Crimp question !!!

Hi guys and good mornin' to ya.

Many times here in the ammo section of the the board quite a few of you guys post various diameter crimps your ammo shoots best with. Is there an adjustable crimp die or method out there that I don't know about?

Also I'm thinking you may be refering to the distance of the the crimp measured down from the case mouth but I don't think that's what you're talking about.


Sign me cornfused, Denny.

All dies are adjustable, the more its screwed in the press the tighter the crimp, and vice versa There are 2 kinds of crimp dies, roll and taper, roll sometimes called factory or other names is used on revolver or revolver cartridges used in semi autos like 38 special or 32 S&W, taper crimp is the best for semiautos like the 45 acp, 9mm,40, this crimps the case at its top edge to the bullet. Taper crimps on the 45 run .470 to as low as .463 measured at the very top edge of the loaded case. Im many ransome tests as to accuracy and function ive found that .468-.469 is the best for fmj or lead.Any more crimp and you risk bullet deformation, and less crimp you risk malfunctions and failure to feed issues.

David, thanks for the quick reply, the answer has been in front of me all along and I was too dumb to notice.

45 headspaces on the case mouth and what part of T-A-P-E-R did I not understand. It didn't occur to me that screwing my die in deeper would decrease the diameter.

Now where the hell did I put my calipers.

Thank you, Sir.


Denny