CRIMPING OR NOT .45 LONG COLT REVOLVE

[8185854610]

I reload 45 long colt. 200 grain cast bullet rnfp over 6 grains of hp-38 and shoot only in a revolver makes a mild load for plinking. Is it necessary to crimp for revolver only. Shoot a lot and want to preserve brass to last longest
have heard crimping works the brass more.

Thanks appreciate opinions

['ol shooter]

Measure round length before and after firing. Load six, shoot one and check the unfired rounds for bullet movement. Repeat with all six and you have your answer. I don't load real heavy loads either but I always crimp the cases.

[G-forceJunkie]

Depends on the neck tension, as mentioned above, you can test if the bullets are moving forward. You got to do some work with the crimp die to remove the bell, can't skip that step totally, so just a light crimp shouldn't work the brass too much.

On another note, that a huge volume case for a pretty dense powder, probably room for a 2x or 3x charge so be carefull. For 45lc plinking ammo, I use trailboss. 6 grains over a 200 grain lead roundnose, probably the same velocity as your load, high 700's fps.

[Itsrockysmodernlife]

I reload 45 long colt. 200 grain cast bullet rnfp over 6 grains of hp-38 and shoot only in a revolver makes a mild load for plinking. Is it necessary to crimp for revolver only. Shoot a lot and want to preserve brass to last longest
have heard crimping works the brass more.

Thanks appreciate opinions

Lee Factory crimp die

[Divernhunter]

short answer is yes crimp.
The primer pockets will probably wear out 1st

[pennstater]

I'm like 'ol shooter, light to med loads, light to med crimp. Works.

MLC

[Kurgan]

I always crimp straight wall revolver pistol cases. Probably more wear on the brass from belling than crimping.

[bruce381]

light crimp roll the bell back to straight and a smidge more not much is needed
by the way 6.3 grs unique behind 255 lee RNFP out of 4 5/8 inch ruger 780-800 FPS nice shooting load, And to make crimp uniform ALWAYS trim brass.

[Cowboy T]

I reload .45 Colt as well with a 200gr bullet and a Buffalo Bore-style magnum load with a 255gr bullet. I also reload .44 Spl/Mag and .38/357. If shooting in a revolver and using standard SAAMI loads, then the answer is no, you don't have to crimp the cases. Just flattening out the bell (a.k.a. flare) that you make when seating the bullet is sufficient.

However....

That changes when using the ammo in, say, a tube-fed levergun, such as a Winchester 92, Marlin 1894, or Henry Big Boy. For those guns, yes, always, *ALWAYS* do a light to medium roll crimp. The reason is bullet setback. In tube-fed guns, the feeding of the next round can end up pushing the bullet further into to the case than the standard length, which will increase pressure and possibly also cause feeding issues. Say you're running full-house .357M or .44M loads in your Winchester 92 or clone. That means pressure could possibly exceed SAAMI specs, and that would be bad if it happened. So, to prevent that bullet getting shoved further into the case, the roll crimp should always be applied for levergun usage.

Since I happen to own and enjoy both revolvers (Super Redhawk, Redhawk, Security-Six, and so on) and tube-fed lever rifles (Rossi 92's), I always do a light to medium roll crimp in all of my revolver rounds. My .38 Special brass seems to last forever. Same with .45 Colt, as long as I don't use Brasso in my walnut polishing regimen (oops). :-)

As long as you don't go overboard with either your flaring or your roll crimping, your case neck should last a long time. People have done experiments with .38 Special reloading, and yellow, unplated brass cases lasted over 140 reloads before the case finally split. The nickel cases lasted over 40 reloads before splitting. So, for low-pressure loads, your brass will last a long time.

[Kurgan]

light crimp roll the bell back to straight and a smidge more not much is needed
by the way 6.3 grs unique behind 255 lee RNFP out of 4 5/8 inch ruger 780-800 FPS nice shooting load, And to make crimp uniform ALWAYS trim brass.

I've never trimmed pistol brass.

[Sandspider500]

light crimp roll the bell back to straight and a smidge more not much is needed
by the way 6.3 grs unique behind 255 lee RNFP out of 4 5/8 inch ruger 780-800 FPS nice shooting load, And to make crimp uniform ALWAYS trim brass.

I'd be surprised if 6.3gr made it past 700 in a 4 5/8.

[TAS]

A slight flare for seating and a slight to medium roll crimp is what I use. I do this for all my rimmed, straight walled pistol rounds. I also do not trim my pistol brass.

[bruce381]

I'd be surprised if 6.3gr made it past 700 in a 4 5/8.

Then my crony is wrong ran them sat I agree i thought they would be 700 or so but NOPE
and trimming revolver brass makes sure the crimp is the same on all catriges or a long case will buckel

[bergmen]

Don't forget the possibility of using a taper crimp. I do this on light revolver loads for a number of reasons (plated bullets being one of them). Taper crimping doesn't curve the mouth in like roll crimping does. You can get a .45 acp taper crimp die and adjust to fit.

BTW, .45 Colt brass lasts basically forever. I am still using brass from the mid 90s that I have loaded to the max for my blackhawks. Still works well, have not lost a single one due to cracks or other failures (roll crimped on those).

Dan

[Sandspider500]

I run 6.3gr of bullseye for that velocity.