Sizing vs. Brass Wear

[cabezaverde]

I have a S/W 457 45 ACP, and shoot a lot of Lyman 452460 200 SWC's.

The barrel slugs 451, but I can chamber rounds loaded with (they run about .454) unsized bullets if I use the Lee factory crimp die in the 4th station of my progressive press. Of course, I have to bell the mouth more to accept these bullets without shaving. Obviously, that causes excess wear on my 45 brass.

The other option is to run them through a Lee .452 sizer, which is another step but will reduce the wear on the brass.

Both options shoot equally well for my purposes. My lube is Lee LLA, so there is no cost of stick lubes involved.

Any thoughts on the trade off of brass wear versus the extra time for sizing the bullets?

[oneokie]

Only thing that comes to mind is shorter brass life. Case mouths cracking due to excessive belling.

[454PB]

You might as well size the boolits.....that's what the Lee FCD is doing.

[docone31]

Yeah, I have the lee four die set for .45ACP.
I only have the crimp die set on almost no crimp at all. I could almost do without it.
The standard seating die does it all for me.

[timkelley]

Both of my 45Autos chamber and shoot .454 boolits just fine but they do not feed well. If I size to .452 (Lee Sizer) they shoot well and feed well.

Now if I could learn to shoot well.:lol: