newbie question

[cygnusx1]

Ok guys, I am sure you have heard all this before but I can't seem to find it right now. My wife and I are shooting sigs and I reload. I want to use lead instead of fmj for cost reasons. I have a couple of questions. I am using a dillon 550 to do this. Is there anything I should know that isn't printed? Also has anyone used tru cast? I will be reloading .40 and .45. Thanks ahead of time.

[WHITETAIL]

cygnusx1, Welcome to the forum!
Sa far as useing lead in your gun go
right ahead.
Many people have found out that shooting
lead boolets are fun & cheeper than the
J-word.

[243winxb]

Make sure the case mouth is belled enough so as not to shave lead on seating. Seat bullet, then taper crimp in a separate operation.

[bbs70]

I too use a dillion 550 and cast for 40S&W & 45 Colt.
I use Lee reloading dies.
A 2 die set, one for decapping/resizing and the other one is a seating/crimping die.

With the 40 I had trouble with the rounds not wanting to chamber all the way into the barrel.
I adjusted the seating/crimp die, either it would shave lead when seating or it wouldn't give enough crimp and the mouth of the round would be too big for chambering properly.

With some investigating I found out that a seperate crimping die was needed.
I now seat the boolit with the seating/crimp die and use a seperate crimping die to taper crimp the round.
End of problem.

As for shooting lead in the 40 & 45, thats all I ever use.
I can shoot more and have just as much fun destroying targets at the range (My targets of course).

[cygnusx1]

Thanks guys. I have another question. I have a set of rcbs dies for the 40 and a set of dillon dies for the 45. They are 3 piece sets. Do I need a different die set for led?

[Longrange]

I have a 550 as well and find that using the 3 die set works best for my reloads. My .40 and .45 ACP and .45 Colt are all Dillon 3 die sets. They work great. You may be having a feeding problem due to not tapering the loaded round properly. You may also have the bollit set to far out check your OAL book numbers as well as pulling the barrel out and do a drop test in the chamber, it should fit flush without having to push it into the chamber. The round should also fall out. If not you need to make some adjustmenst.

[cygnusx1]

Cool guys. I appreciate all the info.

[fredj338]

Thanks guys. I have another question. I have a set of rcbs dies for the 40 and a set of dillon dies for the 45. They are 3 piece sets. Do I need a different die set for led?

You'll need the Dillon powder thru die for case mouth espanding & powder drop. You won't use the RCBS expanding dies. Some, like me, also like to seat & crimp in diff steps, so another seater/crimp die will be needed.