Hey all, Question is do you have to crimp the 30-30 WCF? Been playing around with the roll crimp and think I've got it down but none of my factory shells have a visable crimp. They are seated to the canaloure but no crimp. In fact I can see the case trim marks. So do I need to crimp or not????????

If its a tube feed I would recommend that you crimp. recoil may drive the bullet in

+1 crimp it for safety.

Yup. I actually use an adjusted 308 Lee factory crimp die.

No Crimp for my old M94 30WCF. I feel a crimp is not needed if the expander ball is the correct diamter and the brass wall thinkness is normal when using RCBS dies.

I guarantee that if you load your magazine full with no crimp, the first time you shoot your rifle the next cartridge coming up will have the bullet down in the case.

The crimp die with most die sets require that all the cases be trimmed to equal length. This can be a real pain as .30/30 cases grow like weeds upon firing.

Since Lee brought out the factory crimp die, all these problems ceased to exist. Every .30/30 reloader needs one of these ingenious devices.

For that particular cartridge I buy only cannelured bullets and I crimp them in place using the Lee FCD.

IMO a Lee collet crimp die should be supplied with every center fire tubular magazine rifle.

But since they are not you must buy your own.



AD

The .30-30 WCF is the first cartridge I ever loaded back in 85 and remember having the bullets getting driven in after the first shot. Now I seat the bullet in one step and crimp in a second.

I had not heard of this new fangled invention, the Lee factory crimp die, how is it different?
Do you seat and crimp in one operation with it?

I use RCBS dies on a single stage Redding. It sounds like I need one of these!

-Steve
Wake Forest, NC

Steve, the Lee FC die is a separate die that is just used for crimping. It does almost totally duplicate the crimp you see on factory ammo. Check the Lee web site. I believe they are worth the money. Lee provides them in some of their die sets, like the 30-30.