Is this the proper crimp?

[pcwirepro]

At the risk of tooting my own horn there is another way...my way and it is both quantifiable and repeatable. It uses the stop-before-the-end -of- the- stroke method and then adding my Consistent Crimp to notify the reloader exactly when the reloader's selected crimp pressure has been reached. It is simple, it works and it will improve both the accuracy and precision of your favorite loads.

Fits your sig nicely

If you are not measuring, you are guessing.

Different setting for lead, plated and jacketed bullets?

 

[rcmodel]

I'm wondering how your "Consistent Crimp" gadget accounts for different brass hardness, work hardening from repeated re-loadings, annealed soft necks, and different case neck thickness??

Using the tried & true ram stop and die setting to determing the amount of crimp accounts for all the variables in brass hardness & thickness, every time.

The only variable it can't account for is case length, and if you want a crimp to be exact every time, you need to trim all the cases the same length every time.

rc

 

[James2]

Nice. Looks like you are hooked. Its a great hobby.

 

[Tuckerp229]

I'm wondering how your "Consistent Crimp" gadget accounts for different brass hardness, work hardening from repeated re-loadings, annealed soft necks, and different case neck thickness??

Using the tried & true ram stop and die setting to determing the amount of crimp accounts for all the variables in brass hardness & thickness, every time.

The only variable it can't account for is case length, and if you want a crimp to be exact every time, you need to trim all the cases the same length every time.

rc

All good points.
As for case length if one sets up for the selected torque to release before the end of the stroke then yes it accounts for case length variance.
As for varying case wall thickness, I think this answer is no different than non-quanitfied crimping. In other words one must always remove variables to minimize variance which is why reloaders determined to achieve the best accuracy stick with one brand of cases and even cull the those by weight when making an important batch.
As for the first point, I don't have an answer because I have no way to determine the amount off difference a "hardened case" might require to crimp as compared to a soft case. We can't for instance weigh the cases and group them according to hardness level to run a comparison. I will put this question to work though.

At least I can say I am delighted to have solved the first question that still appears to me to have been and remains the larger variable..."How much crimp"?" which leads into PCwirepro's question:

Different setting for lead, plated and jacketed bullets?

Most probably the crimp pressure would be different. Heck it can be different for a different bullet, powder or even different weapons. The point is that "the number" or "pressure" is for the first quantifiable...it has a name or rather a number. After settling on a powder and bullet that passes the chrono testing the Consistent Crimp enables the reloader to systematically test a progression of crimp pressures, say 0,5,10,12.5,15,20,25,30,32.5 Ftlbs to determine a crimp pressure that first eliminates bullet jump and second optimizes bullet performance downrange. I have found that by varying crimp pressure along the groups will "move" across and around the target face as well as contract and expand average spread.
This systematic testing will produce at least one crimp pressure sweet spot that the reloader may record in the load recipe and return to it just as he would a powder measurement.