.303 Crimp 3 groove neck die

I am after a .303 crimp die that crimps three notches grooves around the neck like the original wartime cases. Not sure in the shooting world if anyone has made such a die. Its not really for shooting just for show and display. I always come across .303 cases and nickle heads but it would look and a bit professional with a three groove crimp. I have used the lee factory crimp dies for show and for shooting in the past but they only crimp around the top of the neck, I was thinking of modifying a die by removing part of the circumference of the crimp edge in contact with the neck so i have three places on the die for the grooves. Any suggestions, ideas or advice.

Lee Factory Crimp Die is probably your best best

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Originally Posted by Roy W

Lee Factory Crimp Die

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Agreed...good luck otherwise.

Regarding the Lee "Factory Crimp" dies.

Love them!

If you are desperately serious about the "stab" crimping on inert (or otherwise) .303 rounds, think about modifying a crimp die for 7.92 x 57.

What? You ask.

The .303 case is only a mil or so shorter than the German round.

Where you want to crimp is a bit fatter than the relevant section normally used.

By trial and error (or measurement and calculation), machine a bit off the bottom of mouth the die body and the crimping collet.

Adjust the "depth" and width of the crimping "fingers" to approximate the marks on the original.

You will get FOUR crimps rather than the original three, but that should help identify the “reproduction" ones. If you want serious “authenticity” a new crimping collet will need to be machined and heat-treated.

Have fun.

It is a pretty bizarre way of retaining the bullet, but it worked. It had to work, because "neck tension" as we know it from modern hand-loading, did not exist in original-spec .303 ammo..

In the "original", the cordite bundle was inserted into an UNFORMED case, (looks a lot like a brass .410 shot-shell), a glaze-board wad sat on top of the cordite, then the case was "partially formed / necked.

Only THEN was the bullet inserted to sit on top of the glaze-board disc and the case finally formed. Thus, the need for supplementary "stab-crimping" of the bullet.

Note that Japanese 7.7 x 56R, which is, dimensionally, pretty much identical to the "original" Brit case, also has three "stab" crimps in a similar location on the neck.

The samples of those that I have here are a bit scruffy, apparently having been immersed in tropical seawater for a "while". However, I may go nuts and pull the bullet on the worst one for further study.

Has anyone else already done this?

Thanks Bruce just the information i was looking for. I know it can be done. I have just bought a 303 crimp die and will get a collet re-made so there are 3 fingers to the 4 and shape the stab parts on the ends. I anticipated the length of the die body that helps in the crimping movement, good idea about using 7.92 dies instead. I have a complete workshop facility to make the collects so it will be fun to experiment.