Who has experience with crimping cannelured bullets? There are many good bullets out there
that I have not reloaded just because they
contained a cannelure and I didn't want to mess
with crimping. I read or heard somewhere that
crimping bottle neck cases can be tricky and a
source of errors if not done properly. What is the best way to set up dies? Should the crimp be
in the middle of the cannelure? ETC. I use RCBS
standard dies and I want to load some Hornady
139gr SST's in 7mm rem mag. All help appreciated!
BLR7

I have long been a non magnum open sight shooter and this fall I am doing a fly in moose hunt and all my buddies have scoped magnums. Not wanting to be the weak link in our group I got a 338Win and loaded some 225 gr cannelured bullets. I have used cannelures and crimped them with Lee dies (older style) and RCBS. Did not have a problem ever... until my first magnum excursion. My hunting partner also has a 338WM. Some of the 80 rounds I loaded would no chamber in his A-Bolt, but would chamber in my Mod 70. If you looked closely you could see that the case had a slight buldge at the shoulder. I full legnth resized and trimmed all to same legnth. Same trim legnth is critical for crimping consistently. Also critical is the amount of crimp applied. In my other cartridges I was not concerned with recoil scooting my bullets out of the case, so I settled for a light crimp. With the 338 I was overly concerned and adjusted the die for too much crimp, which caused the case to compress and buldge. If you have a tight chamber an imperceptible buldge will cause the round not to go in. On the other hand, if you crimp to lightly and have a heavy bullet with heavy recoil then the bullet can creep forward. You know you have too much crimp if the case deforms. You know you have not enough if the bullet creeps. I have never had a bullet creep, even with non-cannelured bullets so I think I need to control my paranoia some. The trouble I have is finding the right place in between. Like primer seating, it needs to be done by feel. When adjusting the die for the crimp do so in small increments (adjust the die deeper by an 1/8 of a turn or less) and do not trust the amount of crimp at the cannelure to the eyes. Slight crimp looks like heavy crimp. I think that once the case mouth comes in at the cannelure the crimp is complete and I will kepp that in mind for my next 338 loads.

Peppe: Thanks for such a good reply. That is the knid of info I was looking for. What kind of
accuracy do you get? Do you ever see high pressure
signs? Can the crimp hide the cannelure and what
is too much crimp? I can't find much info on this subject but first hand experience is best. I used to load .357mag pistol and crimping was tricky
but doable and got some outstanding loads. BLR7

crimp can and often does hide the cannelure.

previous post is right on that all cases must be exactly the same length for crimping to work.

BLR7:

Number one, always remember, that a Browning A-Bolt is built to the absolute minimum specs.

I have had many guns that would take any ammo,and the Browning refuse to chamber them.

Also, get a Lee Factory Crimper, and it will solve you bulge in the case. It only crimps the case into the cannelure.

in a 7mm rem mag, there is no need to crimp any bullet.

Can someone explain the reason why crimping is necessary. I reload for a .22-250 and .270 and have never seen a need to crip. I have loaded up bullets that have a canalure and never worried about crimping and they work fine. although The last time i loaded some 130 grn SST they didn't shoot very well out of my .270 so i guess i will just stay with nosler

SUPPOSEDLY THE REASON FOR CANNELURES AND CRIMPING INTO THEM IS TO HOLD THE BULLET TIGHTER AND NOT
ALLOW CREEPING OF THE BULLETS FROM RECOIL CONCUCHION ,ETC. ESPECIALLY IN AUTO-LOADERS AND
LEVER ACTIONS THAT ARE MAGAZINE FED. ALSO THE FACTORY CLAIMS A BETTER SEAL ON THE BULLET TO PREVENT MOISTURE FROM ENTERING BETWEEN NECK AND
BULLET. THIS IS NOT AN ABSOLUTE NECESSITY IN BOLT
ACTION GUNS BUT IF YOU RELOAD CANNELURED BULLETS
WHY NOT LEARN HOW TO CRIMP THEM. JUST MY THOUGHTS!
BLR7

One pain reason not to crimp bullets is the length of cartridge to the cannelure is not likely to be the best overall cartridge length.

The cannelures are in the wrong place for most rifles I have.

jameister

How can the cannelure be in the wrong place. I f the average seating depth varies by o.o40" that
cannelure width is more than enough to compensate
for most seating depths. How would the factory
ammo with cannelures be able to chamber in all
those different types of rifles and still get
somewhat decent levels of accuracy? As long as
there is a caliber's diameter of bearing surface
against the neck from cannelure crimp to the base of the bullet the loads should be fine! Right?
BLR7

BLR7-On big bores I like cannelures.With my wildcat 458 hubel Express testing
all bullets tested had cannelures.If they didn't have them I put them on.They make for more uniform
loads, and the crimping doesn't have to be heavy.
Ed.

HUBEL458:
Do you cast your own bullets. Am I missing something here? How do you put your own cannelure
on a bullet? This is interesting! How is accuracy?
BLR7

These are copper jacketed bullets.You put cannelure on with a little hand cranked machine you can buy.Called a cannelure tool.
Or like I did in my mini lathe that I used to
start belt on the brass I made.I did test some
hard cast bullets for Fusilier.They had cannelure, were 400 grains, and heat treated, with nose softened for good expansion.I had the only 458 cal that could get them to 3200.And they
worked without lead fouling, much to my surprize.
Accuracy on a couple of loads I was able to work on for accuracy was 2 inches at 100yds for 3 shots.Shot a few hard X bullets and I put 4 cannelures on them so they could get to same speed
as jacketed, with same pressure.X bullets and solids have to be loaded back a little, otherwise.
Ed.

BLR7 - I'm working w/ a .41 mag in a 14" Contender barrel right now. Published oal(col) is 1.580", at this length the 210 grn Sierra's cannelure is just about completely out of the case. I have set my oal(col) at 1.613" to put the bullet at the lands. At this length, the cannelure is too far out of the case to crimp......so, I just crimp into the jacket. Hope this helps answer your question about Cannelures and seating depths.

cummins cowboy, a crimp is used on some guns that have heavy recoil, like 458 win mag. to keep the bullet from jumping forward, and jamming the gun, when hunting dangers game. Another time may be in a tube feed 30-30 leaver acton, where the bullets are being compressed by a heavy spring. Most dies when using a expander, are fitted that crimping is not needed. Only crimp if the bullet is jumping crimp, but make sure the brass , dies , and expander are all correct first.

If you have some cases which you slightly overcrimped and bulged, remove the decapper from your sizer and resize the finished round. I do this as a standard procedure for heavy caliber hunting ammo, just to insure proper feeding. Also, using slightly compressed loads will greatly decrease the incidence of shoulder buckling.

OK, I will try some 139gr Hornady SST's. Half will
be crimped into the cannelures and half will not
be crimped at all. The non crimped loads will be
seated above and below the cannelures without any
crimping at all. If anyone is interested I will
post the results here later. My main concern is
pressure differences and accuracy. My real feeling
is that crimping may cause more trouble with neck
tensions than it is worth in bottle neck cases but
it would be great if most cannelured bullets could
be quickly seated and crimped into the cannelure
each time. Thanks for all the advice and help.
This forum is a great source of knowledge. BLR7

hi everybody! just thought id put my 2 cents in and say that the lee factory crimp die will crimp wether there is a cannelure or not. i love mine in my 454