454 casull reloading

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Cameron300

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I recoently have got into reloading some of the more expensive ammo
I have just picked up the lee 45 colt dies.
Has anyone loaded 454 Casull with the 45 colt dies or for the extra $55 should I just get a set of the 454 dies
Thanks
 
You may or may not be good to go with those dies. I run Dillon .454 dies and they expressly state as being suitable for both however if you purchased a dedicated .45LC set of dies the resizing die may not be deep enough to accommodate the longer .454 case. You will know as soon as you either measure or try to resize a piece of .454 brass: the die will bottom out on the case no whwere near the cartridge rim rather than stopping just short of the base plate.
 
.45 colt dies may not properly resize .454, and not because of length. When I was getting setup I read suggestions from many sources to buy dies made for .454 and not .45.
 
If you have the 45 Colt dies already try them. I would hazard to guess they will probably work though I've never tried this combination.

It is more convenient to have a separate set of dies for each length of case even if it does work. Ie. 44 magnum, special and Russian. Some people even like a set for each gun if they have several in the same chambering.
 
I have a set of Lee 4 piece carbide 45 colt dies and they fully handle 454 casull brass. If you already have the Lee carbide 4 piece set, you have everything you need.
 
I had this same question in mind years ago. One of the nice things about Lee is they have very complete parts lists for their equipment on their website. I recall I went and looked at the parts list between the .45 Colt set and the .454 set. There is now a set of Lee .454 Casull dies on my reloading shelf, but I don't remember the rationale why. If memory serves there was only a single part different between the two.
 
I have loaded 45 Colt and 454 casull from the same set of RCBS dies. The only issue was how many 454 casull brass I ruined by forgetting the dies were set to 45 colt, crunch....I now have 45 colt and 454 casull dies.
 
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