.38 Special how much crimp?

[David Jackson]

I would not be surprised if this is a very old question which I have not found. I am a rookie reloader and don't have a handle on how much crimp to put on the cases. Starting out with cast 158 gr round nose with 3.2 Bullseye.

[sigstroker]

I would say "moderate". I loaded a batch with a very light crimp that looked nice, because I thought "this load has almost no recoil". 158 gr bullets jumped the crimp and jammed the cylinder.

So consider how much recoil you'll get, how much the bullet weighs(the heavier the bullet, the more the crimp can get jumped). Whatever you test, don't fill the cylinder. Just put a couple three rounds in it, and after every shot, check the rounds in the cylinder to make sure the crimp is holding.

[ar15barrels]

I would not be surprised if this is a very old question which I have not found. I am a rookie reloader and don't have a handle on how much crimp to put on the cases. Starting out with cast 158 gr round nose with 3.2 Bullseye.

Just enough to remove the belling and get the edge of the case slightly smaller than the case behind the crimped area.
If you measured the loaded diameter of the case where the bullet is making the case larger, you want the case mouth to be perhaps 0.010" to 0.015" smaller in diameter.
That's all you need.

Look at the 3rd illustration of the four:

[David Jackson]

That seems the simplest way to go. I am reading different opinions on this question and I like the simplest the best, especially as .38 is, I am told, a relatively low pressure round and thus pretty forgiving of minor variations.

[JagerDog]

I like a good roll crimp into the crimping groove. Go too far and the case buckles. Cast lead is pretty forgiving. Need to be a bit more careful with jacketed.

[wpage]

Agree that lead unjacked is the best way...