Who crimps hunting rounds?

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Bustercluck

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Just about ready to start loading for my .338 win mag with 210 Barnes. Just wondering who crimps and who doesn't? Has anyone had a bad experience not crimping? I've never loaded anything that's had to bounce around in a magazine or be loaded in and out of a rifle several times.
 
I crimp all my hunting rounds (use a crimping die, don't rely on the crimp function on the seating die). Being hunting rounds it's not like I'm doing hundreds or thousands of them so only take a few extra minutes.

Just want to make sure a bullet doesn't slide, fall out etc. It is after all the business end in a hunting situation so why chance an "ooops" because you want to save one step and a few seconds per round in the loading process.
 
I crimp everything. A crimping die is 25$, and takes about 10-15 seconds per round on a single stage. Even if you make 100 rounds that's just a few minutes.
 
I crimp some of my 30 caliber hunting cartridges, none of my hunting cartridges smaller than .30, and all of my .375 H&H and lever action rounds. It's a decision based on the chance that a bullet will move with recoil.
 
I used to crimp bullets that had a cannelure. . After using bullets with no cannelure I decided to pull a few, at random, to see how snug they were held by the neck only. . I found the neck to hold the bullet adequately so, when seating bullets with a cannelure, I set the die by running the case all the up and screwing the die down until it makes firm contact with the case and turning the die down just a tad more (1/16 max). . Bullets with no cannelure, I back the die off by 1/16 to 1/8 of a turn.

I've shot some of these, by loading 3 in the magazine, with no problems. . The calibers I've been loading lately have been: 338 Win Mag, 300 Win Mag, 300 H&H, 30-06, 270, 308, 30-30. .

I did have a problem, awhile back with loading 45 Colt, lead bullets, using my 45 ACP dies. . I tried one box and found a few of these moved forward and prevented the cylinder from turning. . . . Using correct 45 Colt dies with a slight crimp solved that problem.
 
I only crimp things like the 45-70, which I shoot cast in, and the 416 Rigby an d470 NE, for what should be very obvious reasons. Ordinary rounds don't need a crimp, in my opinion, unless they have shown a tendency to move in the cases. In situations like that you could also work on increasing neck tension, but I've never found that necessary.
 
Not for rifle cartriges exept maybe the .458.
Grooved bullets do have less contact with the case neck,but I've not had any problems
with TSX bullets in .270W or 300WSM .
I loaded some .306"+ Sierras for my cousins 30-30. They were loose so I removed the expander ,
worked out Aok.
 
Most of the bullets I use don't even have crimping canulures. I do crimp .458s, partly to take the flair out of the case mouths and mostly because they are so full that compressed powder tries to push the bullets back out. The Lott doesn't have that problem. I also crimp solids whether they need it or not. Its just a way of marking them as hunting loads and practice cases that have been used a million times.

I also crimp cast 45/70, revolver loads and anything for lever guns with tube mags; but since I don't hunt with them it doesn't really apply to the question.
 
Bassmaster said:
The only thing I crimp are straight wall cases or something fed from a tube mag
Click to expand...

Since I have never seen a need for a crimp on ordinary hunting loads, I subscribe to the above statement.
That has been my practice for 50 years, and I see no reason to change. Pistol ammo gets a crimp, however. Dave.
 
I crimp but only because I use a collet die. If I use a full length die, I don't worry about it unless it would appear the rounds are being set back in the mag by the recoil.
 
I just loaded up some 222 Rem hunting rounds to test. I needed to break down a bunch as I did not want to waste the bullets that I could not shoot safely. I put the round in my hammer bullet puller and it took 25 hits on average to break them down, neck tension really is enough in that case.

For 30-30 in a tube mag I will crimp but unless you have a really heavy recoil I do not think your bullets will move. If you are iffy about it you can always load up a magazine and then single load rounds shooting 20 or so and see if your COL changes with the rounds in the magazine, that will tell you a lot and it will be your exact bullet/case/COL combination.
 
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