Dillon 450/550 4 station press new (for me) procedure

[Shuz]

In the past year or so I have discovered the value of using a Lee factory crimp die on my 25 cal cast boolits. However I had to use it in a separate operation after the ammo rolled off my Dillon 450.
My previous method was neck or full length die in Station 1and Lyman "M" die in station 2, powder thru die in station 3, and seating die in station 4. I wanted to try and eliminate the M die so I experimented with a 543R funnel in the powder die, but that didn't work. I next tried just decapping in station 1 and powder die in station 2 and seat in station 3 with no crimp. I then use station 4 for the Lee factory crimp die. It works real well prolly because my cast boolits have a diameter large enuf to not fall down into the powder during the seating step, and the gas check expands the case enuf to accept the boolit without shaving lead.

[charlie b]

I guess I am a little confused (happens all the time ).

The Lee powder through dies are meant to flare the case mouth (except for the universal die). If your .25 is a rifle then it is probably the universal. See if you can get the .25cal expander from their pistol die set. I did that with my .308. Used the expander from the .30Mauser die set. Worked well.

Now days I use a separate expander die (Lee universal) and reload in two 'steps'. First turret. Decap, prime, full length resize (optional), neck size. Then I use a different turret that has the expansion die, powder charge, seat, crimp.