SteelHorse44
Member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2016
- Messages
- 8
Hi All,
I have had crimp jump issues since I started loading 44 mag and trying to diagnose cause and next steps. I am thinking I may need to try a different bullet but thought I would see if any here had some thoughts:
Press - Lee Turret Press
Dies - Lee dies and a Lyman Neck Expanding die. I load in the following order - resize all brass in 1st step. 4 turret steps - neck expander, powder through expander, hornady powder cop, seat and crimp.
Bullets - Xtreme Bullets, plated, 200 grain RNFP
Powder - 8.9 grains 700x (only powder I had access to when I started reloading, I have many other options now of course)
Primers - CCI Large Pistol Primers
Gun - S&W 629 4"
Current cartridge measurements:
- After reloading - 1.547 OAL, this gets the crimp to the center of the cannaleur
- 6th cartridge after firing 5 in cylinder - 1.560-1.563 (taken from 3 samples). Jump of .013-.016
Questions:
- Is this an acceptable amount of jump or should I keep working for no jump?
What I've tried:
- Heavier crimp - I am about as heavy as I can go I think before shearing the plating becomes a concern
- Adjusting settings on original Lee dies - feel like I have tried a ton of different things including going as small a bell as possible on the powder through expander.
- Lyman Neck expanding die - this was my last try after doing a bunch of reading. I read neck tension is 90% of the issue and crimp about 10% so I thought maybe using this would solve the issue.
Possible Solutions:
1) Xtreme plated bullets with their shallow canneleur and plating just aren't a good match for 44 mag (work fine in my other loads). Try something else like Missouri Bullet Company coated bullets or step up to a more expensive jacketed option. I bought 1000 of these on sale before I knew better
2) Possible the Lee powder through expander in station 2 is undoing somehow what the Lyman neck expander is doing in station 1 (though I thought I rolled off the expansion on this station, something to double check).
3) Try a different powder with the Xtreme bullets to see if maybe a lower pressure solution may help. The manuals don't give much info on the starting load pressure of 8.9 grains of 700X (200 grain jacketed bullet data) so I don't have data to compare. High end pressure is roughly in line with other loads. Speed is definitely on the low end.
Anyway, any thoughts would be appreciated.
I have had crimp jump issues since I started loading 44 mag and trying to diagnose cause and next steps. I am thinking I may need to try a different bullet but thought I would see if any here had some thoughts:
Press - Lee Turret Press
Dies - Lee dies and a Lyman Neck Expanding die. I load in the following order - resize all brass in 1st step. 4 turret steps - neck expander, powder through expander, hornady powder cop, seat and crimp.
Bullets - Xtreme Bullets, plated, 200 grain RNFP
Powder - 8.9 grains 700x (only powder I had access to when I started reloading, I have many other options now of course)
Primers - CCI Large Pistol Primers
Gun - S&W 629 4"
Current cartridge measurements:
- After reloading - 1.547 OAL, this gets the crimp to the center of the cannaleur
- 6th cartridge after firing 5 in cylinder - 1.560-1.563 (taken from 3 samples). Jump of .013-.016
Questions:
- Is this an acceptable amount of jump or should I keep working for no jump?
What I've tried:
- Heavier crimp - I am about as heavy as I can go I think before shearing the plating becomes a concern
- Adjusting settings on original Lee dies - feel like I have tried a ton of different things including going as small a bell as possible on the powder through expander.
- Lyman Neck expanding die - this was my last try after doing a bunch of reading. I read neck tension is 90% of the issue and crimp about 10% so I thought maybe using this would solve the issue.
Possible Solutions:
1) Xtreme plated bullets with their shallow canneleur and plating just aren't a good match for 44 mag (work fine in my other loads). Try something else like Missouri Bullet Company coated bullets or step up to a more expensive jacketed option. I bought 1000 of these on sale before I knew better
2) Possible the Lee powder through expander in station 2 is undoing somehow what the Lyman neck expander is doing in station 1 (though I thought I rolled off the expansion on this station, something to double check).
3) Try a different powder with the Xtreme bullets to see if maybe a lower pressure solution may help. The manuals don't give much info on the starting load pressure of 8.9 grains of 700X (200 grain jacketed bullet data) so I don't have data to compare. High end pressure is roughly in line with other loads. Speed is definitely on the low end.
Anyway, any thoughts would be appreciated.