Not crimping cannelure bullets

Not a mistake at all. Short of running them in battle-like conditions a crimp will only make them more or less accurate depending on your gun.
You could try to cycle a few of them through your action to see if the COL changes. I doubt it does.

If there's enough neck tension crimp isn't needed for bolt actions unless it's a heavy recoiling round. Semi autos and hard kickers and tube magazines you'd better crimp. I got a bolt gun that won't feed reliably unless rounds are crimped but it's an exception

Yes, big mistake. What's the big deal about crimping? It's mostly about safety, safety, and more safety. Ya don't want a stuck bullet in your barrel being too loose sticking into the rifling or the next round chambered and having the bullet deeper into the case spiking pressure because the previous one fired recoil jars it deeper. Now there are all sorts possibilities that you can get away with it and there are all sorts of problems with not getting away with, " I didn't realize that could happen as you're going to the hospital." The choice is yours, just remind me to stand 10 feet away when you squeeze the trigger!

Thomasss said:

Yes, big mistake. What's the big deal about crimping? It's mostly about safety, safety, and more safety. Ya don't want a stuck bullet in your barrel being too loose sticking into the rifling or the next round chambered and having the bullet deeper into the case spiking pressure because the previous one fired recoil jars it deeper. Now there are all sorts possibilities that you can get away with it and there are all sorts of problems with not getting away with, " I didn't realize that could happen as you're going to the hospital." The choice is yours, just remind me to stand 10 feet away when you squeeze the trigger!

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All I want to say is that in 40 years of loading and talking to those reloaders I know, the only time I have crimped is for tubular magazines (and I don't like doing those because I think you need to crimp). Not once have I, or those I know, crimped any other cartridge, and I have never heard of any of that happening. Proper neck tension is enough to prevent all that, apparently.

Aletheia said:

All I want to say is that in 40 years of loading and talking to those reloaders I know, the only time I have crimped is for tubular magazines (and I don't like doing those because I think you need to crimp). Not once have I, or those I know, crimped any other cartridge, and I have never heard of any of that happening. Proper neck tension is enough to prevent all that, apparently.

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I don't have as many years of experience as you do, but over the past 28k rounds or so in the last 3 years through my ar15s, the only time I have bothered "crimping" rounds has been since I bought my Mark 7(around June of last year). The only reason I bother crimping on that is because I use a Lyman M die that expands the mouth of the case just a touch to make sure the bullet stays put after the bullet feeder. Even then, the "crimp" is nothing more than removing that tiny amount of flare left from the m die. Anything I load on my old turret press or single stage press gets no crimp. Overall, that means probably 24k of those 28k haven't been crimped, and never once have I had any issue. Now, I can certainly say I HAVE had issues with accuracy after crimping. That was precisely why I stopped crimping rounds for it.

At the end of the day, all I can tell anybody is "you do you, but I'm gonna do what works for me." If someone wants to crimp, by all means, crimp away. In my experience, it has offered no real benefit in regards to my rifles and my loads.

Like said if you have enough neck tension not needed. Do a test. Measure a round then chamber it, eject and measure again. If it has moved you need to increase neck tension. I normally use a 0.003"+ interface fit for my AR's. You may need to polish the expander down if you need to increase neck tension.

I agree with this post...

MakBaba said:

Not a mistake at all. Short of running them in battle-like conditions a crimp will only make them more or less accurate depending on your gun.
You could try to cycle a few of them through your action to see if the COL changes. I doubt it does.

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A crimp is not a substitute for proper neck tension. There are other reasons one might need to crimp like tubular magazines.

I do not crimp my cartridges used in AR-15’s, M1’s, M1A’s, Contender carbines and bolt rifles.

This includes when I’ve used bullets with a cannelure.

An advantage of not crimping bullets with cannelure is you can load the bullet to different depth if you want.

Testing will tell you the truth. I use a heavy roll crimp in my lever guns with tube mags. My 223 in my mini works fine with neck tension only. If you have movement and low neck tension then I would you use a smaller mandrel or polish your expander ball before resorting to crimp.

I use a crimp on my 223 for ARs and 30-06 for Garands, I've had a 30-06 separate and it was a mess. I use a Lee FCD set for a "light" crimp, its hard to see, and have not had anymore setbacks or separations. I also use a light crimp with 357m and 44m pistol rnds. My 30-06 for bolt actions and now that I have a 223 bolt action those also, I usually have a lighter crimp

I have a 30-06 bolt gun and I never crimp. Don't ever load more than 3 rounds in it either.

150gr. bullet 100 yards no crimp. Shots high right different powder .Shot to left me.

I never crimp bottle neck rifle cartridges.

With 223, I load projectiles with a cannelure the same as I do those without, I do not crimp them.

cfullgraf said:

I do not crimp my cartridges used in AR-15’s, M1’s, M1A’s,

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It took me a LONG time to trust my reloading process not to crimp them... but now that I have seen the light, it Awesomeness. Yes, I still crimp my lever-action rounds (duh) but with the exception of my 5.56mm and 7.62mm blasting ammos, I don't crimp rifle anymore. As was mentioned, proper neck tension is necessary.

If not crimping semi-auto rifle rounds is unsafe, I have been risking life and limb for several thousand trigger pulls with my Garand and SKS...

Early on in my Garand reloading (30-06) I did a test, I crimped with a Lee Collet Crimp die a bunch of Hornady 155 gr bullets. I filled a few clips with the handloads, loaded one, fired 7 rounds then ejected and measured the 8th. No change in OAL on 6 or 7 clips full. HXP, LC, Hornady and Winchester brass...

Crimping has other uses besides holding a bullet in place.