To Crimp or Not To Crimp.....that is the question

[alfsauve]

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous posters
Or to take arms against a sea of traditionalists,
And by opposing end them? To shoot: to crimp;
No more; and by a crimp to say we rolled or collet.
The powder smell and the felt recoil
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To reload, to shoot;
To shoot: perchance to shoot true: ay, there's the rub;

RealGuns just did a little experiment with crimping and are suggesting that crimping may be totally unnecessary.  We may have been doing it more out of habit than scientific need.   I've always rolled crimped my rimmed pistol cartridges.  I might cut back some on my crimp on my .357mag and max.  Probably extend the live of the brass by a couple of reloads.   One reason to crimp not given a lot of coverage is how well the bullets hold up in handling.   Though we're talking +100# of force to move these particular tested bullets.  That should hold them during transport, storage and handling.

http://realguns.com/Commentary/comar184.htm

[1911 Junkie]

Good read.

I think crimping does have its place but is not completely necessary. I run all my handgun rounds through a Lee Factory Crimp/final size die. Not so much for the crimp but for the sizing of the case.

I started to notice that I didn't need much of a crimp when I started loading frangible rounds. If you crimp them, you will snap the bullet off flush with the case. They seem to work just fine without the crimp.

I do have a friend that was having problems with his reloads. He would have 1 or 2 FTF per mag. Once he put a little more crimp on the rounds they started to work fine.

I don't know what the correct answer is but I will continue to do what works for me.

[CJS3]

30-30