.44 special reloads

[BILLYDIXON]

i have loaded thousands of 44 special and 44 mag using RCBS dies. i tried to load 44 special last monday but couldnt get a good crimp can u wear out a crimper. i would say i loaded 30,000 .44 mag on a Dillion press. im on my Rock chucker now.

[Chuck 100 yd]

I bet your die is just a tad too long and the cases are not going in deep enough.
That said, I load .44 special on a set of RCBS carbide .44mag. dies but I crimp as a separate step and do it with a Lee crimp die.

[JerryB]

I had the same trouble a couple of months ago. My dies are RCBS .44 mag dies and all I ever loaded was .44 special for my Charter Arms Target Bulldog. I always got a good crimp on my loads. Lost my .44 when I loaned it to a "friend". I now have a new .44special and started loading again I could not get the dies to crimp.I got a set of dies from my gunsmith that are marked .44special/ .44mag it crimps fine.

[AJMD429]

If you get a new set of dies, consider the Lee RIFLE type Factory Crimp Dies - I got a set for 44 Mag and they are the best ever. You'd need a different set for 44 Special, but they are awesome.

The 'normal' ones they sell are the PISTOL type FCD's for what they consider 'pistol' cartridges, but you can special order them in 'RIFLE' configuration for about $25 or so.

[Malamute]

Yes, if the dies aren't spl and mag, they may not go down far enough to crimp the spl case. I had a couple of them turned down so theyd work with spls. The seating dies are very hard!!!

I have a spacer ring with mine, it makes up the difference between 38spl/457 and 44 spl/mag so you dont have to completely readjust the dies each time you work the different cases. I find they need a small tweek for crimping, but it does save time overall. You adjust the dies on the spl case, then just add the spacer when expanding and seating/crimping the mag cases

[Buck Elliott]

If you have been loading a lot of cast bullets, you may have lube build-up in your seat/crimp die.. Disassemble the die and clean it thoroughly, paying close attention to th crimp shoulder and the cavity in the seating stem..soak all the parts in good solvent, and clean with nonabrasive patches...

[3leggedturtle]

If you have been loading a lot of cast bullets, you may have lube build-up in your seat/crimp die.. Disassemble the die and clean it thoroughly, paying close attention to th crimp shoulder and the cavity in the seating stem..soak all the parts in good solvent, and clean with nonabrasive patches...

+1 on that. I've been using a water based lanolin lube. It left a hard crusty green deposits in my dies, some were starting to rust. Got them cleaned in time. Never had problems with petroleum lubes. Guess doing it the easy way; almost cost me by learning the hard way.
I've gone back to petro products..

I also have a set of RCBS 357 Mag dies I bought in '75, that I had to mill some off the bottom so I could crimp .38 cases with it.

[BILLYDIXON]

I cleaned my seating and crimping die and it still wouldn't crimp. So I ordered the lee tapered crimp die and it worked great. I liked it better than the RCBS crimper. I forgot to mention I found a bag of Sierra bullets 180 JHP with a price of $8.99/100. I'm not to sure when I bought em.

[JerryB]

BillyDixon, at that price I would say you have had them awhile, keep looking you might find some more.