If loading hunting ammo for .308 and 7.62x54R would you guys crimp or not? both guns are bolt guns. I have lee factory crimp dies for both but most of what im reading says do not crimp for bolt guns as it will hurt accuracy.
Crimp or no crimp?
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I find it makes ignition more uniform and the grip point the bullet is released more consistent. I crimp ALL my hunting ammo because I like to shoot a bit while out and about. The ammo in the mag that doesnt get shot right away gets battered (I often top up ammo so the bottom rounds can loaded for a while), and oftentimes due to this back and forth movement the OAL of the round shortens. I dont want a pressure spike so for me the crimp is a must. If you single load or religiously rotate your ammo, probably dont need to.
Got Juice?
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I am on the fence. My best accuracy have been with uncrimped rounds on bullets with no cannelure.
But my hunting rounds are all crimped because I do have a cannelure to work with. And minute of steak accuracy is all I need.
Pistol rounds are always lightly crimped.
Ymmv
But my hunting rounds are all crimped because I do have a cannelure to work with. And minute of steak accuracy is all I need.
Pistol rounds are always lightly crimped.
Ymmv
You can crimp if you wish, or reduce the expander diameter to .002 to .003 smaller than bullet diameter for more bullet grip. This is what I do with my AR15 target loads and not crimp, but I taper crimp my blasting ammo.
Just remember to get uniform crimps the cases should be trimmed to the same length.
The RCBS AR series dies only taper crimp and streamline the case mouth for feeding.
Below a .223/5.56 RCBS AR Series small base die with taper crimp.
Just remember to get uniform crimps the cases should be trimmed to the same length.
The RCBS AR series dies only taper crimp and streamline the case mouth for feeding.
Below a .223/5.56 RCBS AR Series small base die with taper crimp.
Its new winchester brass, i did neck size it first(lots of dings in the necks), so bullet tension should be alright. I also sanded down the mandrel a bit as like most people are reporting the finishing on my lee neck size die left something to be desired and there were multiple burrs(it scares me to think what this would have done to my brass had i not cleaned it up), so if anything there should be slightly more neck tension due to the slightly sanded down mandrel.
GunsNotPuns
CGN frequent flyer
Ditto. I rarely crimp whether its for bolt action or semi-auto.
When you're seating that bullet you'll get a pretty good idea whether you need to crimp.
you don't have to be a target shooter, to not bother doing something that is totally unnecessary.
I rarely crimp anything except handgun, cast bullet loads, lever guns and cartridges .416 and up. I suppose that's still a lot of crimping. Most of the bullets I use for regular rifle loads don't even have crimping grooves.
Ar180shooter
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Ottawa, ON
Generally I crimp anything going in to a semi-auto, not strictly necessary but it does reduce the chance of having bullet setback, especially in AR-15 pattern rifles.
Got Juice?
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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- Peoples Republik of Kanukkistan
Adequate neck tension = no need to crimp
Crimping is more popular with straight walled cartridges since the slip fit is looser than a comparable bottlenecked cartridge.
Most pistol cartridges bene fit from a light crimp as do 44mag, 45-70 etc.
Crimping is more popular with straight walled cartridges since the slip fit is looser than a comparable bottlenecked cartridge.
Most pistol cartridges bene fit from a light crimp as do 44mag, 45-70 etc.
- Location
- West Quebec
