Reloading .44 mag

[FireMoose]

I found a Lee 3 piece die set for $15 and it has sparked my interest in getting a lever gun.

Reading more on the caliber, I was wondering if I'll need to get the factory crimp die to accommodate the set. There were a couple mentions if using a roll crimp as well.

Does the seating die crimp as well? I know I don't use a crimp die for 9mm other than the seater, but that's a different thing.

[M1A4ME]

Forty years ago I reloaded a lot of .44 magnum with a standard 3 die set.  Ruger Super Blackhawk and S&W M29.

The roll crimp worked fine in those two revolvers.

[m1a_scoutguy]

Yes, a 44 mag needs a good crimp, the bullets could/will move if not crimped into the cannelure on the bullet. Some die sets do have crimps on the seating die so you need to check it out to confirm. If the Lee set has the crimp included, ya should be good to go for dies, you'll just need all the other goodies to kick out some ammo.

[Wobbly]

• American revolver cartridges are designed so that the mouth of the case Roll Crimps into a cannelure in the bullet to prevent bullet set back.

• If you want to load a type of bullet that has no cannelure (usually this means plated), then you will need a Taper Crimp die.

It is not clear to me if the Lee FCD delivers Roll or Taper crimps, but many reloaders consider the FCD a waste of time and money. A fix for problems that only exists when the other dies are not correctly setup. Consider that revolver cartridges were successfully reloaded for 100 years before the FCD came along and you may have your answer.

[FireMoose]

Thanks. Ya I remember reading that the FCD for 9mm can actually hide issues and I never used it. I do however use the powder through/expander and know that the 9mm seater is set up to give a perfect taper.

Although I also feel like when I first started, I damaged a couple bullets because the seater was set too low and crimped too much. I guess I will find out in short time whether it will roll crimp or not.

[bang bang]

I found a Lee 3 piece die set for $15 and it has sparked my interest in getting a lever gun.

Reading more on the caliber, I was wondering if I'll need to get the factory crimp die to accommodate the set. There were a couple mentions if using a roll crimp as well.

Does the seating die crimp as well? I know I don't use a crimp die for 9mm other than the seater, but that's a different thing.

note i havent bought any dies for a while but Lee dies weren't that expensive in the first place. 

Some of the newer? dies have a modified crip on the seating/crimp die.  It will depend on how old your die set is.

If you aren't in a big rush/hurry, you can do the wait-n-see and then decide if you want to spend more money on a die you may or may not need.

Different guns different calibers different requirements.  it will depend on much crimp or not you use and the uniformity of your cases.   IF you look at some of LEEs various crimp dies, some are based off the LOA of the case and how high the die is and others are similar but have are based off a collet and also the LOA.  at least this is what i remember. 

if you dont have a lever gun in 44 mag, then why worry about something you may not need until.   I would get the gun first and then make several round and see what happens.

[FireMoose]

Not sure how old the dies are,  I'm currently looking for the right rifle and wanted to start getting set up for it 🤷

Obviously I'm not going to buy something unless it's needed, that's why I asked.

[lewmed]

 My Lee and RCBS 44 spl / 44 mag 3 die sets definitely will make a light or a heavy roll crimp.

[FireMoose]

Is this a roll crimp?


I then screwed the die in a quart turn.


And then another 1/8 turn. At this point it felt like it had bottomed out.


They are well used by the looks of things.

[Wobbly]

The second one looked pretty good. You'll need to check how they look during production.

[lewmed]

 I reload 44 spl and 44 mag for 2 S&W revolvers and a Winchester trapper lever gun. One thing I noticed early in the process was a big difference in case rim thickness and cartridge case length from one brand to the next when reloading once fired factory brass It was such a PITA I ended up buying a bunch of new Starline brass and gave away all the mixed  headstamp brass. I don't load many jacketed bullets anymore just 200 and 240 grain coated bullets from Bayou they are about 1/2 the price of jacketed bullets and are very accurate and clean shooting.

[E.Shell]

Be careful applying too much crimp, it will bulge the case mount and prevent chambering.

[Gnmonkey]

Second pic looks nice!

[Wobbly]

The second one looked pretty good. You'll need to check how they look during production.

+ The FCD applies a roll crimp... and does a lot of other "sizing" operations... that correct previous die settings. It is not a third type of mystery crimp. So if the roll crimp you're getting looks good, and if the round chambers per expectations, then you're good to go.

+ As per Lewmed, the feature that affects the crimp results the most is case length. So if you start to see wild or harmful variations in production, then you may want to run all your cases through a case trimmer.

+ The reason you do not want to use a heavy roll crimp is the fact that the case mouth is physically formed inward. Then when the cartridge is fired and/or Sized, the case mouth is pushed back out. All this bending back and forth work hardens the brass. Eventually, the case mouth will form a radial crack about 1-2MM from the mouth. At that point the brass is only good for the scrap pile*. Therefore, minimizing the amount of bending enhances the case life.

 * I guess you could always trim cases like 357Mag down to become new 38Special cases, but that's a lot of trimming.