30-30 Reloads - Too much crimp?

C

crwdz7

New member
Had a buddy ask me to help him reload some bullets for his 30-30. Never reloadwd for one and also have never reloaded for a gun where I felt I needed a crimp. Since 30-30 is a tube magazine I assumed in this case the crimp was necessary.

We adjusted the dies per the instructions: Seater plug length set with die body one full turn out, adjust die body down at 1/8 turns until desired crimp in obtained (maybe 1/2 to 3/4 turn in total in this situation), screw seater plug back down to bullet, and locked everything down. I really thought the crimp looked good (keep in mind never crimped a rifle bullet before) and when compared to a factory crimp load it didn't look any too excessive.

He started working up the loads and I began to notice that some of the case necks had slight "bulges" in them. Some had none, others had one or two. nothing major but slightly visible and able to be felt by fingers. He forgot to bring his gun with him, so i'm not sure if they would chamber or not.

There is only a couple things i can think of as the culprit. One, we applied too much crimp when we set the dies and we were deforming the case neck. Or the cases weren't trimmed to exactly the same length, adjusted to a shorter one, and the longer ones are being over crimped to the point that is is slightly deforming the neck.

Bullet is 160 gr. hornady FTX with 33 to 35 grains of LeveRevolution powder. Any suggestions on where we went wrong. He is going to check if they chamber tomorrow. Should we scrap them and start over, or if they chamber would it be safe to assume they will shoot okay?
 
30-30 brass is quite thin. if some cases are longer you will get a heavier crimp.
i have seen what you describe with my own loads, i think you have actually folded the neck over and created the "ring".


i believe you are correct on your guess of inconsistent case length being the problem. if they chamber with no issue, the brass will probably iron out just fine, but if they do not chamber, probably a good idea to pull them and start over.

is the crimp in the cannelure? or is the bullet being seated too deep and the crimp getting pushed back by the cannelure as the bullets seats deeper in the case?
 
I like to seat all the bullets first then back off the seater plug and then adjust the crimp and run them through again and crimp. Having a consistant length on the case is important but with the seater backed off you can feel the crimp. You can also inspect the rounds before you crimp and see that all the bullets have the case mouth right at the channelure and can spot any that are long or short or the bullet seated shallow or deep.

If your going to do alot of crimping in the future a Lee factory crimp die is a great investment.
 
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When I have to crimp I follow the same process as AWS. The idea of trying to crimp a bullet that is stll being pushed into the case neck, never made sense to me.
 
Originally Posted By: AWS
If your going to do alot of crimping in the future a Lee factory crimp die is a great investment.

+1. They can be found inexpensively and make the job easier and more consistent...
 
Unless using a Lee Factory Crimp Die, all .30-30 brass must be trimmed to the same length. Otherwise some will have too much crimp. If the poster adjusted the die correctly for a normal length case and then crimped some longer cases he would get the bulge for sure.
 
Originally Posted By: lhitchcoxUnless using a Lee Factory Crimp Die, all .30-30 brass must be trimmed to the same length. Otherwise some will have too much crimp. If the poster adjusted the die correctly for a normal length case and then crimped some longer cases he would get the bulge for sure.

Trim all cases to the same length. How do I know. Don't put alot of crimp on them. Just enough to fold the brass into the bullet groove and then chamber a few in a safe area in case on accidental discharge.

Tony
 
I think the issue must have been the trim length. Next go I think I will focus more on trim length and back off the crimp just a little. Thanks for the help.
 
If your going to crimp with your bullet seating die then case length need to be as close to the same as you can get on all of your brass. I prefer the Lee factory crimp die for crimping any rifle ammo I may need to crimp.
 


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