Wow. It seems that every beginner (just as I was) has the same question. There is no stupid question. It's just inquiring minds want to know. The above replies are true and should be taken to heart. However, there's just no getting around practical experience. I would suggest that you take an empty case unprimed and put it through the expanding die and see if you can start a boolit with just your fingers. You should be able to insert the boolit without shaving off any lead with just your fingers. I'm not talking about seating the boolit with your fingers, just get it started and let the press do the rest.

I played around with several cases using the expanding powder through die and kept screwing in the die a little bit at a time until I found just the right amount expansion to get the boolits seated without shaving lead. Lee dies use the seating die for crimping all in the same step. You want just enough crimp to remove the "bell" from the mouth of the case so that the round will chamber in your pistol.

After reloading .45 acp's I usually lock my slide rearward and drop each and every round into the chamber of my pistol to ensure that I have no surprises when it really matters. This is my quality control step after reloading. I do this for all my rounds that I reload even my 7.62x39's and .30-06's.

Also after you've loaded a boolit into the case and after seating and crimping, pull the boolit and measure its diameter. The boolit should still measure .451 or .452 whatever sizing die you use. This will ensure that you're not shaving lead during the seating process. Just make a few test rounds without any powder or primer until you get the hang of it.

I know when I started reloading, I had boucoup questions and could find very few answers until I joined Castboolits.com and asked the "pros". I didn't realize that screwing the die in or out a little further would change the amount of belling of the case mouth. I had no idea how the die's position would determine the amount of expansion. Sometimes the instructions that come with the dies are not so clear and interpretation of the instructions could be explained by someone with a greater knowledge than I had. BC