.45 cowboy special crimp

[Tom Bullweed]

I am trying .45 cowboy specials from Adirondack Jack for Frontier cartridge. My understanding is that these are loaded with .45 Colt shell holder and sizer but .45 ACP expander and seater/crimper. .45 ACP crimping dies produce a taper crimp. I am loading APP FFFg (a BP sub). My experience is that complete powder burning and consistency is aided by slight compression of powder and a tight crimp. Can I get a tight enough crimp with a taper die, or do I need to by a Lee factory crimp die for the .45 Colt?

[Carolina Cowboy]

I am trying .45 cowboy specials from Adirondack Jack for Frontier cartridge. My understanding is that these are loaded with .45 Colt shell holder and sizer but .45 ACP expander and seater/crimper. .45 ACP crimping dies produce a taper crimp. I am loading APP FFFg (a BP sub). My experience is that complete powder burning and consistency is aided by slight compression of powder and a tight crimp. Can I get a tight enough crimp with a taper die, or do I need to by a Lee factory crimp die for the .45 Colt?

 

This is the infomation the AJ gave to me when I first started loading the Cowboy Special and have had no problem, I use smokeless but the dies would be the same, and I use a 550Sb dillion

 

Quoting AJ here

 

"If you use a .45 colt sizing die, the other two dies are ACP, and you need the .45 Colt shell plate.

 

ANY .45 ACP or Autorim data works, as C45S is the same internally as ACP. (The bullseye shooters have been doing this forever, and lots of "Target" data exists. Depending on the powder you want to use, I can give some guidance there as well.

 

So basically, if yer all set for long colt right now, you would swap out the expander die and the seat/crimp die to ACP and away ya go."

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Tom,

 

although I don't shoot the EVIL Black, I do often shoot the C45S.

 

I use the ACP expander and the ACP Profile Taper crimp die from Redding and it does a perfect job with its taper crimp.

 

Naturally, if you have any questions, call our good pard AJ.

 

 

..........Widder

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

I use the .45 CS and have never seen that note about taper crimping them. I wonder why AJ hasn't put that on his website? Well, maybe he has and I'm overlooking it.

 

Regardless, I've been roll crimping mine with great success for smokeless and BP. I assumed it was to be roll crimped since it was designed to be like the .45 Colt, except for its capacity.

 

Maybe AJ will see this thread and offer his thoughts. AJ, you out there?

[JD Trampas, SASS # 55781]

I'm using the dillon 45 ACP die, no problems at all, I shoot smokeless though, as Widder said, give AJ a call and ask, he loves to talk, just plan on talking on the phone for awhile, had some good conversations with him when I went this route, I would think it would work, the taper crimp for blackpowder is tight enough, you can always try it and then you would know or just call AJ

 

 

 

All for now JD Trampas

[Ranger Sgt. Jake McCandless #3368]

Tom While I prefer to roll crimp,when I load the EPP/UG 150 gr. bullet,mold is slightly different than DD normal Lee six cavity's.It has a very thin nose band and would crush with any type of roll crimp,

 

So I taper crimp them. They are loaded over a full case of black powder,I get no set back.It wasn't what I wanted but like they say more than one way to skin a cat and it works very well. Adios Sgt. Jake

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

I reload with an RCBS Turret tool and use it for both regular 45 LC and the 45 CS. All I have done is add a .45 auto crimping die for the CS loads. I adjust my "bell mouth" die for the CS loads, the re-adjust it when I switch back to LC.At first I was crimping the CS cases too much and experienced a lot of case splitting. I now just crimp the case enough to secure the bullet and get enough pressure buildup so I don't get a lot of blowback. I shoot 100% BP in both rifle & pistols.

[Hugh Damwright]

Tom,

As you probably know, I've ran these for a while in both pistol and rifle, smokeless and black. I am loading on a dillon 650 (all the loads), and use LC dies.

 

Bullet seating is done by a Redding Competition seating die, and I use the micrometer adjustments on it as a quick reference when switching from 160 grain to 200 grain bullets.(Arguably the smartest thing I ever came up with on my own)

 

I run a lee factory crimp (roll) in the last station. The lock-nut for the die is on the BOTTOM of my toolhead because it is screwed in so far, this looks funny but works just fine.

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

Many standard .45 Colt dies won't reach down far enough to roll crimp the .45CS. Invest in a Redding .45 Auto Rim roll crimp die which will give you a real nice crimp. I shoot the .45CS in both rifle and handgun so a taper crimp doesn't get it done. Need a nice tight roll crimp. Some others have indicated they get OK results in a rifle with the taper crimp but that isn't my experience. I hate "turtles" in the middle of a rifle string.

 

Coffinmaker

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Many standard .45 Colt dies won't reach down far enough to roll crimp the .45CS. Invest in a Redding .45 Auto Rim roll crimp die which will give you a real nice crimp.

RCBS .45 Colt dies won't go low enough, but my regular Hornady .45 Colt die set works fine.

[Adirondack Jack, SASS #53440]

I didn't read all the replies, but here's the thing you should know. Stadard ACP seat/crimp dies such as Lee, hornady, RCBS, Dillon, etc are set up for a taper crimp, and that is fine if you wanna use it as directed (if it works for ACP, even in semis, it will work for you too). HOWEVER, those very same dies can, if adjusted down a ways, produce what Lee calls a "modified roll crimp". Standing side by side with a factory round, the resulting crimp looks similar, except it is a little longer radius, almost an ogive shape, rather than a short turned roll crimp. This is a strong crimp that will do whatever ya need it to, even for heavy loads.

 

MANY reloading cycles using a Lee or Hornady die in this "cranked down taper crimp" manner have shown me excellent brass life, and you absolutely can get a serious crimp if ya crank it far enough, even biting right into the side of hard jacketed bullets without a crimp groove if you ever needed to.

 

Bottom line is, just use yer ACP seat/crimp die and crank er down a ways.

[Tom Bullweed]

Thank you AJ and the others with great information. I am just shooting these smokey rounds in my OMV's. The crimp is just to ensure complete combustion, not to prevent 'turtling' in a levergun.

I plan to get started tonight. I will be back with more questions if this 'modified roll crimp' does not look right.

[Adirondack Jack, SASS #53440]

Thank you AJ and the others with great information. I am just shooting these smokey rounds in my OMV's. The crimp is just to ensure complete combustion, not to prevent 'turtling' in a levergun.

I plan to get started tonight. I will be back with more questions if this 'modified roll crimp' does not look right.

 

 

Just use the Lee ACP seat/crimp die and crank it down some. it'll be fine.