Mowgli Terry
Active Member
I have been fiddling with an NOE expander plug in a Universal Lee tool. These things did not cost very much. Those little plugs beat the M die by a mile or two.
No "wasp-waist," I take it? That would be nice.I have had really good luck with the RCBS Cowboy dies. They are designed for cast bullets and give a roll crimp without decreasing the diameter of you bullet.
My steel dies are a generation or so later. These RCBS dies are from the 1960's. One set is for 38 and the other is for 357-so marked. These dies came from as estate. Those old dies do not do the things to brass that carbide dies do. For one, the cast taper remains. My 44 Magnum brass has grown at differential rates. If I want uniform crimp looks like case trimming in in the future. This case length problem is less evident in 38 Special.Speaking of "old steel dies,"
I have their taper crimp die for 9 mm and it is also made with jacketed in mind...........starts crimping way before final seating. The seating stem was also too short for cast (seating without crimping) and I had to call customer service and obtain a longer one. I always crimp in a separate operation.I also suspect there is some occasional confusion regarding the Redding Taper Crimp dies and the Redding Profile crimp dies.
Those are TWO different dies.
The Taper crimp die is exactly what its name implies; a taper crimp die.
The Profile crimp die is a roll crimp die BUT it has a tight, almost taper like lead below the roll crimp section of the die.
I'm not sure that's accurate. The modern loader using jacketed bullets may not understand that (or maybe he does understand and just isn't playing it that arena, at that moment)I have come to the conclusion: That any type of commercial dies out there are made for Jacketed bullets except for maybe RCBS cowboy dies.
I would rather trust my "gut" than play with any of the ones on the market! I shoot fat lead alloy bullets! The modern consumer world knows nothing about these projectiles!