Best 30/30 dies for reloading

D

Deaf Smith

New member
My dies for my 30/30 sometimes has the crimp fail and the bullet push back some (usually by the 4th shot.)

What are the best dies made for the 30/30 using jacketed bullets (I use 170s mostly with crimp groves.)

Thanks,

Deaf
 
You can adjust your die to give more crimp or you can get a crimping die and add that step to your loading process. So far I haven't had to crimp any of my rifle cases though I do crimp pistol cases. I have never needed a special crimp die even for the 357 mag or the 45 Colt. I am hoping I won't need to crimp for my AR15 - I have heard different stories so, like everything else, I will try it my way first and see what I have to change to make it work.
 
Trim your cases every firing to get a consistent crimp. Get a Lee Factory Crimp Die as soon as possible, and use that to crimp in a separate operation.
 
For 30-30 Win. I use RCBS dies to size and seat, I use a Lee collet crimp as a third step and it works quite well.
 
My dies for my 30/30 sometimes has the crimp fail and the bullet push back some
Click to expand...

What brand of dies are you using??

Unless the dies are actually physically defective/damaged (which is unlikely) the usual problem is the OPERATOR, who adjusts the die settings, and everything else.

Uniformity of case length is important to making a uniform crimp. You don't have to trim after each firing, but you have to check before each loading, and trim IF NEEDED.

Adjusting for proper seating and crimping is not rocket science, but it is something that can be done incorrectly.

I've been loading .30-30 with the same Lyman dies that I got used in the early 1970s. Never bothered with a Lee 'factory crimp die". Never needed one, don't need one now.

Sounds to me like you simply need to SLIGHTLY increase the amount of crimp (assuming that you are doing it correctly now). 1/10th or 1/8th more turn on the seater die body (and corresponding change to the seater plug), load some test rounds and see if the problem persists.
 
Lee says there is no .30-30 Pacesetter 2 die set. At least not currently. They do say the seater die is also the crumping die.
Sounds like you haven't locked the die tight enough and it's coming loose. Or you need one of their factory crimp dies that comes with their current Pacesetter set.
 
Try anything you need to, but get the Lee Factory Crimp Die as soon as you can. They are easy to use and it won't buckle your cases even when set for maximum crimp. I use RCBS dies for my 30-30 loading and can tell you from experience that if you put just a tiny bit too much crimp with them you will buckle the case-neck a little and the round will be difficult or impossible to chamber and you will have to pull the bullet and start over with that case. If you go that way, you should trim your cases every time they get resized, no matter what anybody says, so that all cases are exactly the same length, or you will have problems. My RCBS dies are still good, but after getting the Lee crimp die, I have assigned the crimping to it with no desire to look back. Just get the Lee die; you'll be glad you did. Did I forget to mention that they are very inexpensive? Do you need it? Not if you don't need to make your life easier and reduce frustrations over things that should be less tricky. I think I paid like $13.95 for mine at Sportsman's Warehouse.
 
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