jgilesg wrote:Hoot
Have you gotten away from the stab crimp or is the info for those that don't have one, or are you only using it in certain applications, or lastly, is it because it shortens brass life?
Thanks
JG
Not entirely but its not my go-to crimp. With what brass costs, I don't like scarring it up. Its not a cosmetic objection. Many of the scars do not iron out on the inside.
![Image](http://s6.postimg.org/f2j41foap/stab_scars8x4.jpg)
Unless I carefully sort and bin my stab crimped brass for the next use, I wind up with differing degrees of drag on the next bullets I seat. Its hard enough getting consistent neck tension without adding another variable. For blammo ammo not loaded to the max, it is of no consequence, but that's not how I roll.
I do use a stab crimp on my 200gr XPB deer hunting rounds. They get loaded from virgin brass and stored from one season to the next. It took some testing to find the right amount of stab crimp that I don't have to worry about the bullet pulling, yet has the least amount of impact upon MOA groups. My experience has been that I get better accuracy from an effective taper crimp than with a stab crimp. If I were simply chasing the fastest velocity for the least charge, the stab crimp would get the call. I really don't like it at all on smooth sided bullets as it distorts them more than I would like. Case in point are the 230 FMJ's.
![Image](http://myplace.frontier.com/~hill195/Guns/450B/Bartz/Range%20Reports/230FMJ/stab%20wound.jpg)
Hoot