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View Full Version : Seating and crimping Wide for caliber boolits



West Creek
04-29-2005, 10:06 AM
Hey Guys

I have a Ruger SBH Hunter with throats almost .432 and was planing on using/trying bullets of the .431-.432 flavor but I ran into a little snag yesturday. I have some LBT 240 WFN bullets to try from AnthnyB. Yesturday while babysitting my sick daughter I decided to start that project rolling by seating an unsized bullet and checking it for function in my 94win. Well - it wouldnt go. The Lee seating die wasnt big enough for the .434 bullet to fit. I sized it to .430 and it would fit. So I used them sized .430 for my dummies with a 240 WFN and a 280 LFN. I do plan on getting another set of 44 mag dies to set up for one or two Dillon 650 tool heads to include separate seating and crimping dies.

Are there other brands of dies that will work with a .432 bullet? Is enlarging the crimping die the best method? Thoughts on shooting a .430 bullet in .432 throats? I havent done any loading of my own lead for the 44. So far it's all been storebought and condomnated - Just startin out with the 44 mag and these bullets so any kind of advise or pointers would be most welcome.

Thanks

Bass Ackward
04-29-2005, 05:56 PM
Hey Guys

Are there other brands of dies that will work with a .432 bullet?

Is enlarging the crimping die the best method?

Thoughts on shooting a .430 bullet in .432 throats? I havent done any loading of my own lead for the 44.
Thanks

WC,

I have Lyman's that I can seat and crimp .4335 with no problem. If you need to , it is simple to enlarge the seat portion of the seater die. Just use some emery on a split rod.

Thought on shooting .430s in .432 throats?

Well, all you have to do is read the thread about "44 Super Accuracy". There you can see the importance people place on neck tension and crimp for getting accuracy. And .... if I am shooting a Smith, I am forced to play that game.

But with a Ruger, you have options. You have enough strength that you can bypass all that hastle and use larger diameter bullets to get ignition. As long as you air cool or oven heat treat so that you have consistency with bullet hardness and diameter, you bypass cases / neck tension / crimp as a variable altogether. Which is darn near impossible to control anyway. All you need is enough crimp to keep the bullets from pulling forward and you are there. Works best with full house loads, but you can burn any powder rate you have on hand.

So there are two styles for you to think over.

44man
04-29-2005, 07:25 PM
West Creek, I don't think you would have a problem with a .430 boolit in the SBH! Most of them have too large a throat and it is hard to find larger boolits. Of course a little larger one is OK but you run into the crimping, chambering problems. It's kind of a tradeoff but my Rugers do great with the .430's. I was able to get a perfect fit in my .45 because I had to lap out the throats that were WAY too small. I lapped until I could thumb push a .452 boolit through with even resistance. The only way you will know is to work loads and shoot a bunch. I would say not to worry.

Swagerman
04-29-2005, 07:46 PM
Applying this problem to my own .45 caliber experience...

I don't know if my solution will apply to your SBH Ruger as a remedy or not. But I've found that some early Colt and S&W revolvers had this cylinder throat problem, and the barrel's rifling was oversized to boot...something like .456 to .457 diameter.

The bullet would encounter the smaller cylinder throats than the barrel, and would have to bump up on ignition to make the right fit at the throats, then bump up even more to work properly in the barrel's forcing cone to rifling.

My Lee and RCBS dies would not load anything above .454 and chamber in the cylinder. I've had very good results with hollow bases on my .454 diameter bullets...anything from 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch deep cavities have worked well for me.

Now, applying this to magnum velocities is a whole new ball game, I'm not sure it would be practical at warp speeds.

Then one could experiment with jacketed bullets by swaging slight hollow bases and see if they hold up well at warp speeds and do not come apart.

Also, to see if they expand (bump up properly) to fit cylinder an barrel with satisfying results.

Like I said, not sure if this would work in magnum guns...but does in standard velocities.


Swagerman

beagle
04-29-2005, 08:38 PM
I have encountered the same problem with .434s and above. My Lyman dies will take a .433 also but the RCBS dies won't. The RCBS dies will take a .432 all right.

The solution is to open the die a bit and not mess with the crimp shoulder so this takes a pretty fine touch.

I also ran into this problem on using .462" bullets in a .458 Win Mag and using .460" bullets in the .45/70. Doesn't seem to be a problem in the .38/357 dies with .360" bullets.

So, be aware that anytime you go above what's considered the upper end of the "normal" diameter, be watching for it. Drives you mad when you first encounter it and think you're doing something to make it happen.

My SBH like .432s. It will take .433s and .434s get a bit tight on chambering but shoot all right./beagle

West Creek
04-30-2005, 11:42 AM
Thanks Guys
Got lucky today and the wife left her confuser from work logged onto the network. They have internet access through the network.
I have passed along links to sites like shooters.com and her friends have said their network locks'em out but I got here around the barn I guess.

I recon I'll look to get a set of lyman or RCBS dies - was lookin to them anyways but glad to know there's a good chance they will work. Meanwhile I'll try sizing to .430 and see what happens.