JDinFbg
Member
I wasn't sure what "dead length" meant either when someone mentioned it in a post, so I did a Google search and found this:not sure what “Dead length” is. But I had the shell holder touch the die and went over about a 1/4 turn for cam over. Crimping section, I don’t think it touched. I belled a case and here are the before and after. Also, these cases are not sized. Shell holders touching with 1/4 turn cam over looks like it dropped a little could be measuring wrong, but didn’t feel any resistance
https://www.titanreloading.com/faqs/dead-length-bullet-seating-explanation/
Basically it means that the bottom of the die touches the shell holder such that any slack is removed from the press linkage such that bullet seating depth is more uniform and only controlled by the adjustment of the seating plug and there is no crimping done in the die. Lee Precision makes dead length seating dies, but when I made an inquiry to them about what I was seeing on their website, they indicated they only make dead length seating dies for bottle-neck rifle cartridges. So, I'm trying to come up with a scheme to use a standard seating die for another cartridge to produce a dead length seater for the 45 Colt. That's why I was interested in seeing if the 454 Casull seating die would be an option, and based on what you indicated it appears it is. Thanks for all your help on testing this. I really appreciates the extra effort you gave.