Tapper Crimp Dies

I have a Dillon 450 that has been upgraded to a 550, I bought this one year from the US Coast Guard pistol team at Perry and it came complete with a .45 acp set up with RCBS dies. I don't have the foggiest idea how many rounds they loaded on it but were looking to sell this to buy a new press and I was camped beside two of the member's father and we were talking about reloading when they mentioned the press was for sale. I had been using a Square Deal B and was looking for a 550 to replace it so the price was right, and I bought it from them. 

The past couple of days I 've been reading about tapper crimp diameters and decided to check what mine was on my .45 ammo which turned out to be .465" with Win brass and 185 Zero LSWCHP. All the talk was about how .463" was what was done back in the day so I tried to adjust mine down to give the .463" crimp a try and see if it would shrink my groups. The RCBS die must be wore out since .465" is as small as it will crimp so I dug around and found a Dillon crimp die I had bought with a Like new used 550 press, so I swopped out the dies and got the crimp down to .463" diameter. 
Makes me wonder if the RCBS die is ready for retirement, does anyone think the same thing?

I haven't had a chance to check out the loads with the .463" crimp but I'm hoping to see a more consistent velocity and tighter groups with less burnt powder on my shooting arm.
I like a dedicated press for my pistol calibers so I can just start loading without the hassle of breaking the press down and changing the set up for each caliber.

If it's a team press I'd guess it's loaded about 40 gazillion rounds (give or take). The first thing I would do is send it off to Dillon for servicing.  Then worry about the dies etc.

I never was a fan of the tight crimp. I tried it and machine rest groups were much bigger than my standard crimp. I always used .470" taper and it worked well for me. If .463" taper gets you better accuracy then go for it, but just because it works for some, doesn't mean it works for you. I doubt that your taper crimp die is worn out, but new ones aren't that expensive.

I seem to recall, perhaps incorrectly, that someone had the same sort of problem and it was die being oversize past the crimp 'rings. Setting it deeper would only turn the rds into bottlenecks.

straybrit wrote:If it's a team press I'd guess it's loaded about 40 gazillion rounds (give or take). The first thing I would do is send it off to Dillon for servicing.  Then worry about the dies etc.

Yeah it was a team press, I have loaded 100,000 or so rounds on it since I got it. The 450 is a tank of a press and doesn't use a separate tool head like the other Dillon progressive presses. I can't see sending it in for service when there is nothing wrong with it in other words if it isn't broke don't fix it.
But thanks for the advice.

BE Mike wrote:I never was a fan of the tight crimp. I tried it and machine rest groups were much bigger than my standard crimp. I always used .470" taper and it worked well for me. If .463" taper gets you better accuracy then go for it, but just because it works for some, doesn't mean it works for you. I doubt that your taper crimp die is worn out, but new ones aren't that expensive.

Thanks for the input. I do use .470" crimp on jacketed bullets but since these are lead, I think a tighter crimp is necessary.
.465" works but I see carbon build up and unburnt powder so I'm hoping a tighter crimp will help the problem.