Taper Crimping --> 9mm (& 45 acp)

[ZombieKiller]

I'm starting to do my own 9mm as well now....I am aware that the tolerances are tighter for this round. I also read that they MUST be taper crimped. I have never really taper crimped before. My question for you guys is:

How do you know what is enough taper crimp?

All my manuals describe taper crimp, but is there any way to actually measure it? Pics of how it is would really help....

Also, is there any way somebody can post pics of acceptable/too much/& not taper crimped so I can see the difference?

As always:

Thanks in advance for all your wisdom and help....

[Beelzy]

One only needs to taper crimp if the rounds are IMO 130gr. or more.

A taper crimp is right between no crimp and Roll crimp. Just enough to push
the sharp edge of the case inwards into the bullet without rolling it into
the bullet.

[f4tweet]

When I taper crimp I adjust the crimp die down so that it leaves a slight ring on the bullet, and it takes three good whacks on the ground with my bullet puller to de-mil the dummy round. If you measure, the bullet is .355, and each case wall is at least .010, so added together your crimp should be less that than .375. The final test is , take your barrel out and see if the dummy round (no primer or powder) drops in the chamber and falls out when you turn the barrel upside down. I then take a dummy round, put it in the magazine, and see if my pistol will feed the round with a nice Ka-Chunk, and be in battery.

[ZombieKiller]

sa-weet.....thanks fellas......

[J-cat]

The 9mm does not need to be taper crimped. Mine do just fine with the case mouth merely straightened out. If you look at factory ammo, you'll see many brands are not taper crimped. I believe WWB is one of the few that is.

[nothing4u]

Just make sure it removes the bell at the mouth and you should be good to go. Remember too much taper is bad cause the head space is off the mouth of the case.

[supersonic]

The best way I find to test if you have the "perfect" taper crimp is to keep the barrel you are loading for by you when setting up your dies. As you adjust your seat/crimp die *little by little*, test the loaded round in the chamber. Insert cartridge; make sure it stops abruptly as the mouth meets the end of chamber; check to make sure your case head is fully supported (Glocks:"mostly supported"); firmly push in on the cartridge from the rear; then invert the barrel. If round falls freely: GTG. If it sticks in the chamber (even for a nanosecond), repeat previous steps until you are GTG.