FTX 45-70

[Flashole]

Is there a trick to getting a crimp on this round.  I trimmed the case just like Hornady says to and of course it is now to short to crimp in the usual way.  I got a Lee crimp thinking this would work.  Again to short for the Lee crimper.  I found some earlier post here  and it appears some guns do not need a  trimmed case.  Mine does and I can not figure a way to solve this problem.  Thanks for any help and sorry if I missed this in an earlier post

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[gray-wolf]

Is there a trick to getting a crimp on this round.  I trimmed the case just like Hornady says to and of course it is now to short to crimp in the usual way.  I got a Lee crimp thinking this would work.  Again to short for the Lee crimper.  I found some earlier post here  and it appears some guns do not need a  trimmed case.  Mine does and I can not figure a way to solve this problem.  Thanks for any help and sorry if I missed this in an earlier post

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How did you get the crimp before? What is the usual way? what rifle, what pistol?
 Sounds like you are short of the crimping ring on the die, if you were crimping OK at one time, and have now trimmed your cases, the die must be brought down a little to make up for what you removed from the case length. You will have to rest the bullet seat dept also.
  That is the simple answer to what may be a simple question.  But if there are other matters please explain them in detail, and we all can go on a little more in order to help.


GW.

[Flashole]

The FTX from Hornady is longer from the crimp grove foward than an average .458 round for the 45-70.  So much longer that it will not feed into most guns.  The loading instructions from Hornady say to trim the case to 2.040.  That was .065 off my once fired brass.  Now the case is to short for my RCBS die to roll crimp.  The same is true for the 444 but I just used a Lee Factory crimp tool and it worked out OK.  I have not shot the 444 but they cycle fine in my #94
 I just got a Lee for the 45-70 and it  bottoms out with out putting a mark on the shortend case.   In the information that comes with the Lee  states that it does not matter what length the case is.  I'm sure that was printed long before Hornady came out with this rubber tipped bullet and the need to take so much off the case.  I contacted Hornady for help but have not heard from them. I'm out of ideas and starting to think this is more trouble than it is worth.  I only trimmed 15 cases but with the cost of reloading supplies  I'm hoping for a simple / cheap fix.




http://www.hornady.com/assets/files/ftx_load_data/45-70_1895-marlin_ftx.pdf

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[rangerwillie]

I have the same issue with my RCBS dies. So I played around andfound a solution. After I seat the bullet to the desired depth, I remove the shell from the shell holder and set it on top of the shell holder and send it back up for a crimp. works OK, but I do have to pry a few out.  dan

[stimpylu32]

Flash

Do you know anyone that works in a machine shop or have one close to you , it would be a simple matter to just turn .050 off the bottom of the seating / crimp die .

Should be a $10 or less fix to the problem .

stimpy

[Smokin Joe]

I did it Stimpy's way, except I bought a seater die body ($13.00) from Lee and cut it back about .050". Now I can easily load either long or short brass.

http://leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/parts.cgi?1266211385.2289=90561

[Flashole]

Dan, gave it a try and there is just enough push to get a fair crimp.  I used the bullet stop to push the shell back out.  Does nothing to that rubber tip.  Also found  a place I use to get electric motors rewound will fix my die for free.  Thanks guys I was just about to take a grinder to my Lee crimp tool.  Hope these rubber headed wonders are straight shooters

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[BIGDAVE54]

I have a Lee Classic Hand Loader in 45-70
 It is a ball to use and I get fantastic reloads. I was wondering if you had tried the crimper set up on one of these. There is a heck of a lot of clearance that way. I bought my whole set up for about $25...So far I put my big money in a RCBS 750 scale.

[Flashole]

Dave are you using the a shortened case.  The cases I trimmed to the Hornady specs. just bottoms out against the rim of the case and never gets deep enough to imprint the crimp from the factory style crimp die from Lee..  Dan's idea worked out OK it gave about .020-.030 extra push to get a lite crimp.  

I heard from Hornady and they said their crimp die works fine.  I also found out from Hornady that the 250 gr.  .452 cal  FTX bullet is not for lever guns at all.  They told me it was for the 450 Bushmaster only.  There is no crimp groove on the bullet.  There was nothing on the box stating this.  The box looks and is labled just like all the LEVERevolution products. and the art work on the box shows a groove.  I was wondering if any one else has tried to use this in a 45lc or 454 lever gun.  Maybe a Lee Factory crimp would be useful.  Thanks for all the feed back.

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[JW307]

I've reloaded over a hundred rounds of FTX bullets in once-fired Hornady factory LE brass for a Marlin guide gun.  I use a Lee Factory Crimp die on a Lee press.  It works fine.  I just have to screw the die in a little farther than with standard brass.

[cwlongshot]

Just for clarity, the "problem" isn't the dies. The problem is that Hornady shortened there LE 45/70 brass to fit there pointed bullet.
My answer is to steer clear of them. If you do load them save your self sanity and keep them well segregated. Its a PITA to load up a batch and have a couple of these too short cases get mixed in. (My plinking lead loads are shot thru mixed brass as its a fun load)

CW