[taz]

Could someone tell me if dillon .45 LC dies are ok to use to reload .454 casull ? I'm not new to reloading but I am new to the .454 casull. I load on a dillon 650 and have had no porblems at all for eight years. I called dillon customer service and was told to use the .45LC dies to load the .454 casull. Later I read on freedom arms web site that you shold never use anything but dies made for .454 casull. Freedom arms say's that the die specs are different , can any one tell me which dies work best for .454 casull round on a dillon press?
thanks taz

 

[snake river rufus]

I started using Lee dies on a dillon 550. They were marked .45L.C.-.454 Casull. I did have some trouble with them on occasion. Maybe freedom arms is right because when I switched to thier dies the problems went away.( mostly difficulty chambering). Dillon makes good dies, but why take a chance, you will only save money if they DO work.

 

[taz]

.454 dies.

The dillon dies work ok in so much as the rounds chamber all right, but the bullets are being seated off center in the case far enough to see and feel. Mabey I'm just paranoid but FA's site says that could dammage the forceing cone. So I guess I'm looking for a new set of dies.
Taz

 

[snake river rufus]

Are your bullets off center when you load .45 colt ammo? An off center bullet doesn't sound like a tolerance problem, more like a die problem. Is your bullet seating stem centered in the die?

 

[taz]

.454 dies

No my .45 LC rounds load just fine but i use a seperate set of dies . I always set up a new die plate for every calibar. I have put a set of .454 hornaday dies on order and will try them as soon as the get here. They may or may not make any difference but I'll feel better with the right dies.
Thanks Taz

 

[MikeG]

I have a real hard time believing that an "off-center" bullet (ie the case mouth expanded more on one side than the other) could possibly damage a revolver, if the load is not excessive and it chambers OK. After all, the cartridge is presumably laying in the bottom of the chamber when the primer is hit with the firing pin! It is never perfectly centered, there has to be some tolerance (or case has been neck-sized for a tight fit in the chamber, etc.). I do use a RCBS case master with my rifle rounds, but not for handgun. On handguns I like the "M" dies for expansion as this does seem to help center bullets in the case, but more of a matter of 'looks' and convenience when reloading, rather than results, at least for me with open-sighted revolvers. Some might be able to tell the difference with perfectly concentric handgun ammo, but I can't.

On the subject of .45 Colt vs. .454 dies, I can see both sides. Lots of people don't have problems using .45 Colt dies for .454 Casull. But FA doesn't want to have to take phone calls from those who do have problems. So FA recommends certain dies only, even though others may work.

Now Dillon, on the other hand, doesn't want people complaining that the press is difficult to use for a certain caliber. So Dillon makes the dies with a larger opening so alignment is less critical (says so right in their publications). So in a sense that's really an opposite approach/reaction from FA.

Taz, good luck with your .454. I'm sure it will all work out.

 

[trde930]

I shhot and reload for the 454. Acording to my research of reloading data, using 45 dies for the 454 is not a good idea for a couple of reasons:

1) The 45 die probably won't resize the brass small enough (the outside diameter of the 454 brass is .478 whereas it is .480 for the 45LC) to chamber well.


2) The case won't grip the bullet tightly enough. From personal experiance, I know this is extemely important. It takes a very tight crimp to keep the bullets from backing out.

I use RCBS dies in the 454 but I would think that the above points apply reguardless of brand.

Good Luck!

 

[Rmouleart]

I agree with trde930 100%. Note:when buying bullets for reloading make sure they give you the 454's and not 45LC, this happen to me when purchasing Hornady XTP .452 250gr/300gr bullets,there profile is different etc... you need to make sure it says Mag on the box,even the shape of the JHP was different, I found this out when talking to Bob Palmer from Hornady, Hornady did sell bullets with a double cantalur in 300gr XTP's, but the cantalure for the 454 was over coal when measured, not bye much, but I also have a Puma 454 lever action, having said this we know that levers are picky and would not feed all the time Revolver(SuperRedHawk) worked fine. just a heads up. Aim small hit small. RAMbo.

 

[Gunnut45/454]

Well when I fisrt got my SRH 454 the RCBS dies I had for 45 LC worked just fine . But it was a hasle changing for 454 to 45 LC setting all the time so I finally broke down an bought a 454 set. The Hornaday Crimp die worked alot better to keep to 454 bullet where they needed stay. Real bummer pounding out bullets from the barrel

 

[jdt634]

Taz
The first box of reloads I put together for my 454, I purchased a set of Lee 45/454 dies. using FA cases and bullets I loaded a box of 50 rounds. The first cylinder full the gun locked up after firing the second round. Reason: bullet jump due to recoil. after clearing the round I loaded up a second cylinder full the gun locked up after the 3 round fired Reason: you got it bullet jump due to recoil. after clearing the round from the barrel and emptying the gun I went home pulled the bullets from the remaining 45 rounds, spent the money I had saved by buying Lee dies added a little more and bought a set of RCBS 454 dies. 10 yrs and a couple of thousand rounds later, I have never had the problem reoccur. enough said