Loading 38 Special - How Much Crimp?

custom79

custom79

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Howdy.

I've been loading my own for .45 Colt for the last three years with great success. I have a Dillon RL550B and I use Dillon dies.

I am presently setting up for .38 special on the same machine using Dillon dies once again and I'm not sure how much crimp I should be putting on the seated bullet.

I am using 158 gr. LSWC from Wolf.

Is it correct that one only needs enough crimp to take out any belling at the mouth of the case?

Any and all help would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

C79
 
I bell and crimp the living heck out of it. Excessive belling and crimping can work the necks of brass thus shortening it's life, but I could care less. It's not like I will run out of brass before I die........;)
 
Thanks!

Thanks guys.

It seems to make sense to me. The Dillon crimp die for .38 special doesn't seem to much more than to even out the flare created by the powder die.

It just looks a little different than what I'm used to seeing with .45 Colt, loading lead RNFP and getting quite the seal from the crimp die.

Cheers.

C79

:canadaFlag:
 
The only reason to apply a heavy crimp in a revolver is to keep the bullets from backing out under recoil, or to provide consistant resistance with heavy charges of slow burning powder.

For the .38 special, this is nearly never required.
 
If you want to be sure, do up some with a modest crimp (you can see the crimp in mine, tho, its not harsh), mic them, then take them to the range, load up the gun, fire a round. Mic the remainder in the cylinder and see if they've changed. Revolve, repeat. If they're moving, you're not tight enough. If you can't rotate the cylinder loaded, they're really not tight enough ;).
 
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