Question on Roll Crimp Rifle Rounds

[goodlookin1]

Guys,

Do you find that if you want to apply a roll crimp to a rifle round that you need to have every single piece of brass the exact same length? If I dont, I find that either the crimp isnt applied at all (too short) or the case neck gets bulged outward (too long).

I figure that this is the way it's supposed to be, but when I'm bulk loading .223, brass prep takes forever when all the different brands of brass are different lengths.....if i want the crimp, I have to trim and chamfer each one and set the die depth in the die holder at just the right height. And that's a lot of work for simple practice rounds.

I dunno, does anyone else have a better way of crimping without needing exact length cases? I have the Lee Factory Crimp Die, but I found that I dont like it as much as the roll crimp on rifle rounds....it's a taper crimp and just not as clean, and works the neck of the brass more. I'm thinking there's got to be some sort of "floating point roll crimp" die or something....dont even know how that would work or what it would look like, just that it would apply the roll crimp as soon as the neck comes in contact with the cannelure, regardless of case length.

Any ideas?

[J-cat]

Don't crimp. It's not necessary.

[rsrocket1]

Are you bouncing the rounds in an ammo box for months/years before shooting?
Are you getting significant bullet set back when the rounds are being chambered?

If neither of the above, no need to crimp, you are probably going to add more problems than you will think you are solving. Neck tension should be plenty.

[ExtremeX]

I use the Lee FCD for my .223, but I can also get away with not crimping... You don’t need a lot of crimp; I apply a very light crimp.

I load on a RCBS progressive press; I have an open station for the FCD so I just leave it there and use it.

[Bill Steele]

The Lee Factory Crimp die uses a collet closure to crimp on rifle calibers. The collet squeezes down from the outside to apply the crimp, unlike a normal crimp where a collar presses down on the case mouth to apply the crimp. This design eliminates the crushed case syndrome, etc.

I crimp my hunting loads (old habits die hard), so I use the LFCD for this purpose. As others have noted, for 99% of all applications not crimping will work fine as well.

Also, your trim length should be consistent, too many cheap tools are available, making consistent trim length a breeze.

[Divernhunter]

I do not crimp any rifle rounds and I load quite a number of them. If you are loading for a full auto firearm then it might be different.