Question about experimenting with seating depth/crimping/etc.

DaveInPA · February 25, 2008, 05:01 PM

Hi I have some newbie questions.

1. When doing a "chamber check" to check the OAL and crimp on my rounds, is it ok to seat, crimp, seat a little farther, crimp tigther again? Or will this damage the brass/bullet/anything else?

2. When determining what my crimp on my round is, where do I measure it? For example if I want to crimp my round to .468", do I measure that right at the point the bullet meets the brass, or somewhere else?

Sorry for all of the questions lately, but you guys have been a HUGE help in making this reloading thing easier to get good at!

drail · February 25, 2008, 07:54 PM

Generally it's better to establish the OAL you want before crimping, although slight adjustments aren't going to cause anything really bad to happen. Measure your applied crimp as close as possible to the mouth. And it's not terribly critical either as long as you're not chicken choking it.(overcrimping) Flare only as much as necessary to start the bullet. Remember on an auto round, the case headspaces on the mouth of the case(theoretically anyway) so all you really need is enough to remove the flare and a slight taper. Bill Wilson always said to crimp .45 acp rounds to .469, I've never seen a crimp die that would squeeze past .470. The less flaring and crimping you use the longer your cases will last.

darrentxs · February 26, 2008, 08:52 AM

Dave, not sure if you are aware but your questions & the replies are a great help to me & I'm sure others too. I'm a couple steps behind you in starting to reload. You have asked many of the questions I've been wondering about. Thanks for using this forum so that others can learn from your questions !

February 25, 2008, 05:01 PM	#1
DaveInPA Senior Member Join Date: January 20, 2008 Location: Berks County, PA Posts: 1,106	Question about experimenting with seating depth/crimping/etc. Hi I have some newbie questions. 1. When doing a "chamber check" to check the OAL and crimp on my rounds, is it ok to seat, crimp, seat a little farther, crimp tigther again? Or will this damage the brass/bullet/anything else? 2. When determining what my crimp on my round is, where do I measure it? For example if I want to crimp my round to .468", do I measure that right at the point the bullet meets the brass, or somewhere else? Sorry for all of the questions lately, but you guys have been a HUGE help in making this reloading thing easier to get good at!

February 26, 2008, 08:52 AM	#3
darrentxs Senior Member Join Date: May 5, 2007 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 401	Dave, not sure if you are aware but your questions & the replies are a great help to me & I'm sure others too. I'm a couple steps behind you in starting to reload. You have asked many of the questions I've been wondering about. Thanks for using this forum so that others can learn from your questions ! __________________ Happy Trails to You

February 25, 2008, 07:54 PM	#2
drail Junior member Join Date: February 2, 2008 Posts: 3,150	Generally it's better to establish the OAL you want before crimping, although slight adjustments aren't going to cause anything really bad to happen. Measure your applied crimp as close as possible to the mouth. And it's not terribly critical either as long as you're not chicken choking it.(overcrimping) Flare only as much as necessary to start the bullet. Remember on an auto round, the case headspaces on the mouth of the case(theoretically anyway) so all you really need is enough to remove the flare and a slight taper. Bill Wilson always said to crimp .45 acp rounds to .469, I've never seen a crimp die that would squeeze past .470. The less flaring and crimping you use the longer your cases will last.