I don't crimp that heavy with the .475 and .500 JRH. Those soft boolits just get ruined.
The boolit pushes the crimp open, not pressure behind the boolit.
I don't crimp that heavy with the .475 and .500 JRH. Those soft boolits just get ruined.
The boolit pushes the crimp open, not pressure behind the boolit.
You probably do not need a crimp at all. There is no need to over work the brass and shorten its life.
I use a factory crimp die on mine. It helps to make each case the same.
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You don't need much of a crimp, if any, on a light load.
Heavy crimp is most needed with slow powders and a heavy boolit.
The crimp holds the boolit in place long enough to give powder a more complete and uniform burn, that, in most cases will improve accuracy.
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"Too much" is hard to define, let's say that you have far more crimp than your application requires.
Reducing the amount of crimp will lengthen the life of your brass. It may or may not affect the accuracy of the rounds in your pistol, but in my very limited experience less crimp it is more likely to improve accuracy in your application.
You would have to try really hard to crimp hard enough to hurt your gun, I would stop worrying about that.
I believe that the brass and lead shavings are being produced by your heavy crimp, but the lead could be produced by not flaring the brass enough when you seat the bullet. I will often seat the bullet and crimp the bullet in two steps. This sometimes makes for a better bullet in my opinion, but it also allows me to look easily to see if I'm shaving lead while seating; if I am then I increase the amount of flare.
Having said all that I suggest that you try seating and crimping as separate operations to see where the shavings are coming from and also when you crimp try backing your crimp die off a half turn and see what that looks like. With your load the critical issue is getting rid of the flare so the cartridge will chamber in the gun, any additional crimp is likely just wasted effort and wear on your brass.
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I would not recommend the Lee Factory Crimp die for cast bullets. There is absolutely no need for it. But I have only reloaded about 100,000 .38 Spl. On the Star, the seating and crimp are done on one die; so it is not necessary to do it in separate operations; but it is a tad more difficult to set up. On the Dillon, I use a separate seating and crimping die.
The standard roll crimp is easy to set up and does the job. For the ultimate in accuracy (50 yard Bullseye), there is the rationale that a taper crimp (this is NOT a Lee FCD) has advantages, especially if one does not trim cases to uniform length.
Adjust your RCBS die to iron out the flare and give a wee bit of crimp and go have fun. BTW, an easy test is to take a round, place the bullet against the side of the bench and try to push the bullet into the case using arm strength. If it slides in, you need more crimp.
Don Verna
Thank you for all the help guys. As always this bunch is very knowledgeable and I can depend on all of you for good advice.
I've used almost that much crimp, when trying to get Unique to burn cleanly. With 3.0/Bull'sEye/158, you'll get very clean burning, crimp or no crimp, so I'D say you have much more crimp than you really need. Try backing off the crimp by 1/4 turn (up/out) of your crimping die and see how the ammo performs. It may shoot to a slightly different point of impact, but perhaps not.
The other thing that concerns me is that it looks like the case mouth is gripping the projectile somewhat below the top of the crimping groove. Ideally, you'd like the case mouth just under the top of the crimping groove. Try turning the seating plug down/in, by 1/2 turn, after you have adjusted the crimp out by 1/4 turn. Once the bullet is seated so that the case mouth contacts the top of the crimping groove, you are pretty much home and will not need to apply so much crimp.
Another possibility is to buy a separate taper crimp die for .38/.357, and crimp the rounds after seating, in a separate step. It's slightly more work, but I've noticed tighter groups when I have expended the extra effort. I recommend Redding, for the taper-crimp die.
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He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool become servant to the wise of heart. Proverbs 11:29
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Bunch of different opinions here so I'll add my .02. I crimp everything. All factory ammo is crimped.
You can vary the amount of Crimp to suit the individual round, more for heavier loads, and less for light loads.
