Combo sounds like a bad idea. Then again Im pretty anal about the crimp since I mostly load plated bullets. There is definitely a decrease in accuracy depending on how deep you are setting your crimp.
For all handgun reloading, pistol or revolver, I use a four die set.
1st die: size and decap.
2nd die: flare and expand
3rd die: seat bullet
4th die: crimp.
This requires the purchase of an additional seater/crimp die. I pull out the seater plug and use this fourth die for crimping only. It is one more step, but I prefer to keep the operations separate.
Dillon sells their crimp dies separately for the popular pistol calibers and for rifles I use the Lee Factory Crimp dies to apply a light taper. I do it like Uni-Vibe
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Me, too, but my RL550B bells the case while dropping powder at the 2nd stage...
Uh-uh... Dillon sells 3-die sets that cover stages 1, 3, and 4.
There's a universal powder die for #2, which only requires the correct "funnel" for each powder. Easy.
• formerly known as "eguns-com"
• M4Carbine required notice/disclaimer: I run eguns.com
•eguns.com has not been actively promoted in a long time though I still do Dillon special
orders, etc. and I have random left over inventory.
•"eguns.com" domain name for sale (not the webstore). Serious enquiries only.
I genuinely am curious what you mean by lightly taper crimping. I've heard that and heavy taper crimp and am at a loss to understand what is meant by either. The point of taper crimping is to remove the remaining flare from the belling step. The point isn't to help hold the bullet. When I setup a taper crimp die, I turn it down enough to completely remove the remaining flare, but no more. Anything more and I'd just be smashing the cartridge. So, there's nothing light or heavy about it. The die is just turned down far enough to do the job, no more and no less. I'm not saying that what you're doing is wrong or produces unsatisfactory results. I'm just curious what you mean.
Right. I adjust the crimp so that the mouth of the case is right back to SAAMI-spec or so... IIRC, for .40S&W, spec is 0.423, and I'm crimping to 0.422. I used to do even less, but the chambers of my S&W 610 are tight.
This might be a transfer/relic from reloading for revolvers, which is a different ball of wax, and in which a "heavy" crimp IS used to retain bullets...
Loading .38Spl, I'll sometimes actually wind up crimping a hair over a wadcutter or into the "crimp groove" of a bullet.
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