hows my crimp?

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icanthitabarn

icanthitabarn

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Well, I been loading up, nevertheless, but thought I might ask. These are max loads with 2400. I hope it can be seen, but the crimp is not a thin line. I used the seat/crimp Lee die then the factory crimp. The LFC leaves a wide crimp that seems to be fairly tight, but not excessive. I was wondering if this wide compression is OK or is it set wrong? Thanks again, all I know I learned here. :what:
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It's hard to tell with that lead bullet against a nickel case, but it looks as if the die has come down about .030" too far. Th eend of the case should roll into the groove on the bullet and stop.

Look at the cartoon below. You seem to have a combination of these two...
Crimps.png
 
I would state that the crimp is not correct. Back the die out a smidgeon and try it. Too much brass is being impacted.

While the example shown gives you the gist of the crimps, the roll crimp is not correctly shown. A good roll crimp will roll ALL the lip into the crimping groove.

The taper crimp is ok.

You should be able to catch the taper crimp on your thumbnail, but not he rool crimp.
 
A roll crimp into a crimp groove on a lead bullet should look more like this.

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Or this.

attachment.php
 
I wish I asked earlier. The seat/ crimp die is giving me a roll crimp like Walkalong has shown. I am happy with this on my weak loads but thought the FC would give a tighter crimp. I am sure it is tighter but its giving me what I will call a fat lip. It does seem to be a combo- crimp. The lip is crimped at the very top of the canalure, if that helps to figure the pic out. Thanks for responding, now I know to try and change things.
 
Oh well, so I have like 1000 bullets all loaded, with a crimp I am not happy with. I guess I still am a dumb noob. I also was just switching bullet heads and the little line in the middle of the .357 case became a huge and very pronounced line. :)
 
NOT DUMB.
Just inexperienced.
Exactly like every single one of us here at one point.
On the bright side this here is a mere divot in the much bigger mistakes you'll make later in reloading :)
 
it looks a bit heavy to me.

i would also add that if you have 1000 loaded like this i would not hesitate to shoot them, but i would check for signs of over pressure along the way.

when you load them again back the crimp out a smidge.
 
Check for bullet jump, which is one of the most important reasons for a heavy crimp. If no bullet jump of bullets that have yet to be fired after having heavy recoil from the previous bullets just shot, then you are fine for these rounds. I would not go back and re-do 1,000 pills because of a crimp error as shown.

Your crimp is too heavy in that it has pushed almost a collar around the case mouth when you really only want a bend in the metal to conform nicely to the bullet's cannelure.

If these were my loads, when shooting these, if there are no signs of over-pressure, I would leave them all be and just shoot them, however, if there are any signs of over-pressure whatsoever, then I would buy a good collet-type bullet remover to pull each one and start over with the crimps and/or the charge.
 
Ok I feel better now. I was trying for a heavy crimp on the pictured round. Its a hardcast and hot. I have been really lucky ( or not dumb) :cool: with leading. The width of the crimp was just puzzling me. I cannot get just the lip to curl into the groove. The lip does curl in but a wide bit of material comes in with it, just not as deep. I am gonna retire the LFC die pending future developments. The ones I did tonight, were more like Walkalongs, but still not just the lip curl. haha lipcurl and fat lip.



:rolleyes:
 
They will fire fine. No worries at all. A heavy crimp will not cause over pressure. :)
 
Thanks everyone. I was not worried about the overpressure, just bothered by this crimp, after learning that it's not normal. This leads me to believe that the accuracy will suffer, but who knows? I did notice a great increase in accuracy after using a bit more crimp with some really light loads that I finally settled on. I was being greedy using the LFC die to try and get even better. You know, a little is good then a little more must be even better. Plus the die must be good for something?
 
There is no need for the LFCD when using a roll crimp.

At most just a tiny skoshe if you really must, but with the crimper backed out the LFCD becomes a "final sizer" that ensures your round will go into the chamber.


Another case of the LFC die solving a nonexistent problem. Retire it all the way to the dumpster.
Click to expand...

I agree. And while we're at it toss in those useless disc brakes & fuel injectors. Drums & carbureters have been working fine forever. Those things are answers to non existent problems... :rolleyes:
 
A totally ridiculous analogy, whether one likes or dislikes the FCD for pistols. It crimps like any other crimp die. The only question is do you like the crimp it produces, or do you prefer another brands crimp. The post sizing has absolutely nothing to do with the crimp.
 
Drums & carbureters have been working fine forever.
Click to expand...
You gotta be kidding...! :neener:

Back to the OP question:

- Yes, it is waaaay overcrimped
- No, it is not a safety issue (my opinion)
- Yes, go back to the seater die body w/ the roll crimp next time out, and.....

Go shoot what you've got and enjoy yourself
 
The problem with post crimp sizing is possible deformation of the bullet itself. If the expander and seat/crimp dies are used properly to begin with, there is no need for further tweaking. The FCD often masks basic problems.
 
Well I messed up my post by not submitting it. I explained how I tried a bunch of times to get better pics and got a OK one. It seems my crimp is way excessive and maybe this will be clear on the nickel case. This was the wide crimp I had, before the advice and my retiring of the LFC die. The brass case is brand new and I think shows a better looking crimp. (10 gr. Unique, 110 XTP)

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Looks good. My personal preference is to seat the bullet a tiny bit deeper to cover most or all of the cannelure, but that is just for looks. I use the FCD on some of my revolvers, some I don't. I think it's possible to get the same exact crimp with the FCD, you just have to adjust it a bit. Actually, my thought is you still have a bit more crimp than you absolutely need, but it's good to be safe. The only dowside is you work the mouth of the brass a bit more which will lead to the mouths splitting sooner. You'll learn by experimenting how much is the minimum amount of roll crimp you need to keep the bullets from jumping out under recoil.
 
Like I said earlier, just a divot in the road.
You could have had your die set up for some abstract reloading (making rounds that don't exist) and have it turn out like this unsightly thing.

IMG_1055.jpg
 
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