Best 450 BM Dies?

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Best 450 BM Dies?

Postby lokent_72 » Sun Jun 07, 2009 12:43 pm

What are the best dies for the 450 Bushmaster? Hornady Vs. CH Tool & Die? Any others?

Thanks!
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Re: Best 450 BM Dies?

Postby MudBug » Sun Jun 07, 2009 2:47 pm

I didn't even know that other dies were out yet.

I got the hornady dies when they first came out and they are precision competition dies they are very good quality and I'm very happy with them.
Eric

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"War is less costly than servitude. The choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd
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Re: Best 450 BM Dies?

Postby BD1 » Sun Jun 07, 2009 3:18 pm

I think the Hornady dies are well made and accurate. However there some things I'd change, given the chance. I don't know how, or why, they machined the expander die like that, but it sure would be nice to be able to polish down the expander plug to get a little more bullet tension on the jacketed slugs. And the seater die is great! But how much would it have cost to use a circlip to hold in the sleeve instead of the little piece of bent wire I break every day?

Reminds me a little of the Pro-Jector; basically a good design, but put on the market before anyone had loaded 1,000 rounds on one.
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Re: Best 450 BM Dies?

Postby gunnut » Sun Jun 07, 2009 4:16 pm

I'm with Mudbug and BD1 on this. All of the above! Just can't figure out why they put a roll crimp in the seating die and then give you a tapper crimp die, which is going to be replaced when I get my Lee 45-70 FCD back from the machine shop.
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Re: Best 450 BM Dies?

Postby lokent_72 » Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:21 pm

Update- I ordered and received my dies from CH tool....Mainly because the Hornady dies were backordered everywhere. I have re-sized a few cases. Now, I just received word that my backordered Hornady dies from Midwayusa have shipped. Go figure.

Anyway, I will load up a few from each and see which dies give me the best results.
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Re: Best 450 BM Dies?

Postby demo_450 » Tue Jun 30, 2009 9:09 pm

Just ordered a 450 Bushmaster dies set from midway and they were in stock
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Re: Best 450 BM Dies?

Postby lokent_72 » Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:57 pm

The Hornady die set provided no instructions for the crimp die (4th die in the set). How is this die setup/operated?
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Re: Best 450 BM Dies?

Postby pitted bore » Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:04 am

lokent_72-

You're absolutely correct about Hornady's failure to describe proper usage of the crimp die. They put the standard leaflet for 3-die sets into the box. The use of 4-die sets is not frequently described in reloading manuals, either.

As you know, Die #1 pokes out the primer and scrunches the case. Die #2 brings the neck back to proper size, and also puts a flare on the case mouth. It should be set to provide the minimal flare to allow your bullets to be seated without messing up the case or bullet base.

Die #3 seats the bullet, and should be set so it does not apply a crimp at the case mouth. It's unclear why Hornady put a roll-crimp shoulder in the seating die for a cartridge that should not be roll crimped. Use the part of their instructions that describe seating without a crimp.

Die #4, the one you asked about, is used to remove the flare you put on the case with Die #2 and to press the case mouth into the bullet slightly, forming the the taper crimp. If the case does not enter Die #4 far enough, the flare is not removed completely, so the case will fit the chamber poorly and might cause some feeding hang ups.

If the case enters Die #4 too far, two bad things can happen: (1) the case mouth is pressed too much into the bullet, distorting the bullet, and (2) the mouth of the case is reduced too much in diameter, which could perhaps allow the cartridge to enter the chamber too far, causing multiple other problems.

You should screw Die #4 into your press so that at the top of the ram stroke, the cartridge enters the die far enough to produce a case mouth diameter of between 0.4740 to 0.4800 inches.

If you haven't already done so, you need to get Hornady's drawing of the case with SAAMI dimensions. It's posted on the web on the thread of the calguns forum; find the post from jagermaster on 07-17-2008.

If I've gotten any of this wrong, the pros should be along soon to correct me and provide proper advice.

Good luck.
--Bob
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Re: Best 450 BM Dies?

Postby MudBug » Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:05 pm

pitted bore wrote:If you haven't already done so, you need to get Hornady's drawing of the case with SAAMI dimensions. It's posted on the web on the thread of the calguns forum; find the post from jagermaster on 07-17-2008.




I just added it to the Hornady data in the Knowledge Base.
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