308 win

[Zombie1978]

Wanting to try cast bullets in my new 308. I know I need to bell the case to load but don't have a crimping die to crimp bullet in. Will this be okay or do I need to purchase a crimping die?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Zombie,
Welcome to the forum.
Your Seat die should be able to crimp, when set properly. Do you have the original instructions with your Die set?

[Scharfschuetze]

I know I need to bell the case to load but don't have a crimping die to crimp bullet in.

No, if your boolit is firmly seated with say .002 to .003" of compression at the neck, it should be OK. Chambering the round will not be as smooth, but your chamber's neck, depending on its diameter, will straiten out the bell to some extent. You may want to avoid aggressive chambering from the magazine as the belled neck may catch on the start of the feed ramp of the rifle (if it's a magazine fed repeater) until you get a seating die with a crimp.

Most of my cast boolit ammo for the 308 does not get crimped at all. I just use a taper crimp die to fold in the bell on the neck parallel with the boolit.

[Zombie1978]

The seating die I use is a Lee die. I can drop the case in the die and it goes all the way in with no pressure. The die I use for my 30/30 is a lee and it has a crimp.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

maybe you have the Lee dead length seater? which doesn't have a crimp option.
It generally comes with the Lee collet neck-only sizing die.
Again, do you have the original instruction sheet, what does it say?

[MostlyLeverGuns]

No need for crimp on .308 Win. Crimp tube feed lever guns, revolvers with enough recoil to pull bullets, magazine rifles with heavy recoil. Crimping SOMETIMES helps accuracy with SOME powders. Crimping can also deform bullets and cause accuracy problems. I don't crimp .308, .358, .243, .300 Savage, .303 Savage. I crimp .30-30 for Marlin's not my Savage 99. I do crimp .444, .35 Rem, 45-70 in Marlins. Normally crimping should be avoided unless required by rifle design or recoil. Crimping can shorten case life.

[Zombie1978]

The die I have does not crimp. I will try loading some and see how they shoot. I would like a good bullet to use in my 30/30 and my 308.

[Scharfschuetze]

The die I have does not crimp. I will try loading some and see how they shoot. I would like a good bullet to use in my 30/30 and my 308.

A good compromise boolit that will do well in both the 30/30 and the 308 is the Lyman 311041/311141 design. It is cloned by a couple of other mould makers and while it is purposely designed for the 30/30, it does very well in the 308.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/128710/lyman-2-cavity-bullet-mold-311041-30-caliber-309-diameter-173-grain-flat-nose-gas-check

I shoot a bunch of these yearly in several 30 calibre rifles. Crimp with the 30/30 and your option with the 308.

[quilbilly]

Have never used a crimp on my 308's using my RCBS die set and when I am having a good shooting day, the rifle get sub-MOA groups with my Lee 160's.

[Menner]

I am not using any crimp for my 308 I flare the neck just enough to get about half the gas check in then I seat the bullet 3 thousands long and finish seating with the bolt have not had any problems with the flare catching the leading edge of the feed ramp at all
I am shooting sub moa at 100 consistently and have shot sub moa at 200
pushing a 30 XCB boolit 1850 to 1900 fps
Tony

[MostlyLeverGuns]

The Lyman 311041 does work very well in most 30's. I've used it in .308, .30-30, .300 Savage, 30-06 and others. Clones are numerous - Lee, NOE, most of the mold makers. The RCBS 30-150 Flatnose and the RCBS 30-180 Flatnose and their clones also work in most .30's. Most of the good '30-30 molds' will also shoot very accurately in the .308. So many choices that all work well for both! Fortunately the 30-30 and 308 are two of the easiest cartridges to work with for cast bullets.

[robg]

I'm the odd one out here I like to crimp all my rifle loads ,use the Lee fcd die found I got better accuracy.more than one way to skin a cat, you need to try yourself to find what works for you.