Crimp Die needed for 44-40???

[Skinny 1950]

I recently bought an old Winchester Model 1892 made in 1895, it came with a Lee three die set and about 150 brass.
For reloading 45 ACP and 45 Colt I use four dies....the last step being a factory crimp die, my question is can I get away with no crimp on the 44-40 ammo or should I wait until I can find a die?

 

[LUTNIT]

A Lee bullet seating die can crimp the cases if you adjust it properly. It's spelled out in the manual.
I do like the factory crimp dies for the greater control it gives but they aren't really needed. People were crimping bullets over a hundred years before the Lee FCD was invented.

 

[superted]

Yes and no. If you're talking about shooting them in the '92 ... I would suggest loading only 2 rounds- one in the chamber and one in the mag tube. The"story" goes that if you load the mag full of uncrimped rounds - the recoil COULD push the bullets back into the cases - opening the chances of higher pressures ...and blown cases .... I also use the Lee die set BUT do also use the Lee crimp die - works great.

 

[Mark-II]

I've always crimped while seating in my old RCBS dies. Isn't big deal - you don't need a gorilla crimp. I shoot them in an 1860 Henry replica

 

[Skinny 1950]

I had forgotten about the instructions which I did read at least once, but I never used the crimp feature of the seating die so I forgot about it. Anyhooooo
Thanks for the heads up.

 

[K-C]

Lee makes a Factory Crimp Die (#90854). Higginson Powders is the Lee Distributor and sells direct to retail customers. Andrew (Higginson) will most likely have one in stock and ready to ship. The cost will be around $16 + S&H.

These are the Lee instructions for the Bullet Seating Die:
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Die set includes the lee bullet seat and feed die for use with the lee automatic bullet feeder A 45˚ chamfer allows for the mechanical feed fingers and improved operator clearance.Raise the ram to the top of its stroke and hold.
Screw bullet seating die in until it touches the shell holder, then back it out three full turns. Lightly finger tighten the lock ring. Bullet depth is adjusted by screwing the adjusting screw in or out to suit. Bullets should be seated deep enough to work through the gun’s action.
See maximum overall length on charge table. If crimp is desired, screw die in slightly and test until proper crimp is formed. Cases must be trimmed to the same length to provide a uniform crimp. Excessive crimp causes the bullet seater to deform soft nose bullets. CAUTION Seating bullets excessively deep will reduce the case capacity and increase the pressure. It is extremely important that full wadcutter bullets be used with light loads only. You can select these by their reduced velocity.
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Hope this helps you...

 

[TargetAcquired]

Just get the factory crimp. I use one for a few lever calibers I load, they are a very well spent $20.

 

[BCRider]

I'm going to assume here that you're loading cast lead bullets that have a nice big cannelure groove? If that is truly the case then it's not that tough to set the seating/crimping combo die to do both jobs at the same time. It'll be a roll crimp but that's OK. It would still be nice to get a separate die for crimping but for now it'll let you get by.