I'm trying to load the Sierra Sports Master bullet in .32 H&R and I'm having problems "squishing" the exposed lead tip of the bullets during the last little bit of lever throw to seat and crimp?
What am I doing wrong and how should I be setting up my die to avoid it?

Try changing the seater stem. They usually come in 2 flavors- one rounded and one squared-off for wadcutters.

Or, seat and crimp in two steps. If you think about it, crimping takes a lot of force. It's easier to deform the exposed lead than brass and copper.

__________________
an actual conservative

I did make a flat seating stem by filing the regular one down flat. Good suggestion.

It is possible your crimp is starting a bit early and causing the force on the bullet tip. As mentioned break it down into seat then crimp or fine tune the seat-crimp in one step.
Karl

It is also worth the time to KNOW where your die is set by reducing
a belled case until it is almost normal.

Then set your die for a light crimp, medium crimp and a heavy crimp
and marking or take measurements of the die stickout above the locking
screw or the stem pre the body.

On some of my loads, I set the crimp and then back the die out 1.5 turns and
seat my bullets with the correct stem length per the bullet used.

Then lower the die and check crimp OAL with a "Dummy" load
and then crimp the loads.

I have set bullet OAL and crimped as you have done but only with
bullets and loads that I know will work out, doing this.

Good luck.

It means an extra step, but I seat and crimp in separate steps. It yields noticeably more consistent cartridges and reduces bullet and case damage down to just about nil.

__________________
Pisgah

Which dies do you seat and crimp with - same die, different die?

Tiggernosis, the easiest way to do this is to get a separate crimping die. If you load primarily jacketed bullets, then a Lee Factory Crimp die will do fine. But since the Lee die has a carbide sizing ring built into it, it might resize lead bullets and give you leading problems. If you load both jacketed and lead bullets, get yourself another seating die such as this Redding Seating die and back the seating plug off and just adjust it to crimp with. I don't load any 32 caliber rounds, but I use a 4 die setup on 38/357 and 44 mag for loading with to minimize any seating and crimping problems and do it in 2 discrete steps on my progressive press.

You may wish to consider adding another step as has been suggested, i.e. seat the bullet to the correct depth, then crimp them.

With some bullets the shape of the nose, hardness of the lead, and shape of the seating stem may contribute to bullet deformation. Ask me how I know.

What muddocktor said is GTG. Speaking only for myself, I use the same RCBS die to first seat the bullet; then I back out the seating stem and adjust the die for the desired crimp. I've been using RCBS dies since Christ left Chicago.

This system works for me. YMMV.

JPJ

Seat the bullet without crimping it. When it is at the correct depth, crimp it in a seperate step.
Whats going on is the bullet gets crimped in place just before it reaches the full seating depth, then the nose gets mashed out of shape.
If the seat and crimp in two separate steps doesn't cure the problem, your nose punch doesn't fit the bullet profile so it's the culprit doing the squishing. I would custom fit the bullet nose to the stem with epoxy putty or just make a flat seating stem.
Fill the stem with putty, let harden , sand/file it flat....now any bullet with a flat spot can be seated (sat ?) with this stem. SWC , WC , TC , RF , HP , I've even used a flat stem on round nosed bullets in a pinch. Good luck,
Gary

Thanks guys. It looks like crimping as a second step is the answer to my problem. No, I do not want to use the Lee Factory crimp die because it will squish my cast lead bullets which I have had my cylinder honed perfectly for.
I've already filed the seating stem flat, so I'll just pick up a second die to crimp with.