.41 Long Colt Crimp Die

[Wayne Smith]

FYI

Old West Bullet Molds has a crimp die for the heeled boolit .41LC. It is a modified Lee die with custom riser for shorter cases.

When I get some time at home, probably later today, I'm gonna order one as soon as I confirm the length of my cases and get a letter and check off. $45.00 + $6.00 S&H, and he takes personal checks. These are custom modified.

Yes, Rick, I still want the one you have in process. It's too pretty to not use!

[Harry O]

I have one of the Lee custom collet crimp dies that works on both the "standard" 1.13" length, the intermediate 1.10" length, but not the short 0.9(?)" length. Lee said that they could not do the short one because the collets flex too much and fatigue and break.

A riser would solve that problem. I don't load any of the shortest ones, though, so it is not very necessary for me.

[Nueces]

HarryO, would you please post pix of your die and also explain how this riser idea works? I can see how a collar around the case in the shell holder would actuate the crimp collet for a longer case, but don't yet see how to adapt an unmodified crimp die for use with a shorter case.

I would greatly like to have Lee collet crimpers for all my straight-case handgun rounds.

Thanks, Mark

[StrawHat]

Hi Guys,

I posted this on a different forum as I did not know of interest here.

Uberti is offering the Model P Jr in 41 Colt

http://www.cimarron-firearms.com/Specialty/ModelP-Jr.htm#

Click on "Product Info"

It is not exactly what I want but it is still the first factory gun I've seen in quite a while!

Anybody have one?

[Harry O]

HarryO, would you please post pix of your die and also explain how this riser idea works? Thanks, Mark

Check here: http://harryo.sixshootercommunity.org/

The crimping die is shown on the photo of the reloading dies (2/3 of the way down and on the left. It is the piece that is on the top left of the boxes. I bought it from Lee several years ago. I believe it cost $25 at the time. MAKE SURE YOU SPECIFY A COLLET TYPE DIE if you order from them. They have two completely different types of Factory Crimp Dies. They originally sent me a different one that did not crimp from the sides. I returned it with a letter and they quickly replaced it with a correct one.

In looking at it last night, I am not sure any more how a riser would work in them (as was stated in the first post). The part in the die that presses against the rim of the case still has to be there for it to work, so putting a riser in the shell holder would not change anything. I guess it is a mystery to me.

[Wayne Smith]

When I get it I'll try to take some pictures.

Harry, when I load the Lee boolit in my Army Colt (1906 manufacture) it looks as if I have to trim the cases to .996" to be inside the end of the cylinder. Do other .41 Colts have longer cylinders?

[Harry O]

Harry, when I load the Lee boolit in my Army Colt (1906 manufacture) it looks as if I have to trim the cases to .996" to be inside the end of the cylinder. Do other .41 Colts have longer cylinders?

Yes, they do. Read the article I posted above. It covers this in detail. In short, almost every heel-base bullet made, when loaded into the longer cases, will be overlength for the Thunderer and the 1892 series DA Colts (which yours is). However, a cartridge loaded that way will fit in the Colt SAA, which has a longer cylinder.

Both Winchester/Western and Remington/Peters made intermediate length cases for handloaders because of this very problem. They are 1.005" to 1.010" long. You can load both heel-base and hollow-base bullets in that length case and it will still fit any 41 Long Colt made. The longer 1.125" to 1.130" long cases (Starline) have to be trimmed down to fit the shorter cylinders if you use a heel-base bullet. They are OK, as is, with hollow-base bullets.

I have 100 of the shorter cases I use for heel-base bullets. I have also trimmed a few Starline cases that started cracking at the neck so that they could be used in the shorter cylinders.

[Nueces]

HarryO, thanks for the link. I think I had already copied that one for my files, enjoyed reading it again anyway. I have a couple boxes of late WRA 41 ammo and have been looking for a decently priced 41 Army Model - you know, like the ones we could get in the sixties for about $20. :???:

I read how you used the Lee collet crimp die with shorter cases by running the rounds up into the die on top of the shell holder. Gotcha, that makes sense. I think I'll order some dies for my magnum-length hadgun cases and just make flat-top shell holders for the shorter versions. Thanks for the idea. :drinks:

Mark

[Wayne Smith]

When I get it I'll try to take some pictures.

Harry, when I load the Lee boolit in my Army Colt (1906 manufacture) it looks as if I have to trim the cases to .996" to be inside the end of the cylinder. Do other .41 Colts have longer cylinders?

Apologies, my mistake. Too much in a hurry, not enough memory, and not enough attention to detail. When I made the above measurements with my pistol I did not have the bullets fully seated. I had been seating them with my fingers and just pushing them against the table to seat them. They slide in easily but the lube gets in the way. I have an old steel 38/357 die with no pin, it works great to seat them that last .1"

1.098" is my max case length with the Lee Custom hollow based heeled boolit. This completely fills my cylinder, when I have them fully seated!

I'm ordering the crimp die from Bernie @Old West Molds with the above measure.