I have been told to use a seperate crimp die on my Dillon, I have always used the combination bullet seater / crimp die on my 45 ACPs on my Rock Chucker. Why do you need seperate dies on a Dillon? Or do you? I'm using a set of RCBS but haven't tried loading 45 ACP on my Dillon yet. I have cast and lubed some 45s and I am thinking of giving it a swing this weekend, but have been told I will regret it. Any thought?

I know I sound like a nube, just a nube to this forum, been loading on my chucker for over 12 years, just got a Dillon, have loaded 38 S&W on it without any problems, in fact I am very impressed with it and wish I had taken the Dillon plunge years ago. Matt

If you don't crimp hard, you can do both. But with a heavy crimp such as with hard recoiling big bore handguns, it works out much better to do them separate.

You don't, if you've had success on the RCBS you'll have it on the Dillon, I have gone to separate operations on mine (hand gun ammo) because I found out on about 400rnds of 40S&W I had to go back and trim off the bur at the case mouth from seating and taper crimping (lead bullets) so they would chamber.

Agreed. I PREFER to crimp separately and it's easier to set up that way, but it is not required. I still have several sets of older RCBS, Lyman, Lee, and Herters dies for some calibers that I use on my Dillons, and they seat and crimp at the same time.

Thanks fellas, I was a little puzzled as to why it wouldn't work. I understand the advantage to doing seperate operations but at this time I have broke my budget on reloading and my financial advisor (the wife) has put a hold on further funds :( at least for a while.

Eventually I plan to get the dillon crimp die, I like how the dies function.

There is a conflict when seating and crimping on the same position, the bullet is moving down while the crimp is digging into the edge of the bullet, this causes the case below the crimp to squat and loose bullet hold (tension), and cause feeding problems.

I, on occasion, crimp with a sizer die, something like crimping with 30% sizing or crimping with case support, this works for one 45ACP that likes store bought ammo, the pistol will not feed reloads, crimp sizing makes the pistol think the ammo is factory, that is cases that do not look like they swollowed the bullet, I wonder if factory ammo uses seating/crimping with bullet support.

F. Guffey

. . .but have been told I will regret it. Any thought? Matt
Yes. Whoever told you that you will regret it is talking about extremes. Likely as not, you will notice no difference in either group size or placement. If you are a world class shooter or shoot from a Ransom Rest it may make some difference but the everyday shooter will not see any big change. All of my .45 ACP is crimped with a separate crimp die and sorry to say that has not made me a world class shooter. If you "regret it" write back and I will apologize.:)

It's not 'required',but it makes life easier.I use sperate seat/crimp dies on all of my reloading now.

Roll crimping is easy enough to do while seating, and on a single stage, one step is a lot less hassle than two.

Dillon does not allow crimping with their seating dies. In fact, you can't even adjust the seating depth without screwing the whole die in/out (and loosening/retightening the lock ring). But there's nothing special about their press (550 or 650) that prevents seating and crimping in one step. That said, the penalty for the "extra" step to crimp separately on a progressive press is negligible, unlike on a single stage or turret.

Andy

I use the Lee Factory Crimp die in the 4th station. I like having that option.