Greetings, This is my first post, and obviously one of a novice, and I would appreciate any advise that I can get. I very recently bought a S&W .460, with a 10 1/2" barrel. I also bought a 4 die set of lee carbide reloading dies in .45 colt. As you probably all know, the 4th die in the set is the factory carbide crimp die. This die set can be used, with adjustments to load the 454 casull. I`ll need to get dies for the .460, I know, but can I use the .45 colt factory crimp die with adjustments to crimp bullets in the .460 S&W?........Your input is appreciated.

umm.. no

sorry

Woody, I also load the 460Smith, and yep, you can use that crimp die just for crimping the bullet in place only, you are going to have to size the brass body with a 460 die. And if you buy a quality die like a RCBS carbide die, the crimp used with it is very good. So its kinda a waste to worry about the lee crimp die.

I have used the crimp dies a few times in a unorthidox'd fashion (on advise from lee unofficially saying, I can't recommend, but I hear poeple doing this or that). For example I had to buy a 9mm sleeve and fit it to my 40S&W carbide die to crimp 357sig. Now, I heard they are selling that exact combo.

Times where the crimp die shines is like with a bottleneck pistol case like a 357sig that has trouble holding the bullet. A regular roll crimp holds my 460 bullets in place fine.

I shoot 48gr of H110 with a 240gr XTP with 3MOA accuracy out to 200 yards. With factory, I am getting less than 2MOA accuracy believe it or not.

That`s what I thought about the crimp die, but I`m glad for the confirmation. The 45 colt- casull lee dies I already had. I don`t know whether to go with Lee.460 dies, or pay more for rcbs .460 dies. Any thoughts, or doesn`t it really matter?............... You are getting incredible accuracy by the way, I have trouble shooting a rifle that well![:-]

If someone came and told me, they shot this good with it, I would have not believed them. I bought this off my brother, and did didnt' show good promise while shooting down in Ky freehand. So when I shot factory ammo that well my first group at a range on a bench, I was so happy, I about cried. Its a Performance model.

Bad news its, hard to shoot freehand. That long 10.5" barrel is just tough to work with. I bought a stoney point tripod just for hunting.

I myself, would go for the RCBS. But there is a chance you might be able to use those 454 dies. I talked to starline, and they recommended only sizing the area where the bullet goes for brass life. In that case, you could use 454 resizer.

You might want to have a 460 FL carbide sizer however. You don't need a seater, or mouth expanding die.You can use your lee.Only extra thing my RCBS seater came with was a seater plug for loading pointed bullets.

I think as long as the force needed to fold in the crip does not exceed the strength of the unsupported case wall, resulting in a buckled case, you should certainly be able to do it this way! I use .45 Colt dies for the .454 with no problems, but of course your .460 cases are quite a bit longer....