simple qustion to crimp or not to crimp

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nova_scotian_guy

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i am looking up only if when reloading for my Remington sps tac in 308 and a savage model 200 in 223 should i crimp the shells or shouldn't I... some people say to others say only if there semi autos ..... will someone please give me a semi straight answer(not reloading yet just looking into info for the time being)
 
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I have a friend that was wondering the same thing last October. He was loading up some 35 Whelan so he crimped 1/2 the ammo and to his amazement the crimped ammo did 100 fps faster over his crono.
 
Uh huh, and the resultant pressure went up.

Always search for accuracy before velocity.

Ever wonder why guys in the competative world where accuracy is king don't bother to crimp?
 
I do not crimp unless it's needed i.e. .44 magnum for my revolver. I would never crimp for a 223 bolt action, like #### said, the accuracy boys don't do it.
 
Semi-straight answer:

You certainly don't have to for either of these cartridges in either of those guns, and I wouldn't bother to when you get started.

Later on, once you're comforatble with your load, you may want to try it to see if the accuracy improves. This is a possibility in a factory gun.

In a case where the brass has been carefully tuned and prepped for precision (ie. necks turned,primer pocket uniformed, flash hole deburred, weight sorted etc) and is being fired in either a factory rifle with good accuracy potential (such as both of yours) or a custom rifle, crimping would seem like a step backward IMO.
 
There is absolutely no need to crimp in your case. In those odd situations where crimping does show an improvement in accuracy, usually the crimp helps,because the neck tension was not adequate.
 
I would not crimp for those rifles either.

Magnum revolver loads need a crimp
Tube magazines like a winchester 94 need a crimp
Heavy magnum rifle loads like .458 Win Mag should be crimped in repeaters
Semi autos is optional too

Single shots and bolts I would almost never crimp.
 
I wasn't thinking about tube fed magazines though. Might be necessary for a lever gun. I've never loaded for those so I'm not sure on this
 
.375 H&H may or may not. I'd watch how the other cartridges in the mag act after sitting there through recoil of a cartridge above. If they were becoming shorter due to bullet setback from recoil a crimp would solve that.
 
I use lee factory crimp dies.
I might try a few crimped/ not crimped next year at the range to see how they differ fps and precision wise.
Only issue is that I sold my target rifle eheh
 
I have to crimp my .375 H&H even with medium power loads shot in a very heavy rifle. If I don't, recoil will seat the bullet deeper due to battering against the front of the magazine.
I crimp all handgun loads.
I crimp some cast bullet loads to improve neck tension uniformity and consistent inanition.
I'm still experimenting with an aggravating .22 hornet.
I don't crimp any "standard" bottleneck rifle cartridge of medium power used in a bolt action.
 
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