All,
I emailed Lee Precision over the weekend, asking them if they plan on releasing a Factory Crimp Die for the 450B. Here's there response:
"Right now we do not have any plans to introduce the 450 Bushmaster into our standard run of dies. You would be able to have one custom made. We would need a dummy round and the cost would be $25.00. Current lead time is around 6 weeks."
With that, do you think it's worth it to have them make me a custom one or just use the modified 45/70 die that I've read about on this forum? To be honest, in the three years I've loaded for the .450, I haven't crimped a single round. I flare the mouth just wide enough to accept the bullet and rely on the case's neck tension to hold the bullet in place. To date this has worked great for the FTX's, but not so much on the lighter stuff like 230 FMJ's or 240 XTP Mags. I find with those lighter bullets I get poor ignition of the powder....it's almost as though the flame is burning across the top of the powder and not igniting the whole charge. (I get a lot of greyish unburnt powder spilled everywhere when the brass is extracted). I'm assuming that my lack of neck tension combined with the light bullet is causing insufficient back pressure inside the case, causing poor ignition. This make sense or am I totally off base here?
Anyway, please let me know if you think it would be worth it to have Lee make me a custom crimp die.
Thanks!!
TACOTACO