Do I really need a crimp die?

[teamnelson]

I'm loading .38/.357 with a Lee hand press and dies. I've got a range of bullets from speer 148 gr .358 lswc, hornady 148 lswc Lyman gc 163, some unknown 158 gc, and my own cast 158 swc tl. Tonight I was loading 148 Speer into 1x fired brass over hs6, seated to the cannelure. When i seat the bullet it doesn't feel too hard. I had one or two pcs of brass that were slightly too big so I dropped a cast 158 in those no problem. But even the ones that set fine and don't twist in the brass seem fragile. Is it in my head? Would a crimp die help? Does a crimp die wear the brass out quicker?

Mahalo, chaps

[LaOtto222]

Crimps are for two purposes. One is to aid in ignition of the powder. If you are using a fast burning powder, I do not think it will make much difference. If you are using a harder to ignite powder such as W296 or H110, I think a crimp will help get a more even burn from shot to shot. The second reason is bullet creep. As you fire one round, it may cause the other bullets in the revolver to actually creep out of the case. Under recoil the case literally pulls away from the bullet. Lead and cast bullets are more slippery than a jacketed bullet and can cause even more of a problem than jacketed bullets. Every time you fire the revolver it will creep the bullets remaining a little more; until they jamb up the cylinder where it will not turn. The heavier the recoil, the worse the problem. If you are shooting very low recoiling rounds and are using a very fast powder such as Trail Boss or Bullseye you might be able to to get by with out a crimp. Personally; I crimp for all my revolvers and lever action guns. I do not crimp for single shots - no matter what powder or bullet I am using. If it is not a heavy recoiling round just a lite crimp and a heavy crimp for my full house rounds using W296 - no matter what powder or bullets I am using. Yep - crimping will shorten the life of a case, depending on how much crimp you use. It work hardens the brass around the mouth and will cause splits eventually. You can lengthen the life of your cases by annealing them every so often. Most dies have a built in crimp, of course Lee does not. They want you to use their crimping die. I like the Lee crimping die with jacketed bullets, but do not like it for lead bullets - I prefer a roll crimp found in most other dies for lead. Just my 2 cents -  Good Luck and Good Shooting

[shot1]

Long story made short. Crimp all handgun rounds. Roll crimp your revolver rounds and taper crimp your pistol rounds. It will solve a bunch of headaches.

[Catfish]

I agree with 1 shot when talking about straight walled handgun rounds, but you do not need to buy a crimping die. You can set your seating die to do the crimping and you do not need a real heavy crimp.

[teamnelson]

Okay so some recommended options might be drop Lee and use another brand die for the built in crimp or get the Lee crimp die? But overall to crimp is better than not to crimp.

Mahalo, Chaps

[Catfish]

With rifle ammo I only crimp the calibers that are for tubler mags., or they recoil so much that you will get pulled bullets in the mag. With handguns I like at least enough crimp to to help them feed without catching on the case mouth. When relaoding straight walled cases you usually flair the case mouth a little so as long as you get it back to at least straight your good to go, unless your getting pulled bullets from recoil.

[securitysix]

Has Lee removed the crimping section from their new seating dies?  All of the Lee 3 die pistol sets I've used have crimping capability built into the seating die.  If I'm using these instead of a Lee Factory Crimp die, I seat all the bullets, then back the seating stem out and run the die in far enough to crimp.  I've tried seating and crimping in the same step, and while it can be done, it's not as uniform as doing them separately.

If bullets are seating really easy, you might have flared your cases too much.  It's easy to do if you've been flaring to load lead bullets and then switched to jacketed bullets without adjusting your flare.

The real advantage to the Factory Crimp Die from Lee is not that it crimps, though it does.  The advantage is that it also resizes the case again, removing any bulging that may have happened during the rest of the loading process, or so Lee claims.

[Grumulkin]

For relatively low recoil rounds like the 357 Magnum and 38 Special, the built in crimp function that's in any standard die should work fine.  For rounds with heavier recoil and cases that can be bent with too much pressure is applied like the 454 Casull and 460 S&W Magnum, in my opinion the Lee Factory Crimp die is the only way to go  The Lee FCD is also good for tightening up bullets that are a little loose.