Crimping...?

As an update, I went ahead and loaded un-crimped with neck sizing only. I have been pretty anal thus far about sizing, etc... I trimmed my new cases just to make sure we had a good starting point - probably a huge waste of time.

Anyhow, I took some loads, fed them into the magazine, and chambered/extracted them several times (as rough as I could). Absolutely zero change in OAL. No need to crimp these, as others have said. In fact, I made a few dummy rounds (drilled out the primer pockets to allow pushing bullets back out) and the neck sizing provides quite a bit more tension than I would've thought.

On the downside, this Winchester brass isn't so hot. I have 200rds of it, and case lenght was a bit variable, necks weren't true, and flash holes (which appear to be punched?) had much flashing on the inside. Also had a case with a badly cracked neck. I'll be trying Nosler next. 2x the $, but probably worth it.

Also, I have powder burns on the necks of all of my loads. Some of these are very near or at "maximum" loading. I did, however, leave the bullets seated much farther out than the minimum "spec" for OAL. I am wondering if this is due to the Win brass not being very malleable? Perhaps I will find it to be a bit brittle? Dunno, I'm new to this game...

Back to the upside - in my first 10 guesses on loading (5 rounds of 5 different loadings with 2 types of bullets; total of 50rds), I was able to get a few loads that shot 5 shot groups under .4" @ 100yds in my el-cheapo Stevens 200 .22-250. Savage is fantastic.
 
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Most flash holes are punched. That's why they make this little tool called a flash hole deburring tool, LOL

New rifle brass, I always:

Neck size

Uniform primer pockets

Debur flash holes

Trim to spec, unless it's too short. Can't do much about that except shoot it until it can be trimmed.
 
Stu-

Yeah, what I did was: neck size, deburr flash holes (yes, I have this little tool called a flash hole deburring tool...), trim to length (some were a touch too short), and proceed with loading.

Not sure why I had the soot on the necks (also shot some factory Hornady ammo which didn't soot), but maybe subsequent loadings will show an improvement in this area.
 
i crimp autos for piece of mind, it doesn't hinder my accuracy with the particular loads i shoot otherwise i would reconsider, just piece of mind for trouble free cycling, my buddies dont crimp and have never had a problem with a bullet in the case.... personal preference and piece of mind , same goes w/ full lenth, neck and small base dies....
 
Quote:...and the neck sizing provides quite a bit more tension than I would've thought.


yeah, those little 22 cases and a light bullet have an impressive amount of tension. I tore some apart with my kinetic puller and I thought the thing was going to break before the bullets moved. I quit crimping them after that.
I bet those little 17's are a real joy to pull with a hammer type puller.
cursing.gif
 
I neck size my bolt guns and FL size auto fed. I have in the past had a very infrequent issue with not enough neck tension on neck sizing cases. I did not use to but now I crimp everything. My AR's, handguns, and Mini all get solid crimps and the bolt rounds get soft crimps....just the way I do it.
 
I have been crimping my loading of .223 and .22-250 made on the 1050 Super Dillon. because the case mouth is flared out for the loading process. When I load on my single stage press then I don't crimp unless I am loading a straight line case as in, 45-70, .44 mag, etc.
 
Originally Posted By: Evil_Lurker Quote:Just a heads up if you do crimp your bullets you have to trim the cases every time you re size the case.

Yep, and trim new brass before you load it. That ends up being a lot of work, and I never saw any benefit in my rifles (other than the 30-30).
If you ever pull any .22 bullets with an inertial puller you'll see that they're not going to set back from recoil. The ratio of neck surface to weight is huge, and the recoil is mild.

You get up into heavy, fat bullets and that changes, you may need a crimp into a cannlure on those.


Eh, trimming, yuck!
 
Trimming's necessary, but EVERY time you load? That makes for some time consuming ammo, if you shoot a lot.
If I can avoid 80% of it by backing off the crimp die, and still have good, accurate ammo, I'm ahead of the game.

I've never bought into that concept that bending the top of a case into a bullet body (when the brass has no place to go) was an improvement over a tight press fit, anyway.

I've never seen a mechanical theory of how that's going to improve a darn thing.

I know how it can screw it up right quick, though.
 


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