30-30 Winchester Crimp At Crimp Ring Or To Fit Chamber?

[UtopiaTexasG19]

I have taken a previously fired casing from my 30-30 Winchester, de-primed then checked for proper case lenght, cut two very thin slots partially down the neck, manually pushed in a new bullet knowing it was not far enough in, then chambered the round in my rifle to see how far the bullet would seat. After removing the cartridge from the rifle I can see quite a gap from the end of the casing to the crimp ring on the bullet. (See picture below) The oal of this seated sample is 2.570". This is using the Missouri Cast 135gr. RFNP. Should I be crimping at the crimp ring on the cast bullet or using the oal I get seating this dummy cartridge? All the reading I have done has me a bit confused. Any help appreciated. Thanks...
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l46/mpawelek/30-30WinchesterCOAL2570.jpg

[cbrick]

What type of firearm? If it's a levergun your kinda stuck using the crimp groove because the rounds in the magazine will push un-crimped bullets deeper into the case.

If it's a single shot or you will single load them there could be an accuracy benefit to seating to kiss the rifling.

So either way could, might, possibly be correct. You didn't give us much info to go on.

Rick

[462]

For the Model 94 and its tube magazine, I crimp at the groove. It is the only rifle cartridge that gets crimped, all the others are seated to touch the rifling.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

i was asking a very similar question the other day , on the lever forum

in my case i was using a 170 gr boolit but when i did a similar test to what you did mine was to long to cycle out

I would say try both make up 5-10 of each and try it both ways with each powder charge

if you can tell the difference in accuracy do what ever is more accurate

[UtopiaTexasG19]

I have a Lee factory crimp die so I can crimp anywhere and yes it is a 336 Lever action with the tube magazine.

[MikeS]

I would say make up a few at the length that just touches the rifling. Use the FCD to crimp them in place there, and then see if they will cycle thru the tubular magazine without any hangups. if it works good there, then try shooting them, and compare them to a group with the boolits crimped into the crimp groove. If you see a big difference, then go with which ever one gave you better accuracy. Also check how well the extended ones cycle in the action, if they just barely cycle, they might not be the best choice for hunting boolits, but for shooting at the range they would be just fine. You would hate to miss that important second shot because a round hung up in the magazine!

[Bret4207]

I load everything to lightly engrave if it's long enough. Crimp grooves are nice, but they aren't the only way to crimp. Just gotta be careful you don't mangle the boolit.

[1Shirt]

Tend to agree with Bret. I crimp for levers, but not necessarily on the provided crimp groove, but where it will feed, and where I get the best accuracy. The exception to that seems to be in my M-94 30-30, and the 150 Lee. That blt shoots best with crimp in groove, is no where near length max, and shoots well over a number of different pdrs.
1Shirt!:coffeecom