Who uses seater/crimpers and which one is the best to get?

[xman777]

I need to get seater/crimpers for all my handgun loads. There is not another option so please don't suggest to simply seat then crimp. I am already doing that anyways so I can always go back.
What I need is feedback from those that DO it. Which dies are you using and which have you tried? What works best?
Thanks!

[clownbear69]

What system of dies are you currently using?

[Ickisrulz]

Three die sets normally come with a seater/crimp die that will do both as one operation. Some people want to perform these operations separately, especially if involving a taper crimp. Any manufacturer's three die set should work for you as long as you get the type of crimp you want (roll vs taper).

[Griff]

Three die sets normally come with a seater/crimp die that will do both as one operation. Some people want to perform these operations separately, especially if involving a taper crimp. Any manufacturer's three die set should work for you as long as you get the type of crimp you want (roll vs taper).Eggsackerly! And learning to adjust them properly is a must... otherwise you're not improving on factory ammo. I use several different brands of dies... RCBS, Lyman & Redding... and one set of Dillon's that came with my 550 back when I bought it in '86. But, for a simple tutorial on how to adjust a seating/crimp die, here's the method I use: Proper Roll Crimp Adjustment (http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2809), using an RCBS .45 Colt Seater/Crimp die from a new set. The steps to adjust will be the same for any combination seater/crimp die, be it roll or taper.

[jonas302]

I always seat and crimp in one operation with lee dies when I have crimp grove to go into at least

[xman777]

Currently I seat and crimp separately, but recently modified my 550B toolhead to fit a powder check so I'm losing one station hence the need for the 2/1 die. I bought a roll crimp for my 45lc and tapers for everything else.

[dragon813gt]

I have no issues w/ performing both steps at once with Lee dies. No shaving of any lead and they shoot just as well as when I tried doing it in two different steps.

[geargnasher]

For the most part with standard production automatic pistol chambers there's no need to crimp except just enough to remove the bellmouth so they'll pass the "plunk" test, feed, and chamber, so I don't see any issues seating/"crimping" there unless we're talking match chambers that are tight at the front and require a hard, swaging taper-crimp that will shave lead unless crimped separately after seating. I load most of my pistol stuff on three-station progressives, including standard-velocity .45 Colt and .38 Special.

HOWEVER, if you shoot hotter loads in revolvers, particularly for fine accuracy at long range, you may find that there's no way around needing a very firm roll crimp (together with firm case tension) to retain the boolits under hard recoil, and that such a crimp is only achievable by crimping in a separate step after the boolit is seated to final depth.

I use a variety of die brands to taper and roll crimp, they all work fine for me.

Gear

[r1kk1]

A fellow named Wyr who used to visit this forum posted instructions on setting a seater/crimp die up. Good read. I have some proprietary cartridges that are either Hornady or RCBS that if I want to crimp separately, I would need to buy an additional seater. Just depends on the situation.

Take care

r1kk1

[1hole]

I know of no handgun seater that doesn't have crimper built in. They all work so I have no idea if any one is 'better' that any other.