First attempt to seat a bullet: "Lee Anniv. Kit".

Are you planning on crimping the case with the bullet seating die or post crimping with a separate crimping (Factory Crimp) die?

What caliber?

What works well for me is to have no case in the shell holder, raise the ram. For crimp, screw the die in all the way until it just touches the shell holder, and then back out 3 complete turns. If I'm post crimping with a FCD, I'll back out 4 complete turns instead of three.

After this, I back the bullet seating dial just about all the way and the slowly turn it in until I get the results I want for OAL. You can easily adjust a bullet further in, but it's pretty hard to get it out (shoot it or impact pull it) if you seat it too far in. On the Lee dies I have, one turn of the bullet seating dial gets me .050-ish less OAL. I mark my dial knobs and dies with 'stereo dial' lines so I can tell how far I'm turning it too.

If you're loading a necked case, then your Lee bullet seating die is most likely not also a crimp die -- but I've also not loaded a .303 either so hopefully someone will have a better answer for you.

I suggest that you get at least three or more reloading manuals. Read the how to sections of each. From the tone of your questions, I gather that you have a very limited understanding of the reloading process. That is why I recommend reading and understanding before you jump into the process. Reloading is not complicated, it can be made complicated as you want. It is necessary however to understand how the steps work. Read the glossary sections in the manuals to get a better understanding of the terms used. Just trying to help!

Jimmy K

Put a reference round into a shellholder, raise the ram, and screw the die into the press until it stops. This adjusts crimp. Then snag the die with the nut. Then screw down seating stem until it stops. This adjusts the seating depth.

I used to play trial and error games with a set of dummies and a caliper before understanding these simple instructions.

Find Lee help here http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/faq/index.cgi

Bullet Seating Adjustment

The trick is to set the bullet seating depth first, then the crimp. This is done as follows; With an empty, sized case in the shell holder, hold the ram at the top of its stroke. Turn the bullet seating die body down over the case until you feel it come to a stop. This will be when the case mouth contacts the crimp shoulder inside the die. Mark this position by turning the lock ring down against the turret or press frame. Now adjust your bullet seating depth. Once you have the bullet seated to the desired depth, back the bullet seater adjuster out about 1 turn. Now turn the bullet seating die body in to apply the desired crimp. Once this is established, hold the ram at the top of its stroke and spin the bullet seater adjuster down until it stops.

It is a good idea to carry this out with an empty case, so that after you have seated the bullet, you have a perfectly safe "dummy" cartridge (or gauge) to repetitively set seating depth and crimp on future occasions.

Once you have this "dummy" gauge, all you have to do is place it in the shell holder, raise the ram to the top of its stroke, turn the bullet seating body down until it stops, and then turn the bullet seating depth adjuster in until it stops. Since the crimp and the seating depth were already set, the die will return to very close to the same settings.

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Seating die crimp style

There are two crimp shoulders in our bullet seating dies. The first shoulder applies a slight taper crimp and the second shoulder applies a full roll crimp. The closer the die is adjusted to the shell holder the heavier the crimp will be.

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This is for a normal Lee die set. Not the Dead Length dies

I don't think you need 3 reloading manuals at 1st,just 1...Lyman's. It's my goto book and always will be.Lots of how-to info,and plenty of load recipes.
I think the 'border lines' as you call them are what's called cannelures.These areas are where the crimp is applied.Crimping is just squeezing the case mouth against the bullet for a tight grip.Some dies grip tight enough not to need crimp,some don't.I crimp just to know they the bullets are in nice and tight.
You can use a powder scale to weigh bullets if it reads high enough.Mine does,not sure about the Lee.You don't want to guess at bullet weight,the powder charge is in direct proportion to this weight.
Do you have calipers? You need them to adjust the over all lenghth of the finished round.

