Does anyone make a good roll crimp die?

Nightowl · Feb 5, 2017

In the old days, I had dies that actually provided a nice roll crimp on .44 and .357/.38 reloads. The new "roll crimp" dies I have from RCBS merely give a straight squeeze to the top of the brass, but do not roll the case into the crimp groove.

I had Dillon accu crimp dies but they were not roll crimp. I bought two sets of RCBS dies, don't ask me why, neither one will roll crimp like the RCBS dies I wore out. I went back to the Dillon crimp die, which seems better than the RCBS "roll crimp".

I really don't want to have to buy every brand of roll crimp die to find if at least one will actually "roll" crimp into the crimping groove.

Thanks for your assistance.

zonker5 · Feb 5, 2017

Sounds like you have a taper crimp die in the roll crimp box or you have the roll crimp die set too high.

rockquarry · Feb 5, 2017

I've used those by RCBS, Redding, Lyman, Herter's, and perhaps some others; all worked fine. Is your adjustment okay?

zeke · Feb 5, 2017

Redding makes a special profile crimp die for revolvers that can be adjusted to just roll over, or to roll over and then flatten brass into cannelure.

LFC will also do this, if adjusted down far enough. Am not familiar with any other regular roll crimp dies that do this.

Dennis · Feb 6, 2017

Redding Profile Crimp dies.

fixitfred · Feb 6, 2017

You need to check your die adjustment and make sure you have a roll crimp die and not a taper. I don't see how any die from any major manufacturer will not put a satisfactory roll crimp on a case.

BLUEDOT37 · Feb 6, 2017

I have RCBS, Lee, Hornady, & Redding roll crimp dies & if you adjust them lightly you'll get a rolled crimp but if you adjust them too much it flattens out the crimp. Some dies seem to go from one extreme to another with very little change.

If all your brass aren't exactly the same length (not mine) you'll get a range of roll crimps from the same setting. You just have to find a happy medium or mess with adjustment constantly.

.

jaymoore · Feb 6, 2017

I've had best results lately using the Lee Factory Crimp dies as noted above. ("LFC" in Post #4) Next best have been Hornady. But I crimp in a separate operation from seating, which may influence things somewhat.

Collo Rosso · Feb 6, 2017

My RCBS 38/357 and 44spl/mag dies are 6 years old or so and do a very nice roll crimp.

Ballistic147 · Feb 6, 2017

I use Hornady dies for 44/38/357 and the roll crimp is very nice. I do trim all my brass in these calibers as others have mentioned and the roll crimps are very consistent. I have found with the Hornady dies there is a very fine line between a good solid roll crimp and a buckled case. I'm talking 1/16th of a turn. Trim the brass and get it set and you're golden.

ArchAngelCD · Feb 6, 2017

Redding makes a profile crimp die that is excellent but it's a little expensive too.
Redding Profile Crimp Die 38 Special 357 Mag

Believe it or not, Lee is now making a collect style crimp die for handgun cartridges. It's listed as a profile crimp die and is half the price of the Redding die.
Lee Collet-Style Crimp Die 38 Special 357 Mag

gwpercle · Feb 6, 2017

CH4D , you can order just the roll crimp die and they will roll in an old school crimp.
50 years reloading, CH4D are my favorite above every other brand .
Gary

Nightowl · Feb 6, 2017

The crimp die that I have looks like it just makes a vertical compression in the case at the crimp groove, rather than rolling the crimp inward. This has been a frustrating exercise. Oh, and no it is not a taper crimp, just square!

I will try one of the dies that have been recommended.

Nemo288 · Feb 7, 2017

+1 on the Redding Profile crimp die.
They have been tested out as the best at preventing bullet creep.
I use the 44 version on just about every 44 cartridge out there when loading bullets that have a groove of any sort.
For bullets with no groove or cannelure or when loading them so the groove doesn't line up,
the LFC die works fine but the revolver ones have a carbide ring some of us don't like for oversized cast bullets.
My RCBS or Redding seat/crimp dies usually do a good job roll crimping as well but I like to do it in a separate step
with the seat dies set so they don't crimp.
Sometimes when I don't feel I need a hard crimp or am loading a solid shank bullet or a plated one
I'll use a taper crimp to basically just remove the expansion bell mouth.

Mikeinkaty · Feb 7, 2017

I learned something the other day. The Lee Factory Crimp die for a pistol does a roll crimp (and a fine one too) while the Lee Factory Crimp die for rifle is a collet style. Or that's the way it was when I ordered a FCD for my 357 mag. My friends die set for a 300AAC had the collet. Both died were referred as a FCD.

oddshooter · Jun 2, 2020

Sometimes, some of us don't want a profile crimp !!! Profile crimp tends to swage down the diameter of the bullet as well as the case as it tightens.

I have 45 Colts with .454 chambers. I have .455 Webley.

My .455 bullets need to stay .455". I use a Lyman 45-70 .456 expander plug to make the .454 "NEST" for the bullet. There is a snap-back of .002", so the .456 - .002 = .454" nest

Profile crimp from Redding definitely can swage. The Lee crimper U9 for .45 colt/.455 Webley definitely swages down the bullet as well to .4525. After making a perfect .454 nest, the perfect bullet diameter is lost using a profile crimp.

My answer for this situation, is to roll crimp ONLY the mouth; unlike the profile crimp which swages along the bullet shank.

Prescut

Nemo288 · Jun 2, 2020

Take the seating stem out of an RCBS seat-crimp die and it make a very good roll crimp die.

505Gibbs · Jun 2, 2020

Dennis said:
Redding Profile Crimp dies.

I'll second this comment!

Nightowl · Jun 3, 2020

I have been using the profile crimp dies since this thread began and totally unhappy with them. I just look up a couple of websites without any success and then found that RCBS advertises roll crimp dies, so am going to order a couple. Will keep you informed to see if they really roll crimp.

To those who said that the profile crimp will roll crimp, let me say that I have not been able to figure out how that is done. I only use lead bullets with a crimp groove and have not been able to get a real roll crimp, like I used to get with crimp dies.

fredj338 · Jun 3, 2020

I would try the zhornady, but trying to figure out you wear a crimp/seating die out?

Does anyone make a good roll crimp die?

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