I have the Hornady Custom Grade Series II Taper Crimp 3 Die Set for 45 ACP and am having the hardest time getting the crimp right. First, I've taken the die apart to make sure it is in fact a taper crimp and it is. Wanted to make sure they didn't put the wrong die in the box. It is taper crimping, just stating this to get it out of the way as I know it will come up.
I reload 38, 357 and 9mm and use a factory crimp die for all of them. I decided to try to get away without using a factory crimp die for the 45 ACP and so far it isn't working out.
The problem I am having is the crimp appears to be completing before the bullet is fully seated. I am getting a little roll of lead where the case meets the boolit.
I am loading Lee 452-230 Truncated Cone and using the Flat Point seating plug that came with the die set. I also powder coat. Because the crimp is cutting into the bullet, it is causing a little bit of leading in the barrel.
I've tried bullets sized both .452 and .451 and I've varied my crimp between .472 and .474. I'm definitely not over crimping. IMO, I am under crimping. Comparing my crimp to factory loads and loads of other reloaders, I am not going far enough and yet the die is causing me issues.
Anyone else experience this and is this just the nature of seating and crimping at the same time with cast boolits? Logically it makes sense. It's going to keep trying to push the bullet in into the case while it's also crimping and at some point the 2 steps are going to be in conflict. In my case, its going just far enough to scrape a little roll of lead and leave a little ring around the bullet/case.
I've tried everything I know to try and am wondering if I am missing something?