.223 case length when crimping

[Donny1]

Sorry, I know I'm beating a dead horse.

I'm just starting to load .223 and I will be loading mixes cases for plinking/practice only in an AR.

I noticed most of the cases are coming out at 1.750 - 1.765 after sizing. I was planning on trimming all to 1.750 but some are shorter, like 1.740.

Since I plan on a slight crimp I'm assuming the crimp would not be as tight on the shorter cases. Will a .010 shorter case have a noticeably weaker crimp and should I cull those out and seat and crimp them in a different batch? And at what length is the case too short?

Thanks.

[highpower790]

No need to crimp,and oal is the same,1.750.

['ol shooter]

I ran a test group of same brand once fired cases, all sized and trimmed alike. I crimped 50 and left 50 uncrimped, made no difference on accuracy at 50-100 yards. If they are plinkers, I wouldn't bother to crimp. I use a Lee Factory Crimp Die, works real nice.

[JagerDog]

The Lee factory crimp die isn't very length dependent.

[Metal God]

The Lee factory crimp die isn't very length dependent.

^^^^That^^^^ If you're going to have different length cases . Keep in mind that if some of your cases are .010 shorter then others they are not going to line up in the crimp groove of the bullet the same . I believe SAAMI allows you to trim to 1.740 and is likely what I would do for some plinking rounds .

I once trimmed some 308 cases down to 1.990 because there was a crimp deformation in the mouths that needed that much removed to remove the defect . They shoot just fine .

[phdo]

Make your life easier and just do away with crimping.

[RestrictedColt]

I crimped at first because I was lead to believe it was needed, it's not.

Milspec calls for a crimp and some take that to mean it's important to do it. Milspec also calls for a primer crimp and no reloader does that.

In some cases a crimp can increase consistency, but most don't notice any difference, plus you're just making plinkers so absolute consistency isn't a big deal. If you were going for perfection the neck lengths would probably matter more than a crimp. I've made & shot lots of uncrimped .223 with various neck lengths.