In the reloading section on African Hunting Info, the following statement is made:

"Crimping is generally not recommended for doubles because it can prevent the rifle closing if incorrectly done."

For those reloading for big bore doubles, is crimping necessary? Recommended?

[Spare me the answer, "Like the quote says, just do the crimping correctly and there is no problem." ]

In a double, I'd imagine the other uncrimped load would act like you'd put it in a kinetic bullet puller and come apart under recoil.

Although I've never fired a double rifle, all the factory ammuntion I've run through everything else was crimped and functioned fine. I crimp everything I reload. If I ever were to own/load for a double rifle, I would crimp that ammunition as well.

FWIW, the only inaccurate reloads I've ever fired weren't crimped.

And that's my take on things.

Ditto Tex21. Crimp for doubles and sleep well.

if a gent had trouble with crimped cases in his double, he has other problems than his load

crimp!
jeffe

I've never crimped for any of my doubles and have never had a problem. It isn't necessary.
-----------------------------------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

I am shooting a 505 Gibbs without crimping because the CH4D dies tend to rivet the shoulder before they'll crimp the mouth. I haven't had any bullets move under recoil yet.

If I ever use for it's intended purpose I will find a way to crimp each round and then test chamber each to be sure they still fit.

I crimp all rounds for all my doubles and test to make sure they fit the gun before going hunting. Crimping may have the advantage of adding additional consistency loads that are not full case capacity.-Rob

I think tiggertate, has the nailed the reason improper or overly heavy crimping can bulge the cases out, making your gun hard if not impossible to close.

I wonder if lee would custom make a factory crimp die for some of the larger double calibers. Eliminating the problem.

I was told that lee would make a factory crimp die for any cartridge you like , just send them a loaded cartridge ( or maybe just brass, don't remember) and not for much money. Need to contact them about one for lott soon myself. Might be worth checking into.
Mike Allred

Mike,
I had Lee make a .470 crimping die for me. It took about 6-7 weeks to come in after I ordered it.

quote:

Originally posted by Cedarmtmike:
I was told that lee would make a factory crimp die for any cartridge you like , just send them a loaded cartridge ( or maybe just brass, don't remember) and not for much money. Need to contact them about one for lott soon myself. Might be worth checking into.
Mike Allred

So far I have Lee factory crimp dies for all of my die sets even the wildcats. They will only make up to 45 cal and only on the 7/8"die body size so that lets out most of the nitro express loads except the 404Jeffery and the 450-400

quote:

Originally posted by lb404:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Cedarmtmike:
I was told that lee would make a factory crimp die for any cartridge you like , just send them a loaded cartridge ( or maybe just brass, don't remember) and not for much money. Need to contact them about one for lott soon myself. Might be worth checking into.
Mike Allred

So far I have Lee factory crimp dies for all of my die sets even the wildcats. They will only make up to 45 cal and only on the 7/8"die body size so that lets out most of the nitro express loads except the 404Jeffery and the 450-400. The 470 must be a new one as they would not make one a year ago when I had 10 dies made.

Hey guys, check my post on the Double Rifle forums regarding the Lee crimp dies. I have them in .470 NE and .500 NE.

Geronimo