To crimp or not

[Johnny bravo]

I have never crimped any of my cartridges before. There was no need to as I used to FL resize them after each shoot and the bullets were a snug fit when reloading again.

But after my last session at the range, for the very first time ever, I used a universal decapping die to deprime without resizing the cases. Thus, I am now left with cases that are quite generously expanded at the case mouth and both my GG bullets and PP bullets can be finger seated very easily without any pressure at all. But the downside is, the bullets now:
1. drop out if I turn the case upside down
2. get struck in the barrel when I try to eject the brass
3. get struck in the MTM ammo case ( these are heads stored faced down type)

I have read many a good case for NOT crimping and am all for it as I am doing quite well without it.

I am exclusively a target shooter, so have no reason to worry about bullets dropping out in the field. So, alternatively, would those gentlemen who don’t crimp suggest how you take your loose cartridges to the range? Obviously, I don't have a ammo box to carry them face up at the moment ( and neither does the shops I have queried).

Thank you all:-)

ATB.

[martinibelgian]

It just takes a bit of a trick taking them out of the box - doing it at an angle, so the bullet doesn't drop out. You just tilt th cartridge when taking it out of the box. After all, even I can manage it, so...
Crimping? Never - you could necksize for a snug fit, of course.

[SharpsShooter]

I find that a taper crimp gives me lower, often single digit extreme spread numbers. If the cases are trimmed the same length it is very consistent and accuracy follows. Plus.....I'm not down on my knees looking through the grass for escapees.

In a levergun....always crimp.


SS

[Boz330]

I have one gun that likes a .001 to .002 neck tension and one that likes no neck tension. I am using GG boolits so the lube is enough to hold the boolit. If you have not tried neck tension it might be something else to take a look at. I have tried the taper crimped rounds but didn't get the same results as neck tension.
If it is a real big problem why not make a wood tray for your boxes and replace the plastic insert. Just find a wood bit big enough to drill for the 45 case head. I am assuming you have the 100 round MTM boxes.

Bob

[1874Sharps]

JB,

SharpsShooter and Boz330 have given some very good pointers. One of the problems with high bullet pull (neck tension) in a BPCR is that it can distort and size down the soft lead boolits used therein. I have had good luck with both very light sizing (enough to keep the boolit fixed) and taper crimping with a Lyman die in my 45-70. If you are loading for a magazine rifle, of course, you will need a good roll crimp in the groove so that the round will go through the mechanism without the boolit moving. I do this with my 1873 in 45 Colt with BP and it seems to do just fine.

[Don McDowell]

You can still run your cases thru the size die , so you get the neck tension back.
If the bullets are falling out of the case when you place them in your ammo box, I'ld be willing to bet that accuracy is going to pot and fouling is going to be out of control. But you'll need to shoot a few to see what's what.
You can also set your seater die to put just a minimal amount of crimp to just barely hold the bullet.

[martinibelgian]

Don,
You'd lose your bet - such rounds can and will perform very well indeed, from my own experience shooting a 45-70 with a rather generous chamber... Just about all my rounds were like that.

[Don McDowell]

Martin yes they can shoot well, they can also lead to abismal accuracy, heavily fouled and leaded barrels, just talking from some of my experience with variuous rifles and chamberings.
But like I said in my earlier post, he'll just have to try them and see what happens. maybe nothing , maybe good things, maybe bad, won't know till he loads and fires.

[montana_charlie]

You didn't say whether you size your bullets when lubing them.
You might try using them at as-cast diameter...like me and many others.

I don't resize cases at all, and my GG bullets are held in by 'lube suction'.
But, if all else fails, you can back your full-length sizer out of the press enough that you get a small amount of resizing...on just the neck of the case.

That way you still have a 'fireformed' body...and a slightly resized neck.

You would want to lock your FL die at the position where you get a tiny bit of neck tension on the bullet, without needing to use the expander die.

CM

[Johnny bravo]

Thank you all for your kind and helpful suggestions.

Luckily I have only loaded 20 of these cartridges. I am going to slightly taper crimp half of them with the Lyman taper crimp die and the remainder I’ll shoot as they are. It will be an experiment of sorts:idea:

MC, the GG bullets are resized to .459. I could try unsized ‘fat’ bullets, but have had chambering problems with them in the past; nearly broke my thumb trying to chamber some of them. The fat bullets always get struck somewhere in the leade region and the case sticks out about .25in or so.

ATB.

[montana_charlie]

MC, the GG bullets are resized to .459. I could try unsized ‘fat’ bullets, but have had chambering problems with them in the past; nearly broke my thumb trying to chamber some of them. The fat bullets always get struck somewhere in the leade region and the case sticks out about .25in or so.

ATB.
Sounds like as-cast is not a good idea for you...
CM

[longhorn]

My Browning shoots best with a medium taper crimp. My rolling block shoots best if I finger seat bullets into cases just before shooting. I don't believe there are any absolutes with black powder cartridge rifles, except maybe "fouling is bad."