Crimp

[Brad]

Rick and I were discussing crimp in a PM.
Here are a few photos of what I typically use for roll crimp in any cases where it is required.
I like to get the top of the crimp groove almost even with the top of the case. I then use just enoug crimp to get the top of the case so a nail won't catch it.

 

[smokeywolf]

I too like to bring the case mouth up as close to the top of the crimp groove on the bullet as possible, then crimp the O.D. of the case at the mouth to about .005" smaller than the O.D. of the bullet. I eyeball it with a headloupe or my lighted magnifier on the bench.

 

[fiver]

it depends on what I'm using the round for.
if I'm feeding it from somewhere else I like it tucked up under so it's a smooth transition.
if it's just crimping to keep things from moving forward I move it to the bottom so the crimp folds down over the little ramp.
it just kind of fixes the oal into position.
I like to seat as long as I possibly can in everything unless accuracy or feeding are affected.

 

[Pistolero]

Looks solid to me. If you are trying for a really strong crimp, the rifle type (collet) Lee Factory Crimp Die (not the
pistol thing which is a TC and oversized carbide sizer) does a heck of a job on a crimp. I think these are available for
.44 Mag now, used to only be rifle cartridges, although I guess .44 Mag is both.

Bill

 

[JWFilips]

it depends on what I'm using the round for.
if I'm feeding it from somewhere else I like it tucked up under so it's a smooth transition.
if it's just crimping to keep things from moving forward I move it to the bottom so the crimp folds down over the little ramp.
it just kind of fixes the oal into position.
I like to seat as long as I possibly can in everything unless accuracy or feeding are affected.

This pretty much is what I do. I don't shoot as much pistol as I used to.
For my rifle shooting( since 90 percent is target shooting) I too seat as long as I can & never crimp since I load them single shot. In my Marlin 336's I will put a nice crimp on them for field use however

 

[358156 hp]

LEE also offers some collet type crimping dies for selected calibers. They're like the Factory Crimp Rifle Dies, but are for primarily revolver calibers. I have one around here somewhere for 44 mag that I ordered for a long-gone 629 with .434 throats. I had ordered a custom mould for it from Accurate, but the bullet diameter was big enough that I was damaging the front driving band with normal crimping dies. That revolver was such a pain to load for!

 

[Brad]

LEE also offers some collet type crimping dies for selected calibers. They're like the Factory Crimp Rifle Dies, but are for primarily revolver calibers. I have one around here somewhere for 44 mag that I ordered for a long-gone 629 with .434 throats. I had ordered a custom mould for it from Accurate, but the bullet diameter was big enough that I was damaging the front driving band with normal crimping dies. That revolver was such a pain to load for!

That is exactly why I made this crimp die. It doesn't touch the outside of the case with a .434 bullet but is close. It lets a .434 bullet pass thru with no contact.
Needed it for exactly the reason given. Made a new sliding sleeve for the Hornady seater too. It didn't like .434 bullets either. The Marlin 44 mag taught me a few things about dies.

 

[Ian]

I do pretty much what Fiver wrote about. Any gap drives me nuts, but with some groove designs and some revolver loads, there's no way to avoid it. What I find simply ideal is a crimp groove that isn't so ridiculously deep and long as most, then I can apply roll crimp to tuck the mouth right under the front band (keeps bullet from moving back in a tube magazine) and also contact the "ramp" part of the groove fully with the case. Most of my Accurate Mold designs that have a crimp groove are made with no more than .015" deep groove and only two angles to it, no bottom like a lube groove.

 

[358156 hp]

BTW, thanks! I ended up with a NOS std Redhawk tonight, and a lot of the information in these threads will be really useful. I really, really, need to do the trigger on this one first, then I have to teach myself how to shoot the big guns again. I regret selling my Super RH a few years back, but this will take a lot of the regret away. The trigger is harder to do well on the Std RH, but I've done them before and should pick it back up pretty quickly. Now to select a mould for it, that's always the fun part.

 

[waco]

I bought this mold from Accurate awhile back. A PB copy of the Lee 310gr
Have not played around with it too much yet. I have a 5" STD Redhawk.
http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=43-310D-D.png