Crimp Question

[tincansailor]

I was reloading some 8mm for one of my mausers; I always seat the bullet and then crimp in two steps. The load I like is C.E. Harris's 200 yard milslurp (16 grains of 2400). Great for busting clay birds at 100 yards... but I digress.

had a thought: Is the crimp really necessary for this load? A crimp is convenient for a misfire, ok - one doesn't have to hold the rifle vertically to extract with no powder getting in the action. But that almost never happens.

So, is a crimp necessary for accuracy with such a mild load? Just wondering what others think. If I had my eyes up to youthful standards and wasn't shooting milsurps, I could make a comparison. But my ability these days is (sigh) somewhat questionable.

What do others do?

[runfiverun]

I crimp nothing unless it needs it.
does the round chamber and unchamber without one?
does it need one for feeding?
does it need one for boolit retention under recoil?
if no then no crimp.

[leadman]

I seldom crimp my rifle cartridges, even jacketed loads. On some of my mil-surps I leave some of the bell in so it centers the cartridge in the chamber better.
I did crimp when shooting matches for the rapid fire portion where I was feeding from the magazine.

[jonp]

Depends. In my lever actions I do due to the tube and the magazine fed ar's and 742 woodmaster I do. In my bolts, not really unless I have a heavy load. Same in revolvers. Magnum loads yes, target loads not that concerned.

[williamwaco]

Did you expand the mouth of the case to seat the bullet?
If you did, I would crimp just enough to remove the flare.