It is easiest to Seat and Crimp in two separate operations because it is easier to adjust the two dies independently, you set the seating die first and then the crimping die after. Obviously a single die will do it, you just have to play with it a bit more to get it exactly right.
The amount you roll crimp is up to you. I do the same Roll Crimp level for light or heavy rounds on my .44's and .45-70's. I Taper Crimp to a specific dimension for Auto Pistol rounds, and I use a Lee Collet Style Factory Crimp Die to crimp Jacketed Bullets that have a cannelure, like .223's .308's .30-06 etc.
Any Round that needs to feed thru a magazine needs to be crimped simply because the only thing holding it in place is neck tension and in an auto pistol a bullet that is jammed back into the case can cause big problems. Same goes for rifles. If it is a Single Shot gun then you can easily get away with no crimp. But for all others it is just a good practice to do it.
Like I said in the beginning of my .02,,,, All Factory Loaded Ammo is Crimped . You can bet that if an ammo company could eliminate that one operation over Millions of Rounds it would save them a bunch of money,,,, but they don't seem to want to do that.
Maybe it does matter.
Randy
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I use the RCBS dies to seat and roll crimp in one step for my 38. For the 38 a slight roll crimp is all you need. Shoot what you have and then readjust your die.
Forgot to mention, I like the RCBS dies, and I haven't found a good use for the Lee FCD.
For soft bullet low pressure loads you should use the minimum crimp that will allow your ammo to chamber in your gun. Too much crimp can size a soft bullet down as it leaves the case and that will have a negative effect on accuracy. Too much crimp will also cause case mouths to crack prematurely, so bell just enough to seat bullets w/o scraping and crimp just enough to get rounds to chamber for max brass life.
Now if you're loading magnum handgun rounds using H-110/W-296 you want a fairly heavy crimp as the extra bullet pull from a heavy crimp helps that slow powder get burning and build pressure, and it also keeps recoil from pulling bullets and tying up the cylinder.
Kosh. It is crimped in the middle of the second cannalure. I used a factory remington to judge where to crimp mine at. The factory remington round is crimped in the middle of the cannalure too. Am I wrong for doing this? Will there be negative side affects?
If you can get the crimp closer up against the crimp groove, it's probably best to do so. If you can't make it happen, it's probably not critical. I doubt that any noticeable adverse side effects will show themselves, given the modest ballistics of the load you are shooting. IF you can make the changes I mentioned, I think it would be prudent to do so. If not, then probably the only danger you are in is getting a lot of split case mouths a bit sooner in the life of the cases than might occur otherwise. I don't see anything about the round you pictured that makes me want to yell "STOP!".Kosh. It is crimped in the middle of the second cannalure. I used a factory remington to judge where to crimp mine at. The factory remington round is crimped in the middle of the cannalure too. Am I wrong for doing this? Will there be negative side affects?
As you do more reloading, and work up a particular load from "mild" to "hot", adverse effects (if any) MAY start to show themselves, at which point you can decide what to do about them. Usually, the fix is an easy one. The reason that every reloading manual in the world fire-brands it into the neophyte reloader's brain to start below maximum and work up gradually is because problems that are tolerable or even absent at lower pressure loads may begin to show themselves in a troublesome way, as the charge weight increases. If you go straight to max charges and something is not right, it could be troublesome or even hazardous from the outset, leaving you no opportunity to iron out the problem early on.
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Ecclesiastes 1:18
He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool become servant to the wise of heart. Proverbs 11:29
...Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:40
Carpe SCOTCH!
You are over thinking this 10,000%
Most rimmed cases get a light roll crimp, most rimless or rebated get a taper.
A little dab will do ya. Too much crimp leads to shortened case life due to case mouth cracks.
Rimmed cases like 38spl are among the easiest to load.
No problem with seat and crimp in one stage, just figure out what you are doing. Many that seat and crimp in separate stages never learned how to do it good in one stage.
You dont need a fcd.
Using the correct level and type of crimp makes for good, uniform, duplicatable ammo.
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