RCBS Combination Seating/Taper Crimping Die

crashclint

crashclint

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For the past 25 years I have been loading .45 on my Dillon 550B. I am thinking about adding a bullet feeder. To do this I will have to remove my seating die which means I will have to Seat and Crimp at the same station. I load mostly coated lead in 200gr lswc and 230gr lswc but at times I load 230gr fmj. Is anyone here seating and crimping on the same station and if you are, what advice can you offer?
 
I've never been happy with the results of seating and crimping at one station UNLESS the brass was all trimmed to the same length.
The variation in brass length will cause you grief. Case gauging will catch the long or short pieces.

If I must do it, then I find my longest and shortest brass then set my crimp based on the middle.
 
I often seat and roll crimp in one station, but taper crimp separately, especially with coated bullets.
 
If the bullets have an actual crimp groove - not just a cannelure, then seating and roll crimping at the same time is no problem once you have the seating depth set correctly. Performing a taper crimp, as long as you are just removing the flare, should be no problem at all with FMJ. With coated bullets, though, it gets a little more difficult to get everything just right without occasionally shaving the coating off, IMHO. It can be done, but I prefer not to do it.
 
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What Top said. If you are going for volume, then do it. If you are going for accuracy then IMO, no way.
 
I think you will probably spend more time getting everything just perfect so that you do not have to spend a lot of time picking off shaved lead pieces from the mouths of the cases than you would just feeding the bullets by hand.
 
If you're loading lead bullets, you will have lead shavings everywhere. In your dies, all over your bench and press and if you aren't OCD about picking every last bit off your rounds, you will have failures to lock up into battery. Oh, and your OAL will be all over the place. At least that is my experience.

Jacketed with cases trimmed to a uniform length? Git 'er done.

If I am loading lead bullets, I seat to length, back the seating stem out and turn the die down to get my desired taper. I just resign myself to two steps and two adjustments.
 
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crashclint said:
I contacted Double Alpha about the Mini Bullet Feeder. They told me it will work with lead and coated bullets because of the Expanding Powder Funnel that comes with the kit. I am kind of on the fence, I need to see if it has a money back guarantee.

https://www.doublealpha.biz/us/combo-mini-brbulletfeeder-2-in-1-seating-and-crimping-die
Click to expand...
Two different issues.
The improved powder funnel will reduce or prevent shaving the coating during seating, but when you combine seating and taper crimping the die is closing the case mouth while the bullet is moving downward, so you may still get some scraping at that point, especially if you have a touch too much crimp or use range brass that isn’t a consistent length.

I read about the DAA seating/crimping die, it is made by Lee and is probably just their standard pistol die. In short, I don’t think it will solve your problem.
 
BTW, I have the DAA powder funnel and like it for plated, but I am thinking about having lathesmith over at castboolits make me an oversized powder funnel for 38 special that’s even bigger than the DAA.
 
Okay, seating is a matter of adjustment, slam dunk. Crimping, on the other hand is a matter of case length and adjustment. Unless the lengths are all the same your crimps will be uneven. Only stands to reason.

People are inherently lazy and don't want to trim pistol brass so they wind up with a bazillion different lengths and crimps aren't all the same and therefore accuracy suffers because the bullet pull isn't even. If all you want is crappy looking, go bang ammo have at it. But if you want something that is the best next to factory trim the brass.....

Die adjustment is very easy, first set the seating depth THEN adjust the crimp value that works best in your gun.
 
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