here's how I adjust the seater die.Actually I alway use a seperate crimp die...and extra seater die with the center post removed...as it makes adjusting depth and crimp a lot easier.
anyway..screw the center post...the seater...about 3/4 of the way down into the die body. Screw the die into the press about half way. Set a bullet on the case mouth,and raise the ram slowly while giding the bullet inot the die.As the bullet is pushed into the case,lower and raise the ram to see how far in the bullet has gone.This is where the calipers come in.
When you've reached the oal for that round/caliber.unscrew the center post/seater unitl it's almost out of the top of the die.
Unscrew the die until it's high in the press,then raise the press ram with the case and bullet in the shell holder.slowly. If the round is making contact with the die and resisiting,raise the die some more.
when the ram is all the way up,screw the die in snugly against the round,lower the ram an inch,and turn the die in about 1/16th turn.Raise ram ,as the round contacts the round push down on the press handle.You will feel reisitance as the crimp ring inside the die crimps the round.Lower ram,observer round and see if the case mouth is tapered in,crimping the case to the round.
How much is subjective,but a little accomplishes a lot.Don't distort the bullet by too
much crimp.
Put the round in your hand,and try to press the bullet into the case with firm thumb pressure.If it moves,try a bit more crimp.
when you're satisfied with the amount of crimp,put the round back in the press,raise the ram all the way,then screw the seater down on the bullet and lock it in place.
Now the die is set for both depth and crimp.Loce the die ring on the die so u can install and remove it without changing the settings.

whew,apologies for the long post,but you asked.

pm me if this wa clear as mud and needs more 'splainin'.

The reason I recommended three manuals is that there is information that may be in one manual and not be in the others. I can assure you that any GOOD reloader will have more than three in their library, if for nothing else but to read. You can never read too much about reloading. It is always good to cross reference any data that you use with other sources. I always use the data that most closely matches the firearm I am using. Say if Lyman develops their data with a 26" pressure barrel, Nosler develops theirs using a 22" model 700 Remington and I am using a 20" model Seven Remington, which data do you think will more closely match what I can expect out of my gun. You can rest assured that none of the data will be over maximum because of the lawyers, but I have seen as much as five grains difference between data from different manuals, I always chose the average of the starting load from the three or more manuals. As far as data from the Internet, I would be suspect of any that is not from a well known source. The powder companies provide an good assortment, some of the bullet companies and there are other well known sources. Please be careful getting data from Joe Blow, that is why most folks here are hesitant to give a load with actual numbers. You will see, I use a light dose of XX or I use XX powder and XX primers, but not actual numbers. Any numbers that you do see should be cross referenced with the manuals. Those who do give numbers usually qualifies that data by saying it is safe in my gun but may not be in yours.

Jimmy K

All the military ammo I have seen is cannelured and crimped. But, I've never seen a rifle die that has a crimp feature! You say that it's a "single #4", so that's a bolt action Enfield rifle, with a magazine, right? What do you mean by single?

There are two "crimps" ....
A bullet crimp
A primer Crimp

There are two "cannelures"
A bullet cannelure
A case Cannelure

It would be best to speak of which when asking questions, or at least give some kind of clue.

Jimmy K

Jim Kirk,sorry to have caused confusion, I thought we were discussing bullet crimp on a .303 cartridge. I don't know how a handloader could crimp the primer or why I would want to. The only case cannelure I have seen was on colt45 cases. What I'm thinking of suggesting to ignition override is that if He's firing his bolt action rifle single shot He doesn't need to do a bullet crimp. But, if He's loading His cartidges into a magazine, then a bullet crimp would be a good idea. Thank you for your input, john

ka
now you have got me confused:

But, I've never seen a rifle die that has a crimp feature!

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Just about all rifle dies have built in bullet crimpers, roll type. Maybe you never saw one with a "stab" type crimp, and I didn't know that Lee(if that was the brand) did both a taper and a roll crimp.
This confusion is the reason I was referring to crimp type in the above post and in post# 3.

The seating die is not labeled as a crimp die: "...bullet seating die..." Don't know what crimp dies are for (have read that military cases were crimped).

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I have never seen anything made to crimp primers for us "normal" reloaders, as far as I know.

Sorry if I helped you confuse me

Jimmy k

I'd like to think that if "we" can keep the new guys from making the same mistakes "us as older" reloaders did, then I think "us" has succeeded in a big way!
Before Al Gore invented the INTERNET in the late 1980's(although it had it's beginning at MIT in 1959), all us "new guys back then" had was the old guys either in person or in the form of books. But Al has made the way for sharing almost instantaneous and I am willing to share and probably too willing to some.
Like I said in earlier post I hope that I did not confuse anyone and if I did, I didn't mean to.

Jimmy K