Interesting problem at the range with new cast boolits. New for me.

[RacingRedGT]

Well I went to the range to test out my newly cast boolits. New to casting, not reloading. Never had this happen before. Ive been loading commercial cast for my S&W 629 44mag since Ive owned it, so Im used to crimping on cast boolits. This is a first for me. All bullets were crimped with a 1/2 turn on a Lee FCD. I was working up loads in 2gr increments, this happened on my 3rd test batch (14.4gr of Blue Dot). Bullets are from the Lee 2 Cavity 240gr TL mold. Alloy is COWW, tumble lubed with 45/45/10 and UNSIZED.

The crimp is still there. If you zoom in you can still see it. This really freaked me out. I shot two rounds, went to fire another and the trigger would only go half way. I was like WTH?? Looked down, everything looked OK from a quick glance. The previous round fired just fine, no squib. So I tried to cock it to manually rotate it to go SA, it was a no go. Hammer barely moved. Inspected again and noticed this. Somehow the boolit worked its way out far enough to prevent rotation. I had to shave the tip with a razor blade to get it out.

[Love Life]

Crimp them harder next time. Your bullets are jumping crimp. Now if you can find one of the ranch dog 44 mag collet crimp dies...

[RacingRedGT]

There was some excessive leading also. Ive been shooting 430 size bullets for a while without leading with pretty good accuracy. I have not slugged the barrel yet though. Since it was my first time shooting my own cast, Im going to throw on a little more lube. I have a feeling I did not apply enough. I also sized some through a Lee 430 sizer to see if that will help.

[RacingRedGT]

Crimp them harder next time. Your bullets are jumping crimp. Now if you can find one of the ranch dog 44 mag collet crimp dies...

I was gonna try that too. Like I said, never had a crimp issue before on commercial. This is a whole new ball game though. Gonna have to go back to the drawing board.

[Love Life]

Are you using a roll crimp?

[RacingRedGT]

Are you using a roll crimp?

Yes. Im using the Lee 4 die set. The seating has a built in Taper, but I back the die out. I use the FCD (roll).

[btroj]

Not enough neck tension either. That is what hold the bullet in recoil, not the crimp. Try a smaller diameter expander, less expansion, or a different lube. Having lube on the entire bullet shank like you have means the bullet doesn't have as much friction to hold it in the case.

[RacingRedGT]

Not enough neck tension either. That is what hold the bullet in recoil, not the crimp. Try a smaller diameter expander, less expansion, or a different lube. Having lube on the entire bullet shank like you have means the bullet doesn't have as much friction to hold it in the case.

That makes sense. I add backing the expander die out a little to my testing.

[btroj]

I have even used a 44 expander for heavy loads in my 45 Colt.

[Love Life]

If you look at pictures of my loaded rds (They're floating around the forum) they kinda look like a snake swallowed a mouse.

[freebullet]

I don't see any lube or crimp that could be an issue.

[RacingRedGT]

I don't see any lube or crimp that could be an issue.

Should the lube be visible? I was under the impression that less is more from the 45/45/10 thread. They all felt waxy to the touch. I was going to do an extra coat on the next test rounds.

As far as crimp is concerned, I'm taking it that more is better also with casting. Does that apply with both tumble lubed and hard lubed? Or is more for tumbled? 95% of my reloading has been jacketed or plated where not a whole lot of crimp is needed. Heck, on my .223 rounds I almost never crimp. I do taper crimp all my semiauto handgun rounds though.

Thanks for all the replies and feedback.

[Love Life]

I would just roll with straight mule snot. Worked like a charm in the 454.

[DougGuy]

Crimp them harder next time. Your bullets are jumping crimp. Now if you can find one of the ranch dog 44 mag collet crimp dies...

Lee still has the collet style die in stock: http://leeprecision.com/44-magnum-cu...crimp-die.html

I really like these collet crimp dies but they work better with a little tweaking: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post2239315

[Vulcan Bob]

Hey there, I use the Lee factory crimp die for my .430" diameter cast boolits. After adjusting down to the case mouth one full turn down (Lee calls this a full crimp) holds my full house .44 Mag load boolits in place. Mid range .44 mag loads and .44 Special I use 3/4 turn down with good results. Lots of good info so far, good luck!

[gray wolf]

Someone needs to post a pic of a correctly crimped case, Sir your picture shows no crimp that i can see.
Roll the edge of the case in so that a finger nail will not ( or hardly ) catch on it.
Also the Lee FCD may be reducing the bullet size and loosening the hold on the bullet ( maybe )
You may need to omit that for the lead bullets and seat and crimp in two operations, you can do it with the seating die. Also the expander for the jacketed bullets could very well be to small for lead bullets.
Just some thoughts.

[1bluehorse]

When you run your loaded round up into the LFCD do you "feel" the case rubbing the carbide insert at the bottom of the die? If you do, unscrew the die from your press, remove the lock ring, then throw the die in your garbage can....you can seat and crimp with the seater die, works just fine...and I agree with the above post that 1/2 turn on that die is no where near enough crimp for a "heavy" mag load....

[44man]

Not enough neck tension either. That is what hold the bullet in recoil, not the crimp. Try a smaller diameter expander, less expansion, or a different lube. Having lube on the entire bullet shank like you have means the bullet doesn't have as much friction to hold it in the case.

This is the answer. Lube is a big problem if slippery. With proper case tension you only need a moderate roll crimp even on a .500.
Use a good lube like Felix.
Just roll the crimp to the bottom of the groove and no more or you can break case tension. Toss the FCD. It can squeeze the brass against the boolit, then it expands away.
I shot factory cast loads in the .454 with extreme profile crimps and had boolit pull issues while my loads at max did not move.

[DougGuy]

Someone needs to post a pic of a correctly crimped case, Sir your picture shows no crimp that i can see.

I see no crimp at all. The round on the left I can see down into the mouth of the case..

The two rounds on the right in this photo are of a roll crimped case holding a 310gr RF boolit. The roll crimp in this case is about as heavy as you would want to go with it, but then again it has to hold back a 310gr boolit so between the case neck tension and the crimp, they both have to be about as much as you can get.

The two rounds on the left in this photo are the same 310gr RF boolit. The crimp is from the Lee collet style factory crimp die that I modified in this thread: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post2239315

[44man]

Attachment 101773All have too much crimp. The boolit can not open them without being sized either. The roll crimps show a bulge below the crimp that can ruin tension.
These are proper crimps, .44 with a 330 gr boolit, .475 with a 420 and the .500 with a 440 gr.