Hornady LNL Taper crimp die mandatory?

[1911nm]

Will be setting up my LNL-AP over the next few weeks, as soon as this pesky holiday stuff gets done with. I am putting together everything I need as I haven't reloaded in years. The question at this moment is; is the taper crimp die a necessity? I will be loading primarily .45acp for competition. Thanks all. While I enjoy putting a loading station together, the costs are adding up.

[raz-0]

Are you asking roll crimp vs taper crimp? Or hornady vs. other manufacturer?

I use lee dies in my LNL AP. For .45 they work pretty smoothly, but you have to modify the factory crimp die (it is basically a taper crimp plus it has a resizing ring in the base). You basically have to dremel a bevel onto one side of the die to avoid binding up on the ejector wire. Beyond that, you come out near the end of available adjusting thread when they are completley set up (although in theory lee is making new progressive firendly dies with more thread).

[1911nm]

Are you asking roll crimp vs taper crimp? Or hornady vs. other manufacturer?

I use lee dies in my LNL AP. For .45 they work pretty smoothly, but you have to modify the factory crimp die (it is basically a taper crimp plus it has a resizing ring in the base). You basically have to dremel a bevel onto one side of the die to avoid binding up on the ejector wire. Beyond that, you come out near the end of available adjusting thread when they are completley set up (although in theory lee is making new progressive firendly dies with more thread).

I would probably stick with a Hornady taper crimp die if I need to use one, but to clarify. I picked up the 3 die set by Hornady for .45acp. Is this not sufficient, and a taper crimp die a necessity, or load a trial run and see how they chamber in my Kimber before possibly adding a taper crimp die? I know I sound braindamaged, but never reloaded anything that headspaced at the end of the case.

[wide45]

With a 3 die set up you are seating, and crimping, in the same die. The taper crimp will be tightening while the bullet is being pushed into the case. You can get shaved bullets, and inconsistent oal's.

A lot of ammo has been loaded this way, and I sure you can make it work, but separating the seating, and crimping operations is the way to go if you can.

Setting your dies will be easier, as the oal won't change when you adjust the crimp.

[bobotech]

Here is what I did for my 5th station. I took my final die and flat ground off about 1/16th of an inch. I then lost the substantial chamfer which allows the belled shell to enter into the crimp die.

I then took a flame carbide burr bit and put it on the end of my drill. I then ran it for a few seconds and the carbide burr then put a perfect chamfer back into the base of the die.

It now works fine. I Have done that to 2 dies so far and I am pleased with how they look and work. You can't even tell that they were even altered unless you knew exactly what the original looked like.

I can now freely adjust the 5th station die without worrying about the location of the bevel.

[1911nm]

Thanks so much for all the input. As I am by no means a machinist (if I can't do it with a chainsaw, it's finish work and I don't do that), I do believe I will follow advice, and send off for a taper crimp die. My list is down to that die, a tumbler, scale, and finish my bench, so getting closer.

[Noffsinger]

Will be setting up my LNL-AP over the next few weeks, as soon as this pesky holiday stuff gets done with. I am putting together everything I need as I haven't reloaded in years. The question at this moment is; is the taper crimp die a necessity? I will be loading primarily .45acp for competition. Thanks all. While I enjoy putting a loading station together, the costs are adding up.

Here's what I've done...since I can not stop buying reloading dies when they are offered really cheap,(such as when pawn shops get them included with rifles or at garage sales), I took the de-cap rod out of a .308 sizing die and put it in station 5. It is screwed in just enough to smooth-out the case flare or "bell" from station 2 with very little to almost no compression. This trues up the case mouth nicely and has improved the feeding in all 4 of my .45's from the Taurus to my race gun.

[VARifleman]

This is two weeks old, but I have the setup mentioned and went through this when I first set it up. What I found out was when trying to crimp and seat at the same time with the hornady dies I wouldn't get any crimp, I'd add some, still nothing, add a little more, and then I'd bulge the case. I added a hornady taper crimp die and it was easy to setup to crimp at .470". I then added their micrometer seater, pistol rotor and micrometer metering assembly, and that's my .45 setup.