450Bushmaster.net

OK, Sorry I have to rant a bit about the hornady die set right now,
I don't see much need for the expander die honestly, and compared to their other sets, some of these dies could have been designed a bit better.

There are a total of SIX stations for loading up this cartridge for me at this point.
Due to the sheer number of steps, I had to move over to the progressive for loading.

1 Decap/resize (Priming is dependent on your press but for most, comes after decapping/ initial sizing.
2 Expanding (light)
3 Powder,
4 Seating,
5 Roll crimp (light),*edit STAB CRIMP
6 stab crimp.*edit TAPER CRIMP

for me, I don't like to work the brass too much and I just forego the expander step (because my press has only 5 stations)
I am able to seat the projectiles without this step, without much force,
but am I causing bullet distortion by not using this step?

Does anyone else skip the Expanding?

I can see myself half awake into the wee hours of the morning doing it all on a single stage and this is usually where all the mistakes tend to occur. /end rant

On that note, I will try to get back with some 4227 vs 296 w/ 300 xtp mag data from my 20"

I just do the various steps times the number of cases I'm reloading on two adjacent single stage presses, but admittedly, I rarely loaded more than 50 at one setting. That's a lot of shooting in one sitting for me and I'm a slave to precise reproduction of tolerances at every step.

Almost everyone skips the expander given how easy the New Dimension Seating Die aligns the bullets for seating. I was however, recently told that the expander is helpful for starting lead boolits, so as not to shave off any of the heel.

Hoot

Edit: BTW, stab crimp first, taper crimp second. No roll crimp

Edit2: I usually degrease between the decapping/resizing step and priming. Can't see how you'd do that on a progressive.

The expander is definitely handy for lead bullets. I don't think it is necessary for copper jacketed bullets as long as the case mouth is chamfered and allows the bullet to seat without damage the case

Oops. Thanks Hoot.
I meant taper crimp not roll crimp and i didnt realize/ read enough to stab first & taper second. I left both crimps light (.478). In retrosepct, after reading Hoot's crimp up to .474, I'm going to stab them a bit deeper .
I did 100 loads last night working up two powders. 50 each batch.

Just got me some 300MP and I'll be working that up as well using Hoots past experience with it as a starting point.

Sorry for clarification I am using the progressive sort of like the Turret Press, I am still measuring each powder charge, and making each bullet individually.
My methods are not as exact as Hoot, then again, neither is my shot

I do all of my loading on a single stage press. Well, now I use two single stage presses. I set up one press as a dedicated stab crimp station for the 450 Bushmaster loads that I like to put the LSC on, mainly the 230 Gr FMJs.
I don't even own a progressive or turret type press. Both of my presses are Rock Chuckers. One from back in the early 1980s and another in that I bought about a year or so ago. And I will have to respectfully disagree on that statement that more mistakes are made on single stage presses. If one can utilize focused and precise organizational skills, the single stage press means that EVERY load is hand loaded and that gives the operator ample opportunities to maintain very tight quality control on his production. Time is not as important as safety and it never will be.
As for the expander die, I use it, but I don't put a visible bell on the case. You can just barely feel the raised lip but to my naked eye, I cannot detect the bell without a magnifying glass. It seems my resizer die it pretty tight. I've trashed every case that I've tried to load without using the expander die.

Sorry Dawg. Didnt mean more mistakes happen on a single stage. I meant They happen more at 2:30am.
I use my single stage all the time with my 308 and 223 but those calibers spoiled me as they were essentially neck sizing and bullet seating.

Lol. Yeah, I bet most folks loading at 2:30 in the AM might be a bit grumpy. I work graveyard shift so while I might be G2G in the middle of the night, some folks might rather be sleeping.
But you make a good point there to be expanded upon. Never ever handload when you are tired. Make sure that you've had plenty of rest, and that you've taken all steps to avoid distractions.

I use the expander, die lightly though just enough to get the bullet started, I have a 6 station turret and use 3 dies on it and use the taper crimp die on a single stage press

I am not using the expander die at all on my single stage press, and I have no problems getting the bullets started. As reported elsewhere on the forum, using the expander die can weaken the mouth of the case over time, by working it in one more step than you really need. Only if my bullets wouldn't start into the shell, or if I were loading lead cast bullets, would I think the expander die was needed.

Quit using the expnder quite a while back. I can seat bullets fine without it and with the cost and availability I think best to work the brass as little as possible.