Hi there, I have a question on crimping, I'm probley missing the obvious. I see alot of people mention using a Lee Factory Crimp die, when working with a Hornet. I understand the concept they're getting at, more consistant bullet pull. My question is, could a person play with the seating die/crimp feature to accomplish something simular? If it makes any difference, my seating die is a Hornaday New Dimension. Many thanks, Al

i doubt very much if crimping a hornet would help performance, in fact with the hornet brass being so thin I can see it as not a very good thing. horneet seating dies will not normally crimp.

I have had 5 regular .22 Hornets, including the one I have now. Never have I crimped.

Other aspects of eloading the Hornet will yield far superior results to crimping... look elsewhere for progress.

OK,thanks Guys. It was just one of those " curious mind's want to know " type things. Al

They say the idea is to keep the bullet from moving out of the case under primer pressure thus preventing a stop start against the lands. They also use small pistol primers to the same end. Those who do the crimping say they get better accuracy. I have gone the other way - I don't even neck size. Instead, I use a heavier bullet (55gr up to 60gr in a 1 in 16 twist)and seat it in a paper hand towel cup which I then 'glue' in with molten wax/lube which soaks into the paper between the bullet and case. I do use mild primers. I also headspace on the case mouth and I lube the loaded rounds, so I get zero case stretch and theoretically, consistant case grip in the chamber. Groups are at least as good as neck sizing but pressures are lower, requiring more powder to get consistant pressure. That only applies to Lil'Gun. It makes no difference with AR2205 (H4227). I should mention that I have made a set of special tools to facilitate the paper cup seating to make it easier. (I will be developing these into a press attachment to bring me up to normal loading speeds - i.e. I load a lot slower than you do! But, I also get more performance).

I shoot one hole groups with a contender handgun and 12.5 gr of Lil Gun, 40 gr Vmax, Rem 6 1/2 primer and bullets seated to 1.875" (just off the lands).

I've never crimped my bullets and I full length size my cases.

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I shoot one hole groups ..... I've never crimped my bullets and I full length size my cases....

Slowpoke Slim, I would assume your gun has a nice tight chamber. What bore diameter is it? Barrel length? What accuracy do you get with other bullets?

I see no reason to crimp a hornet or a K hornet...

Ditto to Atkinson. There is just no need to crimp the 22 Hornet. In fact, with such thin-walled cases, crimping may be a detriment.

Been swimming upstream all my life so here goes my two cents worth...

I have a CZ 527 that I thought shot very very well. Consistently groups just below MOA with Lil Gun or 296 and a 40 grain VMax and CCI Small Rifle primers. I have never crimped any of the Hornet loads for any of the rifles I have owned.

My friend Dan purchased a CZ also and began crimping his loads lightly during load work up. His rifle consistently groups around half MOA with the same load I use. We play a game where we shoot 1, 5, or 10 dollar bills and the one that is closest to the center of the presidents eyes is the winner and keeps both bills. He was cleaning my clock. Just out of curiosity I shot a group with 5 of his loads and got my feelings hurt. We also shoot at red press-apply dots that are 0.6 inches in diameter. All 5 of my shots were inside the red dot.

I then ordered a Lee crimp die and began experimenting with lightly crimping my loads. I can say that doing so has reduced the size of my groups by at least 0.25 inches. That's the only variable that I changed.

Again just my 0.02 cents worth.

The question of whether or not to crimp comes up over and over here. But for reasons unknown to me, nobody seems to look at the results of Saeed's tests on this question.

Those test results are available at:

http://www.accuratereloading.com/crimping.html

Briefly stated, the conclusion is that crimping with the Lee Factory Crimp Die gives a small but measurable increase in the accuracy of loads.

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Originally posted by 303Guy:

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I shoot one hole groups ..... I've never crimped my bullets and I full length size my cases....

Slowpoke Slim, I would assume your gun has a nice tight chamber. What bore diameter is it? Barrel length? What accuracy do you get with other bullets?

303Guy,

Sorry for not getting back to you, I forgot I put a reply in this thread and haven't checked back. My barrel is a factory Thompson Center 14" barrel. I've never cast the chamber or slugged the bore...but I speculate that it is a .223". I have only ever shot the 40 gr vmax bullet from this barrel. It was the first bullet I tried, and with only the second or third load recipe, I got the outstanding results I mentioned above. The pistol primer load was a disappointment, and on a lark, I tried the remington standard small rifle primers, and that was it. Since then, I haven't bothered with any further loads, as I would be just chasing my tail. I know when to leave well enough alone (well, sometimes).



It certainly was a surprise to me as I hadn't expected that high a degree of accuracy, let alone that early in load development.

I had some nosler and sierra bullets standing by to try in it, but ended up giving those to a buddy to try in his 223.