[kaido]

Know I'm not the only one who has these questions and doesn't want to make a question specific thread, so have at'er people's.



Can you get away with putting a slight crimp on a .243 reload for a Remington 770? I've been told never to crimp brass reloads but the past bit my OAL has always been buggered up when firing and loading the second round you can feel a little stiffness and by the third.......I don't even try and chamber the third.

[genesis]

Originally Posted by kaido

Know I'm not the only one who has these questions and doesn't want to make a question specific thread, so have at'er people's. Can you get away with putting a slight crimp on a .243 reload for a Remington 770? I've been told never to crimp brass reloads but the past bit my OAL has always been buggered up when firing and loading the second round you can feel a little stiffness and by the third.......I don't even try and chamber the third.

Who ever told you never to crimp brass reloads doesn't know what they're talking about. Lots of brass reloads require a crimp. 44 Mag to name one. The crimp keeps the bullet from backing out of the case during heavy recoil.

Shouldn't be a problem putting a crimp on a 243. But it might affect accuracy as the crimp will affect pressures and bullet pull. Just experiment a bit. Do a real light crimp and test it. Just keep experimenting until ya get it right. If you're following load data from a reloading manual, you should be alright. It might not even need a crimp. Could be the case mouth has a bit of flare left in it from the belling process. Ever so slightly, close up that flare, and do a test.

Don <><

[Rick1967]

I crimp everything I load. Some are taper crimp. But everything of mine gets something.

[axxe55]

i crimp everything i reload. my bolt action rifles get a very light crimp, but are still crimped, just to ensure that the bullets don't move.

taper or roll crimp on my semi auto ammo and i use a factory crimp on my revolver ammo.

[gunnut07]

Unless you adjust the dies all dies crimp. At least that is what the RCBS lady said. Rifle dies are designed to just put a ever so slight crimp on the bullet. Not a whole not just enough.

You say your OAL is messed up. How are you measuring it? Going base to tip of bullet is the least accurate way to measure it.

[JonM]

243 shouldnt have enough recoil to affect the bullets still in the magazine. if you fell you need a crimp you should use a bullet that has a canelure groove for crimping.

you might have dies that arent properly resizing the necks. either a dirty expander ball or the die isnt set right and its not fully sizing the neck. another cause can be undersized bullets.

i believe (might be mistaken) that lee offers the only die that properly crimps non-canelure bullets.

as a rule i NEVER crimp and seat in the same action. i have found that using the crimp and seat in the same step almost always produces bullets loose in the case. ive used non crimped bullets in my 458 winmag left em in the mag after several hundred rounds found that they did not move the measured oal.

there is normally enough neck grip holding the bullet that the bullets wont move.

i would suggest backing the die out and lowering the seating stem enough that the crimp function is disabled. if you feel the need to crimp, crimp in a seperate step and DONT OVER CRIMP!! .001 to .005 for heavy crimp is all the crimp you need. anymore and it can easily ruin the bullet or actually loosen the bullet in the case (which is what may be happening to you)

the only ones i really crimp are bullets used in lever guns and stick with canelure bulles and some 308 30-06 556 used in semi autos. i dont crimp 556 30-06 308 if the bullets dont have a cannelure

[kaido]

After going through the posts and reading a few other things (more of my reloading manual being one of those things), I think I might of found out why the bullet tends to move about when I'm firing.

I found out that the way Lee makes their resizing/decapping die, you don't need to lube the inside of the case mouth at all, though I've been told you do. So I'm going to avoid doing that with my next batch.

As for how I'm getting the OAL, I've been going from the base of the brass to the tip of the bullet. I was told a couple days ago by someone that it wasn't the best way to do it, but he never mentioned a better way.

I do have one other question though. I took my resizing/decapping die apart yesterday to clean out all the gunk since my brass was coming out with old lube on it and now I can't bring my ram right way up if I have a case inserted? (picture to help show what I mean)

[steve4102]

Which Lee die is it, FL or Collet neck?

[genesis]

Originally Posted by kaido

I do have one other question though. I took my resizing/decapping die apart yesterday to clean out all the gunk since my brass was coming out with old lube on it and now I can't bring my ram right way up if I have a case inserted? (picture to help show what I mean)

Does the ram extend higher if there no die in place? If so, then the problem is with the die. Take it apart and reassemble it. Make sure the primer punch isn't set to deep. It should just barely protrude through the bottom of the case with the ram in the full up position. If not, then there's probably a spent primer stuck way down in the ram linkage. Dig it out.

Don <><

[JonM]

You still need to lube the outside of the case.

I dont use inside neck lube.

I use the alcohol-lanolin spray lubes. Used to use the lube pads and paste type lubes for them but it leads to messy results over long load sessions with pressure dents on cases which may or may not change sizing results.

Your case looks like too little lube or didnt let the alcohol evaporate fully before sizing.