Having crimp issues with .45

[bruceflinch]

Take a finished bullet & measure at the crimp & near the bottom of where the bullet is seated. The crimp should be about .002 smaller.

[skyscraper]

Thanks guys. Gonna take another stab at it on Sunday when I get home. I didn't lube the brass because I was told not to because of my carbide dies. Maybe this is an issue also?

[Bill Steele]

Thanks guys. Gonna take another stab at it on Sunday when I get home. I didn't lube the brass because I was told not to because of my carbide dies. Maybe this is an issue also?

Lube won't make a difference, just makes it easier to pull the handle.

[halifax]

If the bullet will turn in the case after it is seated, you have something wrong (probably not telling you anything you didn't know here).

Either the sizing die is not sizing the case down to have proper neck tenson (less likely) or you have the wrong sized bullets (for .45ACP they should measure .451-.452" in diameter). Set the sizing die so the mouth just clears the shell plate when the ram is all the way up. Check the bullet diameter with calipers, maybe you got some .44 bullets by mistake (they will measure .429").

The belling should just be enough to allow the bullet to be seated without shaving the bullet.

Set the crimp die so the OD at the case mouth is .469-.470" after crimp is done.

Good luck.

"Less likely", perhaps, but not unheard of. I had a set of Hornady dies in 45ACP that were out of spec and the bullets would spin in the case. They claimed I was doing something wrong. I was...I bought Dillon from then on and never had another problem.

(To Hornady's credit they did eventually replace the out-of-spec 45ACP sizing die with a 454 Casul die. Why that one works, I don't know.)

[stand125]

Extreme plated semi wadcutters are .451 and their round nose are .452

[morrow]

Sounds like the crimp die is adjusted down too far for me. Get the bullet depth set right first (with the crimping part backed-out), and then unscrew the seating stem and set the crimp. Once done set both (screw the stem down far enough to contact the in-spec bullet)