I have a set of Ruger Vaqueros and a Marlin 1894 in .44 mag. Both Rugers now (after a bit of work) have cylinders which measure .4325 and the Marlin has a bore of .4315. Veral Smith of LBT advised me to select a mold size of .432 and he provided me with a set of molds which cast a 210 gr. RNFP bullet. He said to size the bullets to .432 and they would work in all of my guns. My bullets measure .4325 after sizing in a .431 size die. I use a Dillon 550 to load with. No problem with seating the bullets but the crimp die doesn't like the bigger bullets. I suppose the tolerances for these dies are set up for a .429 to .430 diameter bullet. I'm experiencing a lot of extra effort crimping and if brass shavings come off of the case the cases are scored. I've polished the inside of the die body below the crimp with crocus cloth however I think the inside of the die should be a few thousandths larger to eliminate this problem. Has anyone else experienced a problem like this when using larger diameter than standard bullets? What did you do to remedy this? Are RCBS cowboy crimp dies larger in diameter?

Joe K

Think you've spotted your porblem: the dies just aren't made to accept that diameter bullet and case mouth (ran into the same problem with a 45/70 die set when using .461" bullets).

Different dies have differnt tolerences, but I haven't worked with a coyboy set in .44mag. The .45colt dies are slightly moe tolerant, no more than .001", and it could just be a die-to-die variation and not planned that way.

Cured the 45/70 set with a more aggressive (coarser grit) cloth, then polishing with a fine grit cloth. Dies are somewhat hardened, so it does take a bit of time to get it done.

The alternate solution is to make the cases .001" thinner...with nickled cases, may decide to neck ream.

joe;
I had about the same problem with my 44's, mine are .4315
with the GC springing back to .432. I use RCBS Cowboy dies but crimp with the LEE factory crimp die. The RCBS crimp does work, but I prefer the factory style crimp over the roll type.

Jack R and Ribbonstone,

Thanks for the replies.

Jack, Is the Lee factory crimp more of a taper crimp than a roll crimp? And what's the deal with the Cowboy dies besides the color and name?

Ribbonstone, I've tried a coarser grit paper to polish out the die and polish with crocus. I actually ruined my first Dillon Crimp die by not being careful enough and polished the crimp right out of it. I'll keep experimenting though. I guess if I was a machinist with a lathe I could take a couple of thousandths out myself. This must be a common problem with everyone sizing bullets to their larger cylinder diameters.
I just thought maybe some manufacturers crimp dies were on the larger size and someone would know.

Joe K

Joe,
the lee die squeezes the upper edge of the brass into the crimp groove if you look at a factory crimped cartridge you can see that the brass is flat against the bullet groove.
I beleve the Cowboy dies are made to a different tollerence requirement to allow for using cartridges loaded with them to better match older, original chambers. Pic is of 454 casull using Hornady HTP and Lee factory crimp die

(And I'm partial to the color case look)