450Bushmaster.net

after reading all the crimping post i could stand before my head head exploded, i still dont know which is the best. most post were from a while back and still in trail, so where is the state of crimping at? i cant beleive that more 450 bush dies are not made there must be more 450's out there besides hoots (; so why aint somebody else competing for this market i would think if this cartridge had a little decent promotion from the bigger powers in the reloading world it could get a lot more sales than they think. my goal is a 200yd moa hog slayer and i will get it done!

I use the seating die (#2) set to NOT crimp the case (roll crimp), then use die #4 to get a taper crimp of .475 to .476 case diameter as close to the mouth as I can measure it.

This give me at least factory performance, though the SD's vary quite a bit. According to Hoot, this is probably as a result of variations in case length (I do not sort my cases by length or adjust the die for case length).

Having gotten this level of performance from the taper crimp using both 250 and 225 FTX bullets, I have not gone into more esoteric crimping methods, which -as you note - are discussed in head exploding detail in various threads.

I have followed Hoot's very well tested advice. I just tapercrimp to .475 when I'm loading either the 225gr or 250gr FTX bullets. When I load the little 200gr FTX's or the 230gr .451 FMJ roundnose, I use a "Tightneck" sizing method followed by a tapercrimp to .475". However, I'm not even attempting to use some of the super hot loads some of these guy are being successful with. My loads are all kind of mild in comparison. Like Hoot has said, "I'm not tryin' to shoot thru three animals abreast", I just want one, dead right there. So far, my mild handloads have worked pretty well on elk for my Son.

What is the "tightneck" sizing method?

longnkrnch wrote:What is the "tightneck" sizing method?

Llindex came up with it. Link here.

The trick is getting the constriction concentric to the case and selecting the depth to fit your particular load's seating depth. It's goes quickly once you get the die adjusted.

Hoot