Herter's Rifle Dies ---

P

Prince55

New member
I purchased some used Herter's .30-06 dies a couple of years ago
and just got around to working with them for a Rem. 7400.
I thought I'd use a slight crimp for the auto and backed out the
seating stem & then finally removed it. I can't get it to crimp
at all & the die is touching the shell holder . Is it possible that
it was made without the crimping feature inside ?
It says Herters & Mark 2 on the side.
Thanks
 
I have here a 25-06 Herters seater die that takes a 0.290" pin gauge as a go.
0.290" is the SAAMI max diameter of the case mouth, so no roll crimp there.

I have here a 243 Herters seater die that takes a 0.278" pin gauges as a go.
0.276" is the SAAMI max diameter of the case mouth, so no roll crimp here.
 
Prince55, I have Herter die sets, I do not crimp bottle neck cases. I also have a Herter catalog. Digging it out has been a thankless job that has resulted in making more enemies than friends. Herter sold economy dies, a small detail ignored by most was the assumption the economical die did everything, not so, the economy dies only neck sized. There were reloaders that never recovered, they never understood why a die would turn a case into one ugly mess.

If you adjust the die down to the shell holder without the crimp portion of the die touching the mouth of the case your die does not crimp.

I can't get it to crimp at all & the die is touching the shell holder
Click to expand...

F. Guffey
 
I still use a Herter's '06 sizing die but can not locate the seating die and do not recall if it had crimping capability. However, easy to find out. Remove the seating stem and look through the mouth of the die and see if there is a shoulder some distance up the die. If so, that is the crimping shoulder and the die has crimping capability. But with no shoulder, no crimp. But what if there is a crimping shoulder but the case mouth cannot reach the shoulder with the case fully inserted into the die? There is a solution that I have had to use on other seating dies and the solution is easier than it might sound. The die must be shortened by grinding off some metal at the die mouth until case mouth contact can be made with the crimping shoulder. Should you have a small grinding wheel that can be attached to an electric drill, the grinding will take less than five minutes. Using a file will take a little longer. All my leftover handgun Herter's seating dies have crimping shoulders.
 
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Herter's Dies ---

Thanks for all the help and info.
Time to get some other dies - I recall that old saying -
" You get what you pay for". :rolleyes:
 
Watch what you buy as other companies also made dies with no crimp. Lee for example has a line called Pace Setter does not crimp.
 
I have Herter's 6.5x55, no crimp.

A Lee factory crimp die would be the way to go for Prince55.

Jimro
 
Time to get some other dies
Click to expand...

Prince55- Have you tried NOT crimping? I don't have a 7400 or any of it's relatives- the lightest '06 I have is an M1 which might negate some of the recoil and need for crimping. I have to date, never found a need to crimp. Just curious.
 
Lee FC Die ---

Thanks for the suggestions. I had thought about the Lee FCD
as I've used them in other cals.
I'm going to try with no crimp - actually I've never fired it.
It was a project that someone else had tried to refinish & I
bought it to fix up. It had a lot of small pits on the outside
of the barrel from being carried & salt from fingerprints.
It turned out beautiful but I wouldn't want to go through
all that labor & metal sanding. Finally got a pretty high gloss
finish on the receiver & barrel - about time.

Thanks Again
 
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