Seating cast boolits problem

[anotherred]

My current adventure into cast boolits involves a .380, lee 358-105 swc and lee dies. I made a new expander plug mimicking an "M" die. The problem Im having when seating the boolits is the seating die is crimping the case enough to still occasionally cut a sliver of lead. The die is adjusted as high as it can go and still seat to the proper depth. Do I need to open up the mouth of the die (which I prefer not to do), get a new die, or plan C.... Suggestions please.

[KYCaster]

Remove the seating stem and load a round. The crimp shoulder may be seating the boolit. If that's the case, hone the ID a couple thou. Not an unusual situation with dies made for those UNDERSIZED jaxketed things.

If not, make a longer seating stem so you can back the die out farther. (If you can make an expander plug, you should be able to make a seating stem.)

Jerry

[462]

Lee seating dies are dimensioned for jacketed bullets, and have a habit of doing exactly what you are experiencing.

My suggestion would be to get a Hornady New Dimension or Custom Grade New Dimension seating die (or complete die set) and enlarge the sliding sleeve so that your fat-for-caliber boolit slips through it.

[fcvan]

I use Lee dies, and load .380 ACP with the Lee 358-105 SWC on occasion. As with any cast boolit, you have to expand the case mouth to where the base of the boolit fits into the case mouth. I seat that boolit to where the case mouth is between the crimp groove and the front driving band. Then, I adjust the crimp to where the belling of the case mouth is removed.

If you are shaving lead your case mouth is not expanded enough. By opening up the case enough you also minimize the effect of the case resizing your boolit to where it is undersized for the bore. I bought the 105 SWC mold specifically for use in the .380 ACP and it works well for that task. It also works very well in 9mm (seated the same) and of course the .38 special.

[williamwaco]

Your post sounds like you are setting the seating depth by screwing the die body in or out.
This adjustment is made with the seating stem.
The die body should be adjusted so that the crimp ring just touches the mouth of the case.
Test this with an expanded case with no bullet.
Yes this will remove the flare but you can re-expand it.

This is specific to revolvers but the same instructions applies in your case too.

http://www.reloadingtips.com/how_to/crimping_revolvers.htm

[anotherred]

Cool link. I just blew threw it, but will defiantly go back and read it. I got things going better tonight. I had to add a spacer between the seating stem and adjustment screw (not sure the technical term). By doing this allowed me to adjust the die high enough so I wasn't crimping the case while seating, causing the slivers. I just need to fine tune some things but I really appreciate the help here. This has been giving me some fits for some time. Its going to be nice to finally get some shooting in with the 380s.