Henry Rifle Forums

does anyone have any positive or negative experience with crimping bullets that do not have a cantilever groove .. .. Lee makes a crimp die for both 30-06 and 308 .... we load both of these calibers and none of the bullets we use have a cantilever groove .... the info that comes with the dies says crimping these bullets improves accuracy and performance .... recommendations based on experience would be greatly appreciated

Jim
I have never crimped rifle bullets unless there for a levergun. As far as accuracy goes I cant tell you crimped vs no crimp. I dont even crimp the bullets I shoot in the autos like AR's and Ruger mini -14's. I have never had an issue. Al

neither have I .... historically I use LEE crimp dies to crimp revolver bullets and any used in a tubular magazine .... earlier today at Cabela's I noticed 308 and 30-06 dies among their display .... that got me to wondering .... in briefly looking around the web I have found statements that crimping can improve accuracy by 10% and cut down on the difference in muzzle velocity between a series of shots .... I'm sure there has to be some solid researched info out there about it but I haven't found it so far

All rifle bullets I load are straight wall cases and are shot in lever guns. I use and am very happy with the Lee factory crimp die. I also use the factory crimp die for my single action revolvers (.32 H&R Magnum, .357 Magnum, & .44 Magnum)

The only bullets I don't crimp are the ones I shoot in my 9mm semi-auto pistol.

A few years ago I loaded some Berry's plated .357 bullets (with no cantelure) for the Rossi .357 levergun I use to have. I did not have a factory crimp die at that time but I did put a crimp on the bullet. I shot a few rounds and checked the bullets - the remaining bullets in the tube had sunk down into the case. That is when I bought factory crimp dies - not worth the gamble in a lever gun or a magnum revolver.

I normal crimp everything . My bottom feeder like 9mm , 40SW and 45acp I use a taper crimp for 2 reason . One is so it helps to feed better and fits most chamber better. It also seam to burn better and more accurate and really hold the bullet tighter . I use a roll crimp in most revolver and tube mag rifle so the bullet don't move and it seams to burns power better and more accurate too . My 44-40 have been reload 90 time in 15 yrs with 6.0 gr of Unique for cowboy action which is a very mild load . The brass has a very thin neck and I never spit a neck . The factory crimp die is too hard on brass , so I only use it on brass I'm not going to reload again .

Here is a better pic of my roll crimp ....

I do a lot of shooting with competitive shooters (I compete but am not competitive!) and no one I know of crimps30/ 06, 223 or 308 ammo. Uniform pressure around the circumference of a bullet is a big deal and many uses trimmers to uniform the brass diameter at the case mouth towards that end. I think that crimping such rounds would be detrimental to improved accuracy.

Just for info, the factory crimp dies that Lee makes are two flavors. For straight wall pistol calibers, they are a standard crimp die with a sizing ring. The sizing ring will iron out any bumps in the case that has been introduced during the expanding and seating operations.

For necked cartridges, they are collet style which put a different type of crimp versus a standard taper crimp. I really like the factory crimp die in rifle calibers. I can take or leave the factory crimp in pistol calibers.

I bought a set of RCBS dies for 30-06 earlier this year. I could not get the bullets to stay in place no matter how I adjusted them, or what crimp setting I used. A Lee factory crimp with a light crimp setting got them to hold in place without worry of setback in the blind mag.

The instruction sheet says you can use them with or without a canelure. As a benefit, since they use a collet, precise trimming of the case isn't necessary to obtain a consistent crimp from case to case, like you must do with traditional crimp dies in rifle calibers. Of course you must still trim overlength cases.

I have 2 target guns the brass is not sized . I built both guns

The 1st gun is a 32-40 the bullet push into rifling ahead of brass and the brass only function is to hold the powder and primer . This is called breach seating . The big gun on a battle ship are loaded this way .






My other target gun is a tight neck 222 , the brass is never resized . You knock out the primer and seat a new primer and charge the brass with power and hand seat new bullet .