Anyone tried this...?

[lovedogs]

I've used Lee's Factory Crimp die in .348 Win. and liked it a lot. Works great.

When I got my Marlin .44 mag I wanted to get one of those dies but discovered they don't make it for .44 mag. The Carbide Factory Crimp die sizes the whole cartridge to factory spec. This isn't desireable in Marlin rifles with oversized bore dimensions. A call to Lee informed me they'd custom make a rifle style Factory Crimp die if I'd send them a dummy cartridge with no powder or primer. Of course, that'd be much more expensive than ordering a regular die from Midway. Then I got to looking at the specs for a rifle type .44-40 Factory Crimp die. I called Lee again to ask if they'd work with a .44 mag. They said "maybe and maybe not... all I could do is order one and try it" Again, they tried to sell me a custom made die. Midway has the .44-40 die on sale this month so I ordered one. I hope it'll work. I may have to shorten the die body or something to get it to work. I'm not sure how it'll work. Has anyone tried this? If so, I'd like to hear how it worked, or if it was possible to make it work.

[Four Fingers of Death]

It ought to work they are of similar length and that should be taken care of by the available adjustment. The only thing that I can see would be a problem is that the 44/40 will be designed for a .427 and the 44mag is a .429 boolit.

I'd spring for the custom die myself, if you are like me, you will be shooting 44mags for the rest of your days, so the tool will be enjoyed, long after the cost is forgotten. I'd take part in a group buy, I wonder if the same rules as the moulds apply re amortising the costs (minimum number).

Mick.

[45r]

If that doesn't work you might want to try a redding profile crimp die.You don't need a very heavy crimp with them and if you do it doesn't buckle the brass.I use one for all my handgun loads and I get one half to one inch groups at 50 yards with my 357CB.I have pulled my cast boollits to see if it reduced the diameter and they measured the same.I have one for 357,41, 44, and 45 and get good accuracy from each.I really like them for heavy 454 casull loads.I neck size and use M-dies that I reduced the expander to be 4 to 5 thou under boollit diameter.I polish the expander with flitz also.My S&W PCHunter 44mag has shot inch and a half at 50 yards using RCBS 240GC boolits.I don't think I can do better than that with any other crimp die.I polish them with flitz also.

[35remington]

Looking quickly at my cartridge case lengths, the 44-40 is listed as 1.305" while the 44 magnum is 1.285." Since the location of where the crimp die crimps is controlled by the length of the collet sleeve when it bottoms against the shellholder, most likely you would shorten the sleeve for the .44-40 by 20 thousandths and you'd have it right for the .44 magnum. Cartridge base diameter above the rim is about 12 thousandths larger for the .44-40, by this shouldn't cause any problems.

The difference in bullet diameter of a thousandth or two is of no account. Since it's a collet, and since it crimps in proportion to how hard the shellholder squeezes the collet when it bottoms out I'd say it's very doable. You ought to get a pretty good crimp, but will need to squeeze until the collet fingers are fully closed.

Some fine emery paper on a flat plate of glass ought to remove twenty thousandths off the collet sleeve easily.

[GSPKurt]

If that doesn't work you might want to try a redding profile crimp die.You don't need a very heavy crimp with them and if you do it doesn't buckle the brass.I use one for all my handgun loads and I get one half to one inch groups at 50 yards with my 357CB.I have pulled my cast boollits to see if it reduced the diameter and they measured the same.I have one for 357,41, 44, and 45 and get good accuracy from each.I really like them for heavy 454 casull loads.I neck size and use M-dies that I reduced the expander to be 4 to 5 thou under boollit diameter.I polish the expander with flitz also.My S&W PCHunter 44mag has shot inch and a half at 50 yards using RCBS 240GC boolits.I don't think I can do better than that with any other crimp die.I polish them with flitz also.

lovedogs-
^There's your quickest solution. Also, Lee has oversize carbide FCDs you can buy. I got one in .454 for my SRH Casull. Works fantastic, and it was $21.50.

[lovedogs]

Thanks for all the input, fellas. The die should be here real soon and I'll see how it works. I'll let you all know in case it might be helpful to someone else.

[WKAYE]

lovedogs,
Do I have this right? Lee makes a collet FC die for the 44/40 ? My FC roll crimper for the 44 Mag works fine after I punched out the carbide ring. Do let us know how you make out . I would much rather have a collet FC die.

[Boomer Mikey]

The Redding Profile Crimp die provides the best crimp available.

If you think it's too much money... just use the roll crimp built into your seater die. 44's and the rest of the magnums work best with a medium to heavy crimp.

The reason the Lee FC die is popular is because it provides a crimp with relatively consistent bullet pull for the guys too lazy to trim cases.

Boomer :Fire:

[lovedogs]

Hey, Mikey... I'm well aware of how to use the roll crimp on my regular dies, that's how I've been loading straight cases for the last 39 years. One of the reasons I wanted to try the Lee Factory Crimp die is because I have several thousand .44 cases and there is sometimes a slight difference in lengths. So, yes, I'm too lazy to go throught the whole selection and sort cases or trim them all to the same length. I also believe that the design of their crimper does it more evenly than a roll crimp.

By the way, those dies arrived today and for those who are interested, the .Factory Crimp die for .44-40 works just fine for .44 mag. I know Lee would have preferred to sell me a custom-made die but I wasn't going to go there. I have always hated being lied to and ripped off. Now I can do the factory style crimp without having to size the whole round and reducing the diameter of my cast lead bullets in their Carbide Crimp die.

[WKAYE]

That's good to know lovedogs. I'll get one to crimp bullets that have the CG in the wrong place for my '94 Marlin. Thanks for posting. :Fire:

[GSPKurt]

The reason the Lee FC die is popular is because it provides a crimp with relatively consistent bullet pull for the guys too lazy to trim cases.

Boomer :Fire:

Trim cases? What is that? :kidding:

[lovedogs]

WKAYE... Midway has the Factory Crimp die on sale right now for the .44-40. Looking at the design of it it looks like if you got one that was too long to crimp the .44 mag enough that you could just grind the bottom off the collet to make it work. But mine works perfect as it is.

[WKAYE]

Thanks lovedogs, but Midway wont ship to Canada.