Factory or taper crimp

[Will]

In another thread rattlesnake said I may be having feed problems with 380ACP because the flare on the mouth was not being closed up. I see there are factory and taper crimp dies but what's the difference and which is best to remove the flare?

Will

[DLCTEX]

Either will remove the flare, either can be overdone, which is best???? I use both and have good results with both. The advantage to the FCD is post sizing of the whole loaded round. To me, if I get post sizing, I stop and find out why and correct it. Usually it is due to a case that is too long, causing a bulge in the case. DALE

[enfieldphile]

I may be having feed problems with 380ACP because the flare on the mouth was not being closed up. I see there are factory and taper crimp dies but what's the difference and which is best to remove the flare?
Will

Depends. I have 3 semi-auto .45 acp's. 2 Taurus Pt-1911's (one blue, one stainless. They love the the LEE Carbide crimp die.

My Witness Elite match .45 acp requires the LEE Taper crimp die.

Use a caliper to put your reloads side-by-side w/ a factory round. Try adjusting your dies to give factory sizes.

[44man]

Doesn't the regular .380 die set come with the taper crimp? I don't load for autos but it seems that the seating/crimp die is not adjusted right. Or is there a separate crimp die with the set?

[deltaenterprizes]

Separate die in most sets,a rool crimp needs a groove for the end of the case to crimp the seat into it. Seating and taper crimping may shave lead with cast boolits butyou may get away with jacketed ,RCBS made and may still make a seating die witk a taper crimp.

[sniper]

Will:

I have found that either a taper crimp or factory work well, when adjusted properly. But, I only reload for my revolver, and it can use either.

Too much crimp can bulge the case, and cause chambering problems, I think a semi-auto headspaces on the case mouth, and it seems to me if it is roll crimped, there goes proper headspacing.

But, many thousands of reliable .380 rounds have been loaded with just a standard set of reloading dies.

If you keep having trouble, a read of the instruction sheet that came with your dies may help, and if not, a call to the die manufacturer's 800 number will probably result in enough information to solve your problem.

Good luck. :)

[94Doug]

This only confirms my suspicions, I need one of everything.


Doug

[kamikaze1a]

I would say reasons to use a factory crimp die would be if you are finding that your seater/crimper die causes your cases to bulge during crimping or if the bullet you are seating is leaving bulges in the case or as an alternative to sizing your bullets before seating. In either case, over crimping with most semi auto handgun cartridges is bad being that the headspace is regulated by the case mouth... By the way, I believe factory rounds are post sized in the same manner.

[crowbeaner]

I used an RCBS taper crimp die for all my autoloader cartridges. Mostly 45 and 10mm, but I never had a problem. The trick is to set your crimp die with a dummy cartridge, and put the dummy round in your tool kit. Then the next time you have the dummy to start with. I usually gave the crimp die about 1/8 turn after turning it all the way down to where I couldn't finger tighten it any more. Worked for me, and I loaded thousands of rounds that way. You may have to tinker a bit to set the die the first time, but that's what reloading is all about; tinkering.

[leftiye]

I just lightly stick them into a sizer or die (seater works well with revolters if you don't want to crimp). It is easy to get the pressure right and not over do it. Takes the flare right out.