Lee bullet seater die question.

[colonelhogan44]

I have began loading .357 magnum with the Lee deluxe carbide 4 die set, and am running into a bit of an issue. When seating the bullet, the die gives quite a firm crimp. I am using a factory crimp die, so I would rather not have the bullet seater die putting a (worse quality) crimp on as well. the Lee instructions say to screw body of the die in until it touches the shellholder, then back out 3 turns. the bullet seating depth is controlled by adjusting a knurled aluminum section on the top of the die. The instructions state that the die can be screwed in further if a crimp is desired, so I assumed that screwing the die body out farther and adjusting the bullet seater downward to compensate would avoid a crimp. No dice, it still crimps the case firmly. :banghead:

Any ideas from those that use the dies?
could this problem be due to the fact that these dies are .38 special/.357 magnum and the instructions are for .38 special?

 

[helg]

.38 special/.357 magnum and the instructions are for .38 special

The Lee directions on "three full turns back" are universal. Sure, for the 357 on the same die as the 38sp you well may need back it out more than the 3 turns.

It is easy to feel when crimping cone of the die touches the shell, when the die less guts is being screwed into the press with a empty shell in a shellholder. To prevent doing the crimp it enough to back out die a turn from a shell contact point.

 

[rfwobbly]

Colonel -
In a common seater/crimper die, you have the 2 actions going on, seemingly at once. But what's really happening is that the center part of the die is doing the seating, and the body of the die is doing the crimping. Both these are then independently adjustable. As shown below, there is a lip inside the blue die body that implements the crimp, and the action of bullet seating is completely controlled by the red seating stem.



In order to lessen or stop the crimping action all you have to do is raise the body of the die.

You can prove what I'm saying by completely removing the guts of the die (the seating stem) and still being able to crimp cartridges.

Hope this helps!

 

[rcmodel]

+1

Put a fired & sized case in the shell holder and run it up.

1.Screw the die body down until it contacts the case mouth.
2.Back it off 1/4 to 1/2 turn and lock the lock ring.
3.Then adjust the seating depth with the seating stem.

At that point, you are seating but not crimping.

rc

 

[BADUNAME37]

Could it be he is referring to the carbide bushing in the bottom of those Lee seating dies that help to remove bulges in some cases?

That would definately close the belled mouth of a cardridge which would appear to be crimping, when really only straightening out the walls of the cartridge -- from belled to straight.

 

[colonelhogan44]

Thanks guys. It was taking the bell out of the casing at the bottom, and then crimping it really tightly at the top of the stroke. I'll back the die off as instructed. It would have been nice if Lee would have included that little bit of info in the instructions. What you guys have said is basically the same as the factory crimp die...screw it in until it touches the case, then adjust up or down depending on the type of crimp desired.