DougGuy
Lee makes an uncatalogued series of collet style crimp dies for straight walled pistol cartridges that work just like their collet crimp dies for rifle. I found that with a little work, they made a very fine crimp die that doesn't push down on the loaded round like a taper crimp or roll crimp, and it doesn't size down the boolit below the crimp either, it closes from the side as it crimps.
I am looking for one in .357 Magnum for Sam a.k.a. gray wolf, it is Lee SKU #80323. Lee sold off their overrun of this die recently and cannot come up with one anywhere. If you have one or have the collet style 35 Whelen die that you aren't using, we'd like to have it. I think I can make the 35 Whelen die work for .357 Magnum.
Now, on to the mods I do for these:
I really like the uncataloged Lee FC collet type die the best. For J word boolits, they wouldn't really need to be modified but for cast where it is critical that the driving band of the boolit remain as sized by the sizing die, I modify mine for a narrower crimp band and I also shorten it so it brings the crimp band down on the case. Let me see if I can get some photos to post.
Stock unmodified collet from the FC die:
Stock unmodified collet showing placement of the crimp band on a .45 Colt brass:
Modified collet showing the narrower crimp band by shortening the top of the collet:
Modified collet showing crimp band lowered onto the case mouth by shortening bottom of collet:
Beartooth 340gr and 325gr GC boolits after using the modified crimp:
Lee C452-300-RF boolits after using the modified crimp (these run 320gr in Lyman #2 w/checks installed):
300gr Speer "Deep Curl" on left, Buffalo Bore "Deer Grenade" on right, notice how the crimp band swages into the cast boolit a little smoother than the more sharper band on the Speer boolit that is crimped into the cannelure. The Deep Curl on the left was done with the modified crimp die.
(EDIT: The Buffalo Bore "Deer Grenade" on the right is a factory loaded round from Buffalo Bore, as you can see they use the same collet crimp but I think theirs is likely unmodified):
Last pic, Hornady 300gr XTP-MAG on left, Speer "Deep Curl" on right, after using the modified crimp die:
Sorry for writing an essay but I saw that using the collet style die as manufactured by Lee was great for J word boolits, but needed a little adjusting to work at it's best on cast. So far the results have been very consistent, I am sure this crimp shortens the life of the brass but it out performs a roll crimp by a long shot. In a heavy recoiling gun like the .454, this crimp wins hands down. I shoot the boolits shown with heavy loads of H110 in my old Vaquero and I cannot see any movement at all of the loaded boolits in adjacent chambers. In addition to this crimp, it is very important to have good case neck tension. Of all the crimp styles to choose from, this is the only style of crimp that only squeezes from the sides of the case mouth and does not press down or in on the seated boolit. I hope this information is of some use, it is working like a champ for me!
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