This question may well be in the wrong forum, but does anyone know how to crimp a heeled bullet. Thinking specifically of the 41 Long Colt which obviously ain't a rifle cartridge. But I thought it was worth a try.

I've loaded a lot of .44 Long, .38 Long, and .32 Long, which all use heeled bullets. Nothing really hard about loading or seating bullets, and getting slight compression on the case mouths.
I simply set up the bullet depth to seat against the case mouth, and adjust the seating die to remove the slight bell put on the case. They don't need a lot of crimp (if any) to shoot them in a single shot rifle. Even if you could pull the bullets with your finger it's not an issue as long as they chamber fine.

It's feasible make a collet type die to do this, if you really NEED a crimp.  For wimpy loads a tight neck usually suffices.
CHRIS

the Lee collet style factory crimp dies can be used and modified for other cases. I shortened a 32-20 to use for 310 cadet.this was becsuse i was loading for a buddy and his son who were carrying  the ammo in their pockets plinking on their property and they needed to be secure..

If your case is longer and the collet diameter is ok for your situation you can stack washers above the shellholder over the case to adjust when it crimps.

marlinguy wrote on Jan 24^th, 2023 at 9:16pm:


Actually, the bullet shown above is from an Eras Gone .36 Colt cap and ball conical mold. Diameter is .377". It already has a heel of sorts, but its not small enough, so I cut them to fit the case mouth. I do the same with bullets from a Lee .36 Colt conical mold. 

On the same vein, I've cut heels on Ideal 311008 (.32-20) bullets for use in .32 XL rimfire. They shoot exceptionally well. I also cut heels on 427098 (.44-40) bullets for one of my .44 rimfires.