Thoughts on what dies to buy for a .454 Casull

[no34570]

Hi
I'm going to buy a new Puma lever gun in .454 Casull very soon,so like I do before I get the gun,I buy the reloading gear for it first:roll:

What brand of reloading dies would you go for for the .454 Casull?

Would you go for Lee(if they make them of course)?
I like the Hornady brand,but they are expensive here in Australia.
Any thoughts please?:-D
Cheers
no34570
:castmine:

[Crash_Corrigan]

I have a friend who needs some 454 Casull loads from time totime. I just use my 45 Colt dies and everybody is happy. My .38 Specials work OK with a 357 Magnum so why not? Lees work good but get the FCD (Factory Crimp Die) with any set for the last step. I swear by them.

[454PB]

.45 Colt dies will work fine. I have a set of Redding carbide .454 dies that came with my first .454 Casull. They are good dies, but I can't see a thing wrong with any set of Lee dies I own, and that's at least a dozen.

By the way, I have a Puma in .454. They are very touchy about COL and feeding, so check your first handload and make sure it feeds smoothly.

If you use the Lee FCD, it will size a seated cast boolit to .452". This may not matter to you, but some of use prefer sizes larger than .452"

[no34570]

I have a friend who needs some 454 Casull loads from time totime. I just use my 45 Colt dies and everybody is happy. My .38 Specials work OK with a 357 Magnum so why not? Lees work good but get the FCD (Factory Crimp Die) with any set for the last step. I swear by them.

Thanks for that Crash
I did think you could use .45 Colt dies but was not real sure,I thought it better to ask first before going out and buying a set.
Thanks
no34570

[no34570]

.45 Colt dies will work fine. I have a set of Redding carbide .454 dies that came with my first .454 Casull. They are good dies, but I can't see a thing wrong with any set of Lee dies I own, and that's at least a dozen.

By the way, I have a Puma in .454. They are very touchy about COL and feeding, so check your first handload and make sure it feeds smoothly.

If you use the Lee FCD, it will size a seated cast boolit to .452". This may not matter to you, but some of use prefer sizes larger than .452"

454PB
Lee dies are good I just thought they might not make them for the .454 Casull,but a trip to their website showed me different,probably will go with Lee.

The Lee FCD,is that the Factory Crimp Die or the Factory Carbide Die??
no34570

[robertbank]

If you are shooting cast lead boolits I would caution you regarding the Lee FCD. I know there are followers for the die and guys swear be them. That said. jacketed bullets are .451 in diameter, cast are .452. The bulge many see in ther loaded cartridges is from the increased size of the lead boolit. All a FCD does is swage down the loaded cast boolit to something less than .452. In my view this cannot be a good thing and I avoid the FCD in handgun cartridges for that reason. Something to chew on anyway.

Take Care

Bob

[no34570]

Robertbank
Thanks,I'll might get the Lee FCD to use with J bullets but not on lead and have a separate die for that.
cheers
no34570

[454PB]

robertbank was saying the same thing I did.

Although I have a Lee Factory Crimp Die (FCD), I don't use it much. I've found that seating and crimping in two steps is all that's required. Since your rounds will be fired in a rifle, you don't have to worry about recoil pulling the boolits. In a revolver, that's a real problem with heavy loads.

[no34570]

454PB
Thanks for that mate,I will probably do like what you said and just crimp and seat in two steps,it will be safer too.
no34570

[arkypete]

I've been at the reloading game long enough to have gone thru three generations of loading dies.
#1 lyman
#2 RCBS
#3 Redding
Sorry, Lee products are not worthy of consideration.
I do use a Hornady's super duper seating die for 405 Winchester.
Jim

[felix]

It is not brand per se; it is the fit of the dies for the gun in question. Ideally, you should have a die set for each gun without regard to "caliber". You want everything to be as concentric as possible, at least as much as the gun is. The more accurate the gun, the more concentric your dies should be. If I were really gung-ho on what I am saying here, I would have a custom set of dies made per gun. The manufacturer of the dies is really immaterial as long as the rounds come out as intended by the GUN. ... felix

[Adam10mm]

I use Lee dies and haven't had any issues. I like Lee for the cost and the powder through expander die. Four dies set is $30 whereas others are only 3dies.