Notes about the Lee .45 Taper Crimp Die

[wildcatter]

I have been wondering what the 450 Bushmaster case looks like after it has been fired when the Le Gendre side crimp has been used and does it leave a permanent score mark on the case? Also, does using this crimp shorten the life of the brass?
Can some one post some pics and elaborate?

I don't have pics, but I bet BD does or siringo or Hoot, heck just 'bout everybody but me has'em. Nope, no permanent mark, and I have loaded cases 10-12 times with my crimp. Prolly could go longer if'n I took better care of the cases..

..t

[Hoot]

I have been wondering what the 450 Bushmaster case looks like after it has been fired when the Le Gendre side crimp has been used and does it leave a permanent score mark on the case? Also, does using this crimp shorten the life of the brass?
Can some one post some pics and elaborate?

I'm getting ready for work. Looked back 6 pages and none of the titles jumped out at me despite knowing there are pictures buried in those threads. As you might suspect, the amount of permanent marking depends upon how hard (deep) you crimp them and whether you round off the leading and trailing corners of the step. My experience has been the opposite of Tim's. I can spot the spent, LeGendre crimped cases in a line of mixed cases quite readily, but then I've only crimped jacketed bullets which are significantly harder than cast bullets. Seems like the harder the bullet, the more pronounced the scars from that style of crimping. That having been said, I've never seen any impact upon performance from the scars, nor any case failure I could attribute to them. If no one posts an image by the time I get home from work, I'll take one so you can see for yourself. Coffee time's over. Off to the showers...

Hoot

[pitted bore]

For the curious, below I've attached an image that shows some fired cases after they have been side crimped. The lighting was set up to try to show the crimp lines clearly.

A - Case fired 5X, crimp applied for firings 2, 3, & 4
B - Case fired 3X, firing 3 with a crimp
C - Case fired 9X, none with a crimp, for comparison
D - Case fired 7X, all with a crimp

The lines on cases A and B are very shallow, and almost cosmetic. This is typical. They can be detected with a fingernail. Case D was fired most recently with a series of very low pressure loads, and the crimp line was not ironed out as well as cases A and B. It can be felt with a fingertip.

I would not expect any case separation to occur at the site of the crimp before I have to discard the cases. (I haven't reached the limit of case life yet. I'm planning to wait until some one case shows neck cracking, and then use that number of firings to estimate when annealing may be needed.)

--Bob

[Texas Sheepdawg]

Thanks Bob!

[Hoot]

My experience has been that long before they flat out fail, the brass grows so short that it is out of tolerance. If you go by the spec, you don't want to use them once they get shorter than 1.70 -0.010 = 1.690. That is based upon Hornady's specification. That having been said, the last box of new brass I bought had about 40% out of tolerance. I can only assume Hornady has no consideration for their own spec. Go figure...

Hoot

[Texas Sheepdawg]

I have a box of unfired, brand new Hornady factory brass for the 450 B.
I should not have to run them through the sizer die before loading. Would it
be best to put a slight flare on the case mouthes before loading?

[pitted bore]

I have a box of unfired, brand new Hornady factory brass for the 450 B. I should not have to run them through the sizer die before loading. Would it be best to put a slight flare on the case mouthes before loading?

TSD-

I'll sort of repeat myself from two weeks ago on the "Dies for 450" thread:

Case mouths should be expanded as needed to prevent the case from crumpling when a bullet is seated. As Hoot and others have noted, they rarely if ever used the expander die. Wildcatter says he almost always uses it to provide some flare prior to seating the bullet. I've accordioned a couple of cases when I did not use the expander die. Whether you have to expand or not will depend on relative dimensions of the mouth of your case, base shape and diameter of the bullet, and your techniques.

Try seating a bullet without expanding the neck. If the case shows no crumpling, then you evidently don't need to expand the case mouths.

Let us know how it works for you.

--Bob

[Texas Sheepdawg]

Thanks Bob. I have been reloading for decades all kinds of ammo. But I can't remember ever buying bonafide brand new unfired brass. I've bought brass at gun shows claiming "once fired" and I do remember Buying some zip lock bags of loose brass that the vendor "claimed" was new brass but I have yet to work into those lots to detail measure and inspect
those. They were extremely clean and primer pockets are immaculate. The cases are chrome plated and look at casual glance to be what the vendor claimed. I bought two bags of 80 count for $16.00 each of 30-06 and 7mm Remington Magnum. They are either Remington or Federal, don't quite remember. Before you ask, I will tell you that I bought these in 1998. I don't think you could get 20 count for that price today.
So don't let the price give you whiplash. Anyway, BD, I do appreciate your patience, as I read SO MUCH info here,
there will be times that I overlook stuff or just plain forget.
I ain't no spring chicken. And NO Ghost Dog, I'm not one of those chickens that enjoyed it......LOL!!!