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TO CRIMP OR NOT TO CRIMP
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Picture of Richard Wayne
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I have noticed some reloader's loading .300 RUM.s DO NOT, crimp there there bullet's, yet the Hornady reload manual say's that you should with magnum rifle's that are using slow burning powder, would like some advice on which way to go , as i am just starting to reload for my 300 rum. thank's: Rick.
 
Posts: 224 | Location: ontario,canada | Registered: 14 July 2002Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by Richard Wayne:
I have noticed some reloader's loading .300 RUM.s DO NOT, crimp there there bullet's, yet the Hornady reload manual say's that you should with magnum rifle's that are using slow burning powder, would like some advice on which way to go , as i am just starting to reload for my 300 rum. thank's: Rick.

.....For target loads single loaded then some don't crimp but many use bushing dies to get the similar results for increased neck tension and good burning....in regular dies and hunting loads I would crimp and you might try a seperate taper type crimp if your bullets don't have a crimp groove or try a bushing die....also some loads and dies do better if you back the crimp off and seat the bullet and then in a SEPERATE operation go back and back the seater stem off and just use the crimp fuction to get a good crimp....this is with good equally trimmed and same number of firings brass and prefer to crimp in crimp groove if the bullet has one on hunting type loadings......and in the end you can let your gun/ and the grouping tell you which the gun likes.....HTH..good luck and good shooting-loading!!
 
Posts: 687 | Location: Jackson/Tenn/Madison | Registered: 07 March 2001Reply With Quote
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You'll get a million diverse opinions on this. Some will say it helps accuracy and others will say not. I would say in general it would be a slight majority that say it helps just ever so slightly. I don't know if lee makes a factory crimp die yet for the 300 rum but if they do it will be first class and real reasonable so I'd say give it a try. Personally I reload for 300 wby and 340 wby and do not crimp nor do I feel a need to do so. Good luck
 
Posts: 2002 | Location: central wi | Registered: 13 September 2002Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by Richard Wayne:
I have noticed some reloader's loading .300 RUM.s DO NOT, crimp there there bullet's, yet the Hornady reload manual say's that you should with magnum rifle's that are using slow burning powder, would like some advice on which way to go , as i am just starting to reload for my 300 rum. thank's: Rick.

I crimp EVERYTHING!!
 
Posts: 2359 | Location: KENAI, ALASKA | Registered: 10 November 2001Reply With Quote
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quote:
Originally posted by Bigdaddytacp:
quote:
Originally posted by Richard Wayne:
I have noticed some reloader's loading .300 RUM.s DO NOT, crimp there there bullet's, yet the Hornady reload manual say's that you should with magnum rifle's that are using slow burning powder, would like some advice on which way to go , as i am just starting to reload for my 300 rum. thank's: Rick.

.....For target loads single loaded then some don't crimp but many use bushing dies to get the similar results for increased neck tension and good burning....in regular dies and hunting loads I would crimp and you might try a seperate taper type crimp if your bullets don't have a crimp groove or try a bushing die....also some loads and dies do better if you back the crimp off and seat the bullet and then in a SEPERATE operation go back and back the seater stem off and just use the crimp fuction to get a good crimp....this is with good equally trimmed and same number of firings brass and prefer to crimp in crimp groove if the bullet has one on hunting type loadings......and in the end you can let your gun/ and the grouping tell you which the gun likes.....HTH..good luck and good shooting-loading!!
I'm doing exactly the same. All the time.

With hunting ammo I won't play and take chances. I've witnessed many times (more than 7) serious feeding or extraction problems due to not crimping at all.
 
Posts: 748 | Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina | Registered: 14 January 2001Reply With Quote
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I crimp all ammo that is to be fired out of a lever action. As far as bolt guns I've had some that shot better with a crimp but if the bullet has no cannelure you'll have to taper or factory crimp as you can damage the bullet. The Lee factory crimp dies have worked very well for me. Best thing is to try both ways and see which works best for your rifle.
 
Posts: 323 | Location: Northeastern, PA | Registered: 21 June 2002Reply With Quote
<Bill T>
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I am a firm believer in crimping. Especially since the Lee Factory Crimp Die came out. I have one in most every caliber that I reload for. They work very well, and you cannot collapse a case with one. In straight walled pistol calibers they have a Carbide resizer ring installed in them to assure all your loads will chamber in any gun. Bill T.
 
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The Lee Factory Crimp Die works just fine for uncannelured bullets or bullets not seated to the cannelure. As for bullet damage, all you're doing is creating a cannelure the same way the factory cannelures them, only a bit shallower. If this is "damage," the rifling is "damaging" them on firing, too. In my rifles they shoot very accurately. Richard Lee states in his book something to the effect that Vernon Speer put out the warning against using Speer bullets with Lee's crimper due to a personal animosity. There seems to be some bad blood between them. At any rate, I crimp into uncannelured Speer 200 grain spitzer bullets regularly in my .300 Weatherby Magnum, shoot 1" and below 100 yard groups regularly with them, and nothing bad's happened to me yet.
 
