really poor cannelures. Just roll marks with no depth to the cannelure.

It is easier to set up the seater and a separate crimp die simply becuase the seater is not doing two things at once, but a very nice roll crimp can be had either way.

 

[ArtP]

I got some very good answers here. Time to go shopping. Thank you to everyone.

 

[dc.fireman]

Art -

<loadedround>

Dillon pistol dies are excellent, but are designed for their progressive presses only and will not be suitable for a single station press since Dillon dies will be missing the expanding die(second die in set). Without this die you will be unable to expand(open)case mouths to seat bullets. You would be shaving lead bullets and possibly crushing cases with jacketed bullets. Dillon expands the case mouth through the powder filling die on it's second stage. Both RCBS and Redding make excellent pistol dies.

And he's absolutely correct. I use Dillon dies, because I have them, and bought them early on. I have crushed cases, usually one per 100. I like the Lee dies, for their economy, and the fact that they work.

I use the Dillon case gauges, which are pretty much a go/no-go type of gauge for checking sizing, and trimming, after you've resized your case.

I have dies from all the big guys, and like them all, but the Lee dies were the cheapest, and work just fine. I run the slightest taper crimp on my 45 ACP stuff for piece of mind only, as many here had advised me that it wasn't entirely necessary, and they were correct - my ammo functioned just fine without it (that being said, I'm not in the military, or a law enforcement officer, where I'm constantly banging my magazines and ammo around, but just a box of ammo and trip to the range).

I was able to overcome some of the case crushing and copper jacket shaving by doing one thing recommended by Walkalong: case mouth chamfering. The bullets seem to glide right in, with just the slightest pressure on the Rock Chucker press.

-tc

 

[zxcvbob]

Dillon pistol dies are excellent, but are designed for their progressive presses only and will not be suitable for a single station press since Dillon dies will be missing the expanding die(second die in set). Without this die you will be unable to expand(open)case mouths to seat bullets. You would be shaving lead bullets and possibly crushing cases with jacketed bullets. Dillon expands the case mouth through the powder filling die on it's second stage. Both RCBS and Redding make excellent pistol dies.

I didn't know that. A good work around would be to get a Lee universal case expander die. I generally use it instead of the Lee powder-thru expander with most cartridges I load.

 

[ranger335v]

243: "All current pistol sizer dies are carbide." vs. "Hornady are titanium nitride coated i think? "

You're correct of course. Since the effect is essentially the same (for a long time) I tend to put them in the "carbide" camo but technically they aren't quite that good. IMHO.

 

[243winxb]

A Lee universal case expander die does not open the case body to the correct diameter for the bullet . The bullet becomes the expander.