Lee slipped in some new dies recently...
That I didn't know about. Now, Lee Collet Crimp Dies are available in 357 Mag, 44 Mag and 45 Colt. Probably others too.
These are different than the factory crimp dies.
No cannelure is needed, so O.A.L. can be easily adjusted. I ordered the three above this morning and hopefully will find one in 41 Magnum soon.
I haven't used a collet die before..
Can you tell me a little more about these? And what would be the benefit on a straight wall case?
The collet sticks out the bottom and when adjusted
The shell holder bottoming on the sliding part forces the lips of the collet into a taper making it pinch and crimping the case and bullet together. The adjustment range is a bit narrow until it bottoms on itself, pinching all the collet fingers/lips together. But it does work. Very consistent.
I’m not keen on it but for special situations trying to stop bullet creep from recoil I can see it’s value. Feeding issues on repeaters too, it would keep from pushing bullets back into the case.
Just a guess, but I assume that's what
the type of crimp the military uses in a lot of their small arms then...? With all that moving and banging and bumping around in combat I know they want a tight crimp on the ammo.
A few benefits to the collet crimps...
As WB said, they're much more consistent because they don't depend on case length to determine crimp tension. The die adjust against the ram which is the same every time.
It squeezes the case against the bullet, so a cannelure isn't needed. I'd question that on the super heavy recoiling rounds though.
Also, it keeps stress of the case. I won't use any other crimp dies on such rounds as the 25-20, 32-20, 38-40 and 44-40. The thin walled cases are famous for buckling as they're crimped. These dies completely eliminate the problem.
Huey is this similar to a profile crimp? Or
Not ? Sounds like it squeezing the whole case? Maybe I need to look at this harder.
Here's a picture....
It just squeezes the top edge of the case against the bullet...
I first started using them on the 38-40. All the bullets for the 10mm come without a cannelure. I've yet to experience bullet creep or loose a case. I've loaded some cases 14 times to +P loads.
![[image]](images/uploaded/20210218133056602e6c1072606.jpg)