Joined
·
853 Posts
Yesterday another member and I exchanged a lot of emails about a reloading problem he was experiencing. The issue was not being able to get a crimp on once fired 45-70 LE brass. I would not be surprised if other people have experienced this, the first time they tried to reload LeveReveloution brass, because of the short length.
After we bounced a few ideas around I suggested using a .45 Colt sizer die for the crimping operation. All that was needed was a little bump in the die to get rid of the flare and put a small taper on the case neck. By using the .45 Colt die, you are not locked into any pre-set positions provided by your crimping die or something similar like the Lee FCD.
The following is my last actual email after I put my plan into use. This explains the steps I used and shows the results.
Okay, I couldn't let my theory go untested. So I hit the gun room after dinner and cranked out a box of 45-70's using my 405gr cast bullets. I did everything as usual, except on the last step I substituted my RCBS 45 Colt sizer die in place of the 45-70 Lee FCD. I bumped the rounds into the die twice, 1/8" at a time, to maybe a depth of 1/4". This should have caught about 3/16” of brass for the actual crimp. Everything went as planned and put a very nice taper crimp on the shells.
I filled up my 1895 with three rounds and cycled them as normal. They fed and chambered perfect. This procedure would work no matter what your brass length. Here are some pictures of the finished product.
After we bounced a few ideas around I suggested using a .45 Colt sizer die for the crimping operation. All that was needed was a little bump in the die to get rid of the flare and put a small taper on the case neck. By using the .45 Colt die, you are not locked into any pre-set positions provided by your crimping die or something similar like the Lee FCD.
The following is my last actual email after I put my plan into use. This explains the steps I used and shows the results.
Okay, I couldn't let my theory go untested. So I hit the gun room after dinner and cranked out a box of 45-70's using my 405gr cast bullets. I did everything as usual, except on the last step I substituted my RCBS 45 Colt sizer die in place of the 45-70 Lee FCD. I bumped the rounds into the die twice, 1/8" at a time, to maybe a depth of 1/4". This should have caught about 3/16” of brass for the actual crimp. Everything went as planned and put a very nice taper crimp on the shells.
I filled up my 1895 with three rounds and cycled them as normal. They fed and chambered perfect. This procedure would work no matter what your brass length. Here are some pictures of the finished product.
