speer deep curl 300grn

[simpleman]

Good reading here.
A question for Hoot.
Sounds like neck tension is the key. What do you think about 3 of the modified crimp dies used on each round.
3 dies sized to crimp the mouth of the case, step next crimp just below that and one more below that with a determined measurement between crimps. This way you could do light crimps with out deforming the case or bullet and still get good neck tension.
This would only add a min to each round reloaded.
Has anyone tried this and what results did they have.

[Hoot]

Good reading here.
A question for Hoot.
Sounds like neck tension is the key. What do you think about 3 of the modified crimp dies used on each round.
3 dies sized to crimp the mouth of the case, step next crimp just below that and one more below that with a determined measurement between crimps. This way you could do light crimps with out deforming the case or bullet and still get good neck tension.
This would only add a min to each round reloaded.
Has anyone tried this and what results did they have.

I tried two, but never three. In the case of the two, it was using the 200gr FTX trying to hit the two cannelures. Oh it gave excellent tension, but the lower cannelure was so close to the bullet heel that the crimp actually displaced the copper where it transitioned from side to heel and accuracy went down the drain. In the case of the Barnes 200 XPB, I set stab crimps into both driving band grooves, which are not there to be used as cannelures. After 15 strong smacks on the concrete floor in the shop, the bullet had not moved one bit and I gave up trying to dislodge it. in practice, I was amazed at how much velocity increase I experienced from the Lil Gun charge, but the feeling I got through the gun was one of a controlled explosion as opposed to what it normally feels like, even with stiff loads and it creeped me out. Accuracy from the three rounds I shot before aborting that experiment was average. They clocked out the barrel just over 2500 fps for a charge that normally yielded 2300 fps with just a taper crimp. That was one of the few times my spent 450b brass actually grew longer after firing it. That also creeped me out. They were factory new, all trimmed to make te as close as possible to 1.695 and while they normally wind up 1.680-685 after the first firing, those three were IIRC 1.702-1.705 after resizing.

Anyway, my recommendation would be to mod up one .45-70 FCD and make a run of 3-stab loads using shims, to try before buying and modding two more dies to commit to the process. That way, if it winds up being an interesting idea that didn't pan out, you're not out so much dough. I've had a few of them, so I know.

Though I bemoan the process of setting up the shims as tedious and hard to precisely replicate, it can be done, given enough attention to detail. If you have already modded an FCD or intend to, I'd say give it a try and give us a report. Something else worthy of trying on the way to modding one would be to leave the collet jaws full width long enough to load up some already known loads, but instead of using the taper crimp, use the FCD in the capacity that Lee intended it to be used on some. I often wondered how it would perform when used that way as opposed to a narrower stab crimp further away from the mouth.

Hoot

[simpleman]

Thanks Hoot.
Have some loads but I think they are crimped to deep. Will have to go see how they shoot. To darn hot right now. 100 degree days here in North West corner of Arkansas.

[Jim in Houston]

Back to my question on loading the 225 FTX (probably should put it elsewhere, but it first got started here), when crimping into the cannelure, does a taper crimp work and what should be the final diameter. I am now taper crimping to about .475 on the bullet itself, just below the cannelure.

[Hoot]

Back to my question on loading the 225 FTX (probably should put it elsewhere, but it first got started here), when crimping into the cannelure, does a taper crimp work and what should be the final diameter. I am now taper crimping to about .475 on the bullet itself, just below the cannelure.

Sorry Jim, I though I had addressed that earlier. From my experience with the 225, the taper crimp works wonderfully in concert with the cannelure. I used to take the taper crimp down to .475 into the cannelure, but recently, I take it down to .474 and I am not seeing any mouth wall thinning. I stress that's when driving it into the cannelure. It I taper crimp down to .474 on a flat wall part of the bullet, it does thin the case a little bit each time I do it. I already spoke about that, so I won't go into my concern about that again. Normally, I don't sweat a mil or two difference in resized case length, but with the taper crimp, if you set it to obtain .474 with a longer case in the batch, it winds up not going so narrow on a shorter one. If you set up using a shorter case, the opposite occurs. You wind up going too narrow on a longer case. I've taken to sorting my cases by length every 3 or 4 mils. Thank goodness they stop getting shorter after a number of reloads. My trays are labeled <1.68, 1.680-84, 1.684-88, 1.688-92, 1.692-96 and >1.696. With the stab crimp, it's not nearly as important, unless your stab crimping very close to the mouth.

Hoot

[Jim in Houston]

Thanks, Hoot, for indulging my question. Yes, you did cover this ground previously, but I was not clear to me at the time. Refering back to my notes, I find that I have exactly copied the information about using the taper crimp in the cannelure on the 225 from other, earlier posts you have made.

I have been reading the thread on the LeGendre crimp, which seems to have a lot to do with crimping in the cannelure, and I wasn't sure how much of that might carry over into the more vanilla crimping techniques when using the 225 with a cannelure vs the 250 without.

I retreat to my cave to continue reloading, once again much enlightened.

[Texas Sheepdawg]

I picked up a jug of 296 this evening at Cabelas.....(Along with a big ass deer feeder! )
Gonna give these 250 Grain deep curls a try soon!

It sure burns clean and it smells like my memory tells me that burned powder should. Lil Gun smells like Baltimore.

Hoot

I've never smelt a Baltimore... Is that sort of like the smell of El Paso?

[LlindeX]

I picked up a jug of 296 this evening at Cabelas.....(Along with a big ass deer feeder! )
Gonna give these 250 Grain deep curls a try soon!

It sure burns clean and it smells like my memory tells me that burned powder should. Lil Gun smells like Baltimore.

Hoot

I've never smelt a Baltimore... Is that sort of like the smell of El Paso?

Naw, it's closer to the smell of a Dalhart! (Lots of cattle feedlots in the area)