??? Crimping 223 Rnds for use in Ar's or any other Rifles ???

[Russ in WY]

Has anyone tried this & found any change in there grouping . I have read & heard that it will give a more consistent pressure & release for the bullets.. Just received a Lee Factory type crimp die & will do some test as soon as the wind drops & the Temp rises, here in Cheyenne..
However if anyone has been down this road & has some data/info to share I would be most appreciative . Tks Russ...

[Doc_Stihl]

The Factory Crimp die will have a larger affect for some than others. It boils down to your brass and your size die. With brand new brass and a correctly sized neck you probably won't see much change. Brass that's work hardened or a sizer that isn't giving good neck tension you may see a larger change.

FCD will help get a better grip on some bullets. I played with my .223 die when I first got mine. Loaded up batches for my encore pistol with the same charge and bullet and played with no crimp, taper crimp, roll crimp, and varying levels of factory crimp. I got surprisingly good results with a VERY heavy factory crimp(enough to leave a noticable ring on pulled bullets). The encore had a typical long long throat and I wanted to see if a heavier crimp would help build pressure to burn better.

[OuchHot!]

I never "crimped" non-cannelured bullets when loading for match shooting. That ammo was as good or better as the gun was capable of so I didn't bother researching it; other than to verify the OAL stayed the same during the loading cycle. With cannelured bullets, I have not been able to tell a difference between "hard" and "mild" use of the fcd. I have not seen any improvement when using the normal type crimp die. I suspect this result is because my 55gfmj cannelured bullets are not that accurate in my guns. I have messed with this a bit but only 10sh groups at 100yds and just did not get a statistically clear result. this was limited to three guns, two with wylde chambers/booteak barrels and a factory Colt.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I use nothing but 55gr .22 bullets with a cannelure. I also use the Lee FCD. The reason for the Lee is because it doesn't care if the cases are all the same length.

Also it keeps the bullets from moving around in the magazine, and prevents them from being set back when feeding.

I consider it to be a" must do" step in reloading for all my .223 carbines.

I originally started out with a normal bullet seating die with the seater removed, but soon found out I was getting inconsistent crimps due to the differences in case length.

The Lee die solved that problem.

Randy