ckurts,
I always seat and crimp in one step and have never had a problem (well O.K., almost never).
What I do is bell the case mouth just enough to insure a good start for the bullet. With the seater/crimping die, I start with the seating plug screwed way down in the die and the die itself just started in the press. I then place the case with bullet in the shell holder and gently press down on the arm until I can feel the bullet start to seat. I then look at the round and see how much farther it needs to go. I then screw the die further into the press to allow deeper seating. I continue this process until the bullet is down enough that the crimping grove is aligned with the top of the case.
Once the crimping groove and top of the case mouth (I like to have the case mouth cover aprox. 2/3 of the crimping groove) are correctly positioned, I unscrew the bullet seating plug as far out as I can. With the arm still down, I then screw the die body into the press until resistance with the case mouth can be felt. Raise up the press arm and screw the die body into the press a SMALL amount (no more than 1/8 turn). Press down on the arm once more. Repeat this procedure until you get the desired crimp. At no time during this step should the bullet seating plug touch the bullet.
When you have the desired crimp, lock the die body into the press with the set screw. Now with the press arm pushed down, screw down the bullet seating plug until it firmly contacts the top of the bullet. You should now be able to seat and crimp the remaining rounds with one step. If the bullet depth is not quite correct after this, just make MINOR adjustments to the bullet seater plug.
I will probably take less time to do procedure this than read this posting, it is really quite simple.
Good luck.
[This message has been edited by Cactus (edited March 11, 2000).]