Can't crimp .45-70 with hornady 325 ftx?

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skidooracer_99

New member
tried reloading a box of hornady 325g ftx pointed flex tip bulets for the .45-70. luckily i only did 10 to start with so i didnt waste a whole bag of good brass. using hornadys new 8th edition book, i trimmed those 10 to the called for 2.040" instead of normally 2.095". i have the redding regular 3 die set. seating was just do able! had the die turned down far to where i figured it would almost start crimping, and the small lock ring off the seater plug so it would screw down far enough. so the seater plug wasnt able to lock down so a guy would have to keep a good eye on it and measure oal often so it doesnt move around. crimping was where i had the biggest problem. i couldnt crimp with my die. with the die touching the shell holder and with 1/4 turn of firm cam over, i wasnt getting even the slightest looking crimp on my case mouths. those 0.055" shorter cases for the ftx really caused me grief.

so im not impressed with the hornady ftx already and i havent even fired them. not to mention trimming down those cases that much really took a killing on my arm and shoulder. ill probably hafto single load those 10 just to use em up. has anyone else came across this issue with the 325 ftx's? is it just a problem when using a redding seater or do they all do it? i could always buy just another seating die and grind the base down so it will crimp without touching the shellholder. is there any brand of seater that works with these bullets without modification? Or would an actual crimping die, work with these shorter cases or still need to be ground down some??
 
I had the same issue dealing with a buddies 45-70 and the FTX bullets. I tried RCBS and Lee standard dies plus a Lee Factory Crimp Die and none would crimp the cases. It is true that a guy could grind down the die base but I have decided to simply use different bullets. A 45-70 is what it is and if I never shoot one over 150 yds at game, so be it.
 
Haven't tried them for my 45 but did a bunch of .444 a coupe years ago. Found them to be a royal pain to load. I don't remember if I could get a crimp or not, but after a few trashed brass and screwed up bullets from the .44 die I called it good.
 
I have a lee .45 taper crimp die that is made to taper crimp .45 ACP ammo. Wonder if that would work??

Unless you are shooting a lever gun with a tube mag, the crimp probably does not matter.
 
I had the same problem with the Redding dies, I just Milled .100 off of the end of the seater die and redding sent me a New seater plug (Free) and they work like they should now. I didnt really need to remove that much off of it.. when I talked to redding they said I would need to remove about .067 off of the die, But I wanted to make sure I didnt have to set it back up in the Mill. But I have enough room to put a heavier crimp if need be. Hopefuly they (Redding) will make some changes to there die's to work with the new line of the Hornady FTX bullets which are great bullet's.. Hornady offers a new seating stem for there die set's for the new FTX's so they know what is needed to make it possible for the hand loader's to use there products..
 
I purchased a RCBS 45-70 die set and proceeded to reload some once fired Remington brass. I checked my Hornady reloading manual and followed instructions to case trim cartridges' to 2.040" for reloading Hornady FTX 45015 325 grain bullets. I set the seating die and die stem per RCBS instructions and I could not achieve a crimp. After about 10 reload attempts, I gave up and looked on the Internet to see if anyone had a solution. My search brought me here where I found others had the same problem. I contacted both Hornady and RCBS. Hornady replied: "Our seating die can be adjusted to seat and crimp this bullet, however, it requires a different seating stem to do this. The part numbers are listed below:
Seating Die: 044152
Seating Stem: 397120
This combination will allow you to seat and crimp this bullet".
I then got a reply from RCBS and it stated: "you have just shortened up your cases below SAAMI specifications and our seat die will not crimp a case that has been shortened to this length..Thank you for choosing RCBS Have a great day".
I called RCBS and asked if they have a seater die and stem for this problem and was told that although they are aware of the problem, they do not offer a solution and suggest I just reload with lead round nose. I suggested they should label the die set box with a warning that it cannot be used on FTX type bullets, they said that was a good idea and they were planning on making the correct seater die set in the future. So, if you have a RCBS die set and you want to reload FTX, you can purchase the Hornady seater die and stem. Midway offers both for around $42.00. I will order from Midway (seater stem on back order until April) and proceed. I hope this helps anyone else that has encountered this problem.
 
Edit: Nevermind, I was going to offer the LEE Factory Crimp Die as a possible solution however I see someone else above already covered that possibility.
 
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Yes you can use the Lee Crimper on the short cases.

First adjust the die with a full length round.

Then take a short fired case and put it in your press. Put your loaded short round upside down into the Lee die from the top. Operate the press just like normal. The upside down round will be crimped perfectly.

How's that for strange one, heh.
 


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