Posts: 424 | Location: Bristol, Tennessee, USA | Registered: 28 September 2003Reply With Quote
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Originally posted by NotRicochet:
The Lee Factory Crimp Die works just fine for uncannelured bullets or bullets not seated to the cannelure. As for bullet damage, all you're doing is creating a cannelure the same way the factory cannelures them, only a bit shallower. If this is "damage," the rifling is "damaging" them on firing, too. In my rifles they shoot very accurately. ... At any rate, I crimp into uncannelured Speer 200 grain spitzer bullets regularly in my .300 Weatherby Magnum, shoot 1" and below 100 yard groups regularly with them, and nothing bad's happened to me yet.

I agree with this advice.

The question of whether or not to crimp has come up here repeatedly, and numerous opinions have been offered. I suggest that you should at least look at Saeed's results, given elsewhere here in Accuratereloading. These results show a small but measurable increase in accuracy with crimping.
 
Posts: 5883 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 11 March 2001Reply With Quote
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I crimp nothing in my bolt action rifles. Lever action and semi-autos, all get crimped.
 
Posts: 281 | Location: MN | Registered: 27 May 2001Reply With Quote
<OTTO>
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I crimp all handgun ammo. The bolt guns get no crimp.
 
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I crimp all handgun ammo, and all cartridges for leverguns also. I have a .338WM that I seat the bullet so far out, the groove is a long way from the case mouth. I have never had any problems.
 
Posts: 345 | Location: Michigan | Registered: 09 February 2003Reply With Quote
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I find it totally unecessary to crimp any of my loads including the ultramags.My hunting rifles are all bolt actions.

[ 09-29-2003, 02:10: Message edited by: stubblejumper ]
 
Posts: 3104 | Location: alberta,canada | Registered: 28 January 2002Reply With Quote
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I have to date never crimped any ammo that will be used in my Bolt Actions inclueding the 300 RUM.
Lever Action and Handguns do get crimped.
But I have thought about trying the Lee Crimper just to see if crimping does make a difference.

[ 09-30-2003, 10:24: Message edited by: Tiny ]
 
Posts: 205 | Location: East Tennessee | Registered: 19 July 2002Reply With Quote
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Originally posted by Tiny:
But I have thought about trying the Lee Crimper just to see if crimping does make a difference.

The Lee Factory Crimp Die is cartridge-specific, meaning that you need a different one for each cartridge. You need two different dies, for example, for the .30-06 and the .308.

This also means that unless Lee makes the die in whatever cartridge you are loading, you are out of luck. Last time I looked, for example, Lee did not make this die in .260 Remington.
 
Posts: 5883 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 11 March 2001Reply With Quote
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Actually the Lee die BODIES are not cartridge- specific, only the actuating parts. For instance, a 7 Rem Mag. case will fit in my 243 Win crimper (and neck-sizer) body. I can use the 243 Win die to crimp 6mm Rem cases by backing the die out the right amount and using a spacer I made from a nut which I drop over the 6mm case to contact the actuator on the bottom of the die. A little slower, but works fine. This also works great for me with the Lee neck-sizer in the same caliber. My guess is the '06 in a 308 Win die'd work, also, in the same manner. Not sure if the RUM's specifically would fit these dies, however, don't have one.
 
Posts: 179 | Location: No. Idaho | Registered: 23 June 2000Reply With Quote
<eldeguello>
posted
quote:
the Hornady reload manual say's that you should with magnum rifle's that are using slow burning powder,
This is a crock!! It is totally un-necessary to crimp any rifle round that is to be fired in a bolt action or single-shot rifle, regardless of what kind of powder you are using!! [Roll Eyes]
 
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Totally unnecessary, sure. But it can work well and sometimes seems to work better than not crimping. It's another variable to experiment with.

IMO the roll crimps included in most seating dies are so variable they're worse than doing nothing, but not so with the Lee collet crimper.
 
Posts: 424 | Location: Bristol, Tennessee, USA | Registered: 28 September 2003Reply With Quote
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Originally posted by NotRicochet:
IMO the roll crimps included in most seating dies are so variable they're worse than doing nothing, but not so with the Lee collet crimper.

I agree completely with this.

If you've formed a bad opinion about crimping based on the roll crimp that can be gotten with the standard seating die, I think you owe it to yourself to at least try the crimp produced by the Lee Factory Crimp Die; it crimps in a completely different and much better way than what is done by the regular seating die.
 
Posts: 5883 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 11 March 2001Reply With Quote
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