which crimp?

[bushmeister]

Hoot, did you chrony #7?

[BD1]

I'm not a commercial ammo manufacturer. My opinions are based solely on my own experience. They are worth just what you paid for them.

It's a little tough to tell from your pics exactly what's going on. However, it looks like your side crimp is much lower, and tighter, than mine. I've been using the Lee FCD dies for .223, 6.5x55, 270 WBY mag and .44 mag for 15 years with excellent success. My goal with the .450B was to achieve the same style of crimp about a tenth of an inch below the case mouth so it didn't effect the case's ability to headspace on the case mouth. So far, in every load, using every bullet I've tried, the modified crimp has given me better velocity, lower SD values and better groups than the Hornady taper crimp die. This is very apparent in cast boolit loads. A properly applied FCD crimp should not damage the jacket, or "wasp waist" the bullet. With good neck tension the crimp needs only to keep the bullet from moving due to the momentum of chambering. There is no need to land on a cannelure, or squash a ring into the jacket. .001" "indent" in the jacket is plenty. Look at a couple of factory bottle necked rounds, .223, 30-06, .270 W. The crimp is very well defined, but very shallow. If you crimp too hard you will bulge the brass out on both sides of the crimp negating the neck tension. This could result in a net loss relative to ignition consistency, rather than an improvement

I pretty much ignore cannelures rolled into jacketed bullets unless they are accurately placed to meet specific OAl requirements, as in the .223 for ARs. The main purpose of cannelures is to help index seating depth in automated loading machinery. IMHO they have little or nothing to do with crimp consistency beyond giving some clearance for roll crimps to use in revolver cartridges.
BD

[Hoot]

Hoot, did you chrony #7?

Yes, 5-shot average 2252 fps measured 10 ft in front of the muzzle with an SD 42.48,
as opposed to #8 averaging 2274 with an SD of 16.27.

I can get better accuracy than #7 with the 225 over 38gr LG seated so the taper crimp hits right on
the 1st cannelure at 2.12OAL:



EDIT:
I get a second accuracy node with the 225 over 41gr LG seated so the taper crimp hits right on
the 1st cannelure at 2.12OAL:

[Hoot]

I can't agree more with BD1 in that each of us, with our particular rigs, represent an equation of a certain number of unique variables. What may effect us, may not effect you in exactly the same way. The examples we cite are more as guidelines in a particular direction. After 760 rounds, most of them the lighter FTXs, I've found that the lighter jacketed bullets upset more easily than as they get heavier. I have yet to shoot a disappointing group with the 250 FTX over LG. I suspect the 300 FTX is even more stable and ditto other heavy bullets. Since my efforts are CXP2 game driven, I have not dabbled with heavier bullets. If I had deeper pockets, I would be trying some of those all copper bullets, preferably some that don't open as easy as the FTX family. That way, I could lay on some greater velocity without over-expansion. That's one reason Hawcer's swaging experiments have caught my imagination. I'm running out of new avenues to ply, though a .452 disk of single ply toilet paper and grits filler has offered some promise with my light loads. More on that later [/tease]

Hoot

[wildcatter]

10X on BD's statements! And don't let him fool ya, he feigns ignorance, but in reality is an expert in his own right and you'd be wise to heed his thoughts, for possible personal use..t

It's good to see Hoot is taking a page from my book (I written many times here about such things), to use either cream-of-wheat or grits. His experiments in this style of cooking, will be worth reading about..t

[BD1]

Hoot, those are some mighty fine groups!

BD