Crimp or no crimp- .300 win mag

Klint Beastwood said:

I'm not partial to the idea of crimping for a bolt gun. However I was looking at some of the brass in the bucket I have for future work ups and got to thinking about if there was any advantages to it. I'm not the best reloader so I thought I'd see what the masses opinion might be on the subject.

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If you're sizing properly, neck tension alone will be sufficient. If you crimp, you will create a pinched point on the bullet where neck tension is no longer even and thus subject to be angled ever so slightly off center.

I would generally say no on rifle cartridges like that. However, I did shoot a 30 06 that liked a little crimp. W748 and a 180g bullet I think it was. Shot noticeably better that way, so that's what I did. Definitely not typical though for me.

I dont crimp anything besides pistol rounds, even my rounds for my semis have no crimp.

If i cant get adequate neck tension to hold the bullet in place ill polish down the expander a bit and keep trying.

The .300 has a relatively short neck, but it still offers plenty of grip to keep bullets in place.

Well I tried it both ways for every firearm (excluding auto pistols) I own over the years The only rifle ones I do crimp are 30-30, 32 SPL, 33 WIN, and any other tubular MAG firearm. With the others I got better accuracy without crimping. I also rely on neck tension alone and have never had problems with bullet movement with correctly sized brass necks. Others on here will disagree with me so I think you should try some of each and see for yourself what shoots best for you.YMMV

I'm with you Frogo207..

My rule is: "If the bullet has a cannelure, crimp it. If it doesn't, don't."

I voted no. I've never had a crimped load that shot as well as a non crimped load. I do crimp 30-30's and of course, pistol cartridges.

I voted nay as well. I can't think of a reason to do it. Even with a large hand cannon, a different sizing die gave me better grip than the hardest crimp would.

Saeed over on accuratereloading.com once did a test on crimped versus uncrimped and found a small advantage to crimping.

The rifles I always crimp for are heavy recoiling ones like 378 Weatherby, etc. Crimping is needed on my 460 S&W Magnum revolver or the bullets move under recoil. It also seems that loads with Barnes TSX bullets do quite a bit better with crimping. A low pressure load for a 45 Colt revolver does better with crimped bullets.

In getting back to the original question; I don't crimp for a 300 Winchester Magnum to be shot in a single shot rifle and II don't do it for a 300 Weatherby Magnum bolt action rifle.