Crimping .45LCs shaved off brass

JackBwr

I loaded up a hundred .45LCs this past weekend. RCBS dies. I was seating and crimping in the same step. For some reason, it would shave off a tiny bit of brass around the edge of the case mouth almost every time. It was like a very thin, shaved ring, that you could scrape with your finger nail and it would flake off. Very little material. Basically just a thin flake of a ring.

My last batch didn't do this. Is this normal and what could be causing this? I don't think I belled out the case mouths too much.

perry shooter

THINK about the fact that if YOU TRY to seat and CRIMP in ONE die You will get that result. You are pushing the bullet deeper at the same time as crimping You really need to seat in one DIE after fully seating take another die and Crimp with out moving the bullet. See the two STICKY POST on top of this forum, CRIMPING revolver loads & Crimping SEMI AUTO loads.the load that shaved brass off the bullet either had larger diameter bullets or thicker wall brass or longer brass cases.

Hawk Carse

What bullet?
Jacketed or plated?
If so, does it have a crimp cannelure? A real jacketed revolver bullet will have a cannelure just like a cast bullet has a crimp groove. A properly adjusted seating die will crimp into that cannelure without scraping up jacket metal. Or lead if cast.

Plated bullets seldom if ever have cannelures and should be lightly taper crimped in a separate step like an autopistol cartridge.

bartman45

I use those dies for the 45 Colt, and have never had that problem. Could it possibly be that you are putting excessive crimp on the case. Perhaps backing the die off would eliminate the problem. I understand that ideally the seating/crimp should be a separate operation; however, the combo die works fine for my Colt SAA's.

charliemeyer007

+1 for bullet need a channelure to roll crimp into. Case life will be much better. Have seen that thin ring of brass. Try and avoid with careful adjustment and consistant case length.

MIKE WISKEY

have you chamfered the outside of the case mouth?

Riomouse911

Mite be cases a touch too long as well. I've gotten the ring a few times when I put a maxi-crimp on heavier than plinking loads with cases I've fired a couple of times..then I back off the crimp a touch and it stops.

JackBwr

I'm still using brand new brass that's never been fired. It's only been sized down. The last batch I did wasn't doing this but for some reason, I had a little trouble getting it set up to seat and crimp in the same step. I'm getting screwed up when the directions say lower the die until you can feel it touch the case mouth. I don't understand what that's supposed to feel like or at what point to stop. I can't tell when it's just touching the case mouth.

The bullets are Hornady XTP 250 gn bullets with the canelure.

I may try raising the seater up and crimping in it's own step but on a single stage press, this is very time consuming. It's very time consuming already, combining the process. I don't mind it but it's hard to commit a large chunk of the day just to get 100 done. (I weigh each one even though I think I'm going to get away from checking to that level.)

dcs shooters

quote:Originally posted by JackBwr
I'm still using brand new brass that's never been fired. It's only been sized down. The last batch I did wasn't doing this but for some reason, I had a little trouble getting it set up to seat and crimp in the same step. I'm getting screwed up when the directions say lower the die until you can feel it touch the case mouth. I don't understand what that's supposed to feel like or at what point to stop. I can't tell when it's just touching the case mouth.


Use a empty case and raise the ram to it's full height to a backed off die. Screw the die down slowly untill you feel it touch the case. I found that if you work the ram up and down as you work the handle, you can feel when the die touches the case. Then you can turn the die down to the amount of crimp you want.