Should I Crimp?

[rtc111]

Im reloading for A Browning BAR safari .338 WM, and ive noticed that my bullets move deeper into my case than what i have them set to. I use hornady SST 225 gn (cannule). The person at hornady said i should crimp it, ive heard the lee factory crimp works really good, and even says it increases accuracy. Ive heard that crimping degrades accuracy, but i know that if the bullet is moved before its fired that would also really degrade accuracy..

so what should i do, crimp or don't crimp?

[rsrocket1]

If the bullet is moving, a crimp would help prevent it PROVIDED you have enough neck tension. A crimp, no matter how severe, will not compensate for an improperly sized neck.

[pdq_wizzard]

^^ yep, you need to run the case further into the sizing die. You don't have the neck sized.

[gau17]

Sounds like you need more neck tension if you are able to set back the bullet. If it's going to go into gas system then put a SLIGHT crimp. Lee does make a good one.

Double check your neck tension!

[Munk]

I'm guessing you don't feel like running this thing as a single-shot, so you want to take advantage of your magazine.

Crimping, or increasing neck tension (the lee FCD will resize your brass into your bullet basically) will prevent the bullet setback on your rounds in your mag. Check your sizing die to ensure that it's actually resizing your neck right while you're at it.

The .338 has enough recoil that a mag-fed gun will need some manner of crimp to prevent setback.

[ronas]

It might be possible to just resize neck only. You just use the bushing that works best in your gun. That way maybe you can avoid crimping.

[FLIGHT762]

Since you are reloading for an autoloader, you should only full length size your cases, no neck sizing. You should also be checking how much you are bumping back your case shoulders back from the fired cases from your rifle. Since this is a hunting rifle, you should bump the shoulders back .003" or so.

Additionally, this is a high energy cartridge. You should trim the cases to a uniform length and put a crimp on your hunting cartridges.

The lee factory crimp die would work well for you. Just don't overdo it. If you are using bullets without a cannelure, I would use a very light crimp.

The biggest failure is to go on a hunting trip, be out in the middle of nowhere and have a stuck cartridge in your chamber due to under sizing or having the bullets move forward in your magazine under heavy recoil, causing failures to feed. Do what you can to avoid ruining a hunting trip.

Crimping would only degrade accuracy if you are using a bullet without a cannelure and you put a heavy crimp (dent) into the side of the bullet.

[rtc111]

I only FL size, I reset head space back to .004. Ima try a slight crimp and work up. I'll let you guys know the results.

[rtc111]

And never want to ruin a hunting trip!