Crimping

Rctic

Rctic

Regular
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Location
Toronto
All,

I have just started reloading 45-70 ammo and I am at the point that I am ready to shot my very first homemade ammo but I have not crimped the case to the bullet. I have read that the bullet can actually "push back" into the case and cause pressure issues in a lever gun due to recoil. Now I have physically tried to push the bullets in further with my hand but they didn't seem to move. Am I worrying over nothing? Or do I need to buy a crimp die?

Thanks for the help!!
 
Normally you would not need to crimp if they don't move with hand pressure, but you may want to get a die for consistent pressures & keeping the bullet in place ...,

I would get one personally they are not that expensive (Lee) for comparison
 
You don't need a crimp die. Just follow the instructions with your die set and it should be very simple to put a small crimp on the case.
Sounds like it might just be a good peace of mind step as it's causing you a little concern. I've never shot 45-70 in a lever gun but it's on the long list...
 
You have a large capacity case and loading a black powder case with smokeless powder.

I had a Ruger #3 carbine in 45-70 and the first time I fired this rifle there was snow on the ground.

I fired five rounds and went down to check the target, "BUT" there was unburnt powder laying on the snow in front of the bench.

Thereafter I crimped all the 45-70 cases to let the powder build up a head of steam and leave the boiler room at a higher pressure.

Remember there are three loading pressures for the 45-70 depending on the firearm type. And my Ruger could be loaded to the highest pressures but this is still at 30-30 pressure levels of 38,000 cup or 42,000 psi.
 
vagrantviking said:
You don't need a crimp die. Just follow the instructions with your die set and it should be very simple to put a small crimp on the case.
Sounds like it might just be a good peace of mind step as it's causing you a little concern. I've never shot 45-70 in a lever gun but it's on the long list...
Click to expand...

I was having issues with cycling and chambering .308 Win in my Browning BLR Lt Wt - AND - also cycling and chambering 444 Marlin in a Winchester 94 AE Big Bore (both lever guns). The BLR in particular has a very tight chamber, so much so that any little thing with the bullet seating wouldn't allow me to close the action. I had been doing a light crimp with my RCBS seating die from the F/L set, and I found that it created just enough of a bulge that the cartridge wouldn't chamber all the way. If I didn't crimp, the cycling/chambering problem went away but I found that the cartridge overall length was slightly reduced when I cycled through the unfired cartridge and measured it, so the bullet was gettomg pushed inwards by a few thou.

Advice given here led me to buy a Lee Factory Crimp Die. I backed off the crimping from the seating die, and perform a separate slight crimp with the FCD - no problems cycling at all now. Same issue/same resolution with the 444 in the Winchester. Funny thing, though, is that I also have a real Marlin 444S, and I never had the same problem with the reloads out of the crimping with the standard die set. Looser chamber, I guess.

At any rate, I ended up buying an FCD for every caliber I own - I like the idea of a slight crimp to reduce the variation of "release" of the bullet on touch off, with the crimp I'm not just depending on case wall friction which can vary with cartridge manufacturer or even lot-to-lot with the same brass brand.

O.N.G.
 
As a personal rule, I crimp everything going into a tube mag....
The 45/70 is a blast to shoot and easy to load for....from round ball gallery loads up to lower teeth rattle.
Enjoy and play safe
 
Last edited:
Bassmaster said:
As a personal rule, I crimp everything going into a tube mag....
Click to expand...
^^^ This! While my BLR is a stacking mag, and the only rifle that I tried the uncrimped rounds in, if it is a tube magazine like my Win AE or the Marlin 444S, I wouldn't ever use an uncrimped cartridge in them - especially not with a big bore, heavier recoil round like the 444 Marlin.

O.N.G.
 
Crimp for tube mags is a good habit. Light bullets / light recoil like 32-20 might not need it. But on a 45-70 there is no question - you need to crimp unless you're shooting a single shot.
 
The lee die works great but to keep it simple, you can do your seating and crimping in separate steps with the die that you have.

You do that with the lee die anyways so what the hell right? You can do it in one but meh. I shoot 45/70 like a rimfire and I bother with the extra step.
 
I use lee dies and don't use the factory crimp die but I shoot a sxs and I keep a block of spruce bolted to my bench that gets a push test on each round I load. I use the factory crimp die in my 458wm and 300wm and 223. It works great
 
Garand said:
I choose to seat the bullet and crimp separately my rifle and pistol ammo. I use Lee Factory Crimp dies in 10 different calibers. I highly recommend them.
Click to expand...

I use factory crimp too, but not with cast bullets. I go to quite a bit of effort to make and size the bullets oversize, like you should do with cast. So using the factory crimp to squish them back to the factory ammo size is not helping anything.
 
Rctic said:
All,

I have just started reloading 45-70 ammo and I am at the point that I am ready to shot my very first homemade ammo but I have not crimped the case to the bullet. I have read that the bullet can actually "push back" into the case and cause pressure issues in a lever gun due to recoil. Now I have physically tried to push the bullets in further with my hand but they didn't seem to move. Am I worrying over nothing? Or do I need to buy a crimp die?

Thanks for the help!!
Click to expand...

I crimp every shell that might have a possibility of being used in a tube mag gun. A couple things come into play here, spring tension in the mag and recoil rebounding of loaded rounds in that mag. The spring tension in your mag might be anywhere from insignificant to thumb bruising at the first round pushed in. Both instances require crimping...the "light spring" tube because even with a significant # of cartridges in the gun, if you are using heavy recoiling loads they will slam ahead and back in the mag, amplifying the nose force somewhat. In a strong springed mag tube by the time you get it loaded the spring pressure increases at every round again significantly increasing the nose pressure plus add the recoil jerk and it makes a "hand test" a poor substitute for the reality.

I don't use factory crimp dies in any of my tube mag rifles, just a heavy roll crimp that is built into every seating die that I use (with one exception, my .35 Rem die from Redding wont crimp so I am looking for something else that will work).
 
I usually make bullets by batch of 500 or more on a progressive, so testing all one them one by one is out of the question. I use a lee FCD and all is well.

The price difference between a 4 dies or 3 dies set for straight wall is not much, and there's 5 stations in most progressives so there's room for a crimp die.

I would also definitely crimp anything that goes in a tubular magazine or a revolver. Even if 99.9% of the rounds are ok, that 0.1% is a bit much if you shoot a couple thousands.
 
Sorry, one last thing, there wouldn't be an issue to shoot the uncrimped ammo if I am shooting one at a time and not from the mag?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom