Crimp or not?

twig_40

twig_40

Regular
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
11   0   0
Location
Alberta
I searched the forums and could not seem to find the info I was looking for?
I am sure this has been discussed before. I am going to reload some 45 ACP with 185 g Hornady XTP's ( 185 was the heaviest I could get), on top of 6.3 g of Unique. My question is to crimp or not? I have been reloading cast bullets and they have the crimping groove, but the hollow points don't have anything. They do not have a crimping groove or a cannelure (sp?). I am going to try some plain old FMJ's also and the situation is the same. I am unsure of what to do, as I do not want the bullets to get pushed back into the case when they are loaded into the chamber, but if I do crimp it will make an indent in the bullets side? What to do?
 
Straight cases like the .45 ACP headspace on the forward edge. If you put a big crimp on them, they won't headspace correctly and you will have problems. A taper crimp is required and both your reloading manual and the instructions that came with your dies will tell you how.
 
Crimp

I know a crimp is required, but do you still just crimp the bullet without the groove, or cannelure? How will the crimp effect the bullet?
 
twig_40 said:
I know a crimp is required, but do you still just crimp the bullet without the groove, or cannelure? How will the crimp effect the bullet?
Click to expand...
All I do is taper crimp to remove the bell mouth - nothing more. If you pull a bullet and find anything more that a slight crimp mark, it's too tight. Straighten out the case and bullet friction will do the rest.
 
twig_40 said:
I know a crimp is required, but do you still just crimp the bullet without the groove, or cannelure? How will the crimp effect the bullet?
Click to expand...

Do you know the difference between a taper and a roll crimp? On a properly taper crimped cartridge, a crimp groove is irrelevant. Like atom says, read your manual.
 
45 acp was designed with a .010" taper crimp
over crimp bad under crimp bad
the correct crimp will reduce some of the high/ lows / burn better/ cleaner
 
I am no expert but the way I explain it is the taper crimp basically takes the bell out of the case, and the roll crimp locks the bullet into the case.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom