Crimping your bullet.

[PA BEN]

Advantages and disadvantages of crimping your round?

[Idabooner]

The only rifle round I crimp is the 30-30 winchester, that is to keep the bullet from pushing farther in to the case from recoil while in the magazine. The 41, 357, & 38 revolvers I crimp to keep the bullet from bucking out from recoil, the 45 & 9mm autos I don't crimp and never had a problem.

I like to find the sweet over all length for each rifle so the bullet chandelier is usually in the wrong place, I've never reloaded for the big magnums but the 30-06 on down I've never had a problem without crimping.

[fremont]

If you decide to crimp, I would use a Lee Factory Crimp die for your cartridge, not your die set's seating die.  My experience is they give a much more uniform crimp with a very low chance of the brass bulging.

I used to crimp more than I do now (for bottlenecked, bolt action cartridges).  I pretty much stopped it, as I tend to load my bullets long and the cannelure (if the bullet has one) is above my case mouth.  When I used to crimp--and compare against similar length non-crimp bullets--crimped won out.  But, loading my bullets long now with no crimping seems to beat crimping them at the cannelure.  YMMV

[PA BEN]

I've been looking at the Lee crimp die. It looks like the bullet sticks out the top of the crimp die, so loading long should not matter, should it? http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1279892294.3543=/html/catalog/dies-crimp.html

[CP]

The advantage of crimping is the bullet stays in place, very important for revolvers (recoil can dislodge bullets if not crimped) and for tube magazine rifles (spring pressure can dislodge bullets if not crimped).  Not so important for box type magazine weapons.

The disadvantage is that crimping adds one more variable that can affect accuracy. 

[CP]

I've been looking at the Lee crimp die. It looks like the bullet sticks out the top of the crimp die, so loading long should not matter, should it? http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1279892294.3543=/html/catalog/dies-crimp.html

I use the Lee crimp die for 30-30 loading and I crimp in the cannelure.  Loading long isn’t a problem with lead bullets but I’ve found that crimping a jacketed bullet outside the cannelure can deform the bullet and affects the accuracy.

[AWS]

I only crimp for cartridges in tube mags and very heavy kicking rifles.  My old 358 Norma Mag and my 35 Whelen will both set back bullets in the mag.  I find no difference in accuracy with the 35 Whelen and didn't with the 358.

AWS

[carpsniperg2]

anying bigger then 357 in a hadgun i crimp and on rifles 45cal and bigger or guns using tube mags like said

[fremont]

I've been looking at the Lee crimp die. It looks like the bullet sticks out the top of the crimp die, so loading long should not matter, should it?

You're right, but you can't then crimp into the cannelure.

[PA BEN]

This might be a dumb question but what's cannelure?

[fremont]

http://www.dillonprecision.com/uimages/all_images/34102_m.jpg

[woodswalker]

its that inset ring found on the shank of some bullets.

[PA BEN]

Thanks the bullets I use don't have one.

[timberghost72]

So how do you know if you have crimped enough or too much? I have Lee factory crimp and I set it up exactly the way instructions said and I couldn't tell if there was a crimp. I don't want to over crimp. Sorry if I jacked the thread

[fremont]

So how do you know if you have crimped enough or too much? I have Lee factory crimp and I set it up exactly the way instructions said and I couldn't tell if there was a crimp. I don't want to over crimp. Sorry if I jacked the thread

You can see the crimp, so, if you can't, I doubt you're crimping hard enough.

[Bscman]

So how do you know if you have crimped enough or too much? I have Lee factory crimp and I set it up exactly the way instructions said and I couldn't tell if there was a crimp. I don't want to over crimp. Sorry if I jacked the thread

You can see the crimp, so, if you can't, I doubt you're crimping hard enough.

Not necessarily true.
I use the Lee factory crimp dies and have done some testing with bullet pulling after crimping (kinetic puller). You can still get a pretty decent "grip" on the bullet without crimping so tightly it marks the neck of the case.
If you can feel a bit of resistance when you run the ram up on your press, you are crimping...If you don't trust "feel" alone, then set up the die so it just barely starts to leave visual evidence on the neck of your case. A "maximum" crimp with a lee crimp die will leave a VERY obvious mark on the brass, and is excesive in my opinion. So much so it will be noticeable more difficult to resize after firing, and may lead to premature neck splitting. It'll also be so tight you'll break most kinetic pullers before you are able to pull the bullet.

I crimp my .270WIN to where I can just barely see the marks with the right light, as  it seemed to improve accuracy dramatically with the powder I am using. I noticed a slight decrease in accuracy with my .338winmag when crimping, but do it for peace of mind since they are hunting rounts and it's a heavy recoiling rifle.
I also use Lee crimp dies on .223 (AR's) and 30-30 (lever action). Setback issues have disappeared entirely with the AR's since I started using the die and I set it up by feel (very light resistance), so light I never see any marks on the brass.