Experience with combo seating crimping die

M

Machineguntony

New member
For the last year or so, I've been using a combination seating and crimping in my Dillon 1050 that I specifically set up for 223.

I combined the seating and crimping station so that I could use a powder cop.

I use a bullet drop, so I had to combine seating and crimping. I really wish someone would make a noncommercial press with 8 stations. I'm thinking of getting a Camdex and just going fully automated.

Combining seating and crimping was a horrible failure. For the entire year of 2016, I had numerous failures with my 223, usually caused by the problems associated with combining seating and crimping. I figured if I kept studying it and resolving problems as they arose, I would ultimately master the combination step. Nope.

Sometimes there would be insufficient neck tension. Sometimes the bullet, from a finished round, would turn in the case. Sometimes the bullet would run back into the case. Sometimes the finished round wouldn't pass the plunk test. And because of the frustration of fixing this or that, I also sometimes would make a squib, something that the powder cop was supposed to catch.

So this weekend, I gave up and removed the powder cop and went back to a separate station, one for seating and one for crimping. I loaded 1,000 rounds, and the 223 guns ran with ZERO problems. And all the rounds passed the plunk test beautifully.

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out the combination die. Does anyone use the combo seater? What was your experience?
 
You made the right decision. I use the Lee Factor Crimp die for crimping. I put just a light crimp (around 1/3 of a turn) on most of my AR rounds.
 
I use Hornady dies (seat and crimp all in one) in 223 and have never had the problem you describe.

Are you mixing head stamps when reloading. Thinner case walls on some cases could cause what you're describing.

Also, the powder cop die I had would only function on straight walled pistol cartridges, not bottle neck rifle.
 
LIke AVirginian, using RCBS dies however, I seat and crimp, when needed, for over 30 rifle cartridges without any problems whatsoever and just cannot understand why or how the reported problems develop. While I don't load for tempormental .223s any more, the closest would probably be '06s for the Garand. Of course those and most others only require a taper crimp at most to remove any existing flare. I imagine problems develop if the roll crimping occurs while the bullet is still being seated into the case. Even with cast or jacketed bullets requiring a roll crimp, no problems are encountered.

The basic way to adjust the die is simply to first adjust the seating depth, then back off the seating stem, adjust the crimp, and then turn the seating stem back down to contact the bullet (a slight turn more may then still be required).
 
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I don't crimp any bottle-neck cases but my pistol cases all get crimped. For my rimmed pistol cases I us the roll crimp in the seating die without a problem. The bullets all have cannelures and the bullets are seated to the cannelure as the crimp is performed. For the rimless pistols I use the taper crimp built in to the seating die. I have only had problems when the cases were different lengths. If the case is too long the bullet is out of place and the crimp will fold or compress the case. If it is short then no crimp (or less crimp) is applied.

Once the cases are the same length it all works well because I run each case through the trimmer which is adjusted to maximum case length. New brass is almost always short but There is little that can be done until they grow. Even my 9mm brass grows through several firings.
 
I think the combo die works better if all the brass is from one batch, one headstamp.

I use mix headstamp. I just have never loaded for accuracy. Im a 'sling lead' kind of shooter. I'm not looking for sub MOA groups.

The difference in case neck thickness may explain part of the problem. Some rounds are ok, some have loose bullets that spin or come apart.

When seating and crimping separately, I'm finding that the margin for error can be much higher than the combo set up.

There is a powder cop for bottle neck. I forget who makes it, but I'm not using it anymore. It's not the lock out die, which I still use on my 9mm. This die only give you a visual check and doesn't lock up the press, like the lock out die does.

Now I'm my own powder cop. I shake each round near my ear, as it drops off the press, to make sure there's powder inside. Slower, but safer.

I've heard people say that you don't need a crimp. But I prefer the extra neck tension that crimping can provide. Also, the crimp and prevent the bullet from recessing into the case. I've always crimped.
 
I've been seating and crimping in the same step with some rounds for well over 40 years. The most important part (after proper adjusting) is having uniform brass.

Uniform case LENGTH, in particular. An incorrectly set crimp can remove neck tension, as well, leaving you with a bullet held ONLY by the crimp. (if you can spin the bullet in the case, after crimping, something went wrong)

I gave up on progressive loading machines years ago (but I'm not feeding machine guns, either), just too many different ways things could go wrong, and all too often, did. I loaded more bad rounds in a handful of years on progressives than I had in over 3 decades of using a single stage press.

I usually taper crimp in a separate step, when my die sets have a separate taper crimp die. Otherwise, not.
 
When loading .223 Remington I resize and then trim the brass. I am one of those who wants uniform brass and I also keep headstamps alike. That done I just seat using any of a few seater dies. I rely solely on neck tension or bullet hold, whatever you choose to call it. Be it a standard RCBS seater or a competition seater I set the seater up according to standard instructions. Never had a problem doing this and while I do have a few Lee FCD I never use them or have seen a need to use them.

Ron
 
For 223/5.56 I use an RCBS FL seating/crimping die. I get better results just using it for seating and then the Lee crimping die finishes the job. I crimp 2 thousandths using Hornady 55 grain boat tails with a cannelure.
No problems to date, makes good plinking round.
 
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