No more taper crimp for me.

[GLOOB]

I just quit using a taper crimp on my reloads. Wish me luck.

After measuring the case mouth after expansion, I found that I flare it around .379 for luger and .472 for 45ACP. So now I just set the crimp ring so it rests on the mouth. In case an extra long case gets through, it might get crimped, but the rest of the ammo doesn't get touched.

 

[ralph2]

I just run my 45 and 9mm through the lee taper crimp die with no crimp. I read somewhere that ensures that the round will chamber. I never had any luck with any crimp dialed in

 

[donkee]

I just quit using a taper crimp on my reloads. Wish me luck.

Nice knowing ya!

Just kidding, I never crimp my ammo for the semi autos.

Revolver ammo gets a crimp though...

 

[Hondo 60]

All my ammo gets crimped some.

On my 9mm - just enough to take out the bell.

On 45 Colt, 38 spl & 357 mag - a nice roll crimp.

 

[winchester1886]

If you ever have bullet set back you may wish you had crimp it. I taper crimp all my auto loads.I guess it's all in what you believe in.I stated above I use a taper crimp die well what I do is seat the bullet with the seating die and then use a Lee factory crimp die.

 

[1SOW]

If it feeds in your gun, it'll shoot. At the same time, it may not feed in my gun.

I prefer to take out the bell in 9mm and get the coke-bottle shape, and not the flower-vase shape.

If you ever have bullet set back you may wish you had crimp it.

9mm Case neck tension from the sizing die is what primarily holds the bullet. Removing the bell and taper crimp does little to "hold" the bullet in place.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I run a light crimp on my .45 Auto ammo just to take out the bell but no more.

 

[GLOOB]

All my luger came out fine, even the plated bullets. But today I noticed many of my plated .45 reloads dropped all the way in on a chamber check but didn't fall back out. And my only .45 is a "sloppy chambered" Glock. Go figure. For reliability's sake, I'm going back on a taper crimp, at least for certain loads.

Three months, and I'm still learning stuff. It's all good.

 

[ljnowell]

If you ever have bullet set back you may wish you had crimp it. I taper crimp all my auto loads.

Taper crimping is not what is preventing setback on 9mm or 45acp loads.

 

[GLOOB]

I'm with ljnowell's school of thought on the matter. I think the taper crimp is mainly for feeding reliability. It can have some effect on pressure and accuracy, but I don't think it helps to prevent setback.

The taper crimp has to slightly compress the brass to remove the flare, but then it springs back to pretty much straight. This is why you can go back and seat bullets deeper without recrimping them. Once the flare is removed, it would be redundant to jump through that hoop, again.

Some have made the argument that the taper crimp helps prevent setback with lead bullets by digging partway into the side of the bullet. If this is desirable, then I wonder why people chamfer case mouths. I'd think you'd want the case mouth to be square and thick enough to "prevent setback" while still being able to provide headspacing.

This is all just my current opinion, of course. Feel free to disagree. I may disagree someday, too. I'm still learning.

 

[Walkalong]

If you ever have bullet set back you may wish you had crimp it.

9mm Case neck tension from the sizing die is what primarily holds the bullet. Removing the bell and taper crimp does little to "hold" the bullet in place.

Yep.

Since I use mixed brass and do not trim auto brass, I adjust my auto caliber crimpers so that the shortest cases get the bell removed completely, and the longer ones get a touch of crimp. As long as the bell is completely removed you will not have feeding problems in a mechanically sound gun.

 

[ranger335v]

Taper crimps for autos is more about reliable chambering than feeding.

 

[GLOOB]

My point is that plated bullets are larger diameter than jacketed. Thus, they would be more in need of a crimp in order to chamber, properly. Yet with no crimp, even plated bullets fit in all 3 of my luger barrels. If this doesn't interest you, I wonder if it's because you knew all this already? Care to enlighten us?

I'm thinking the larger variation in luger specs results in slightly looser cut chambers in this caliber. It might be one reason some are under the impression that 9mm handguns are generally more finicky with ammo when trying to print small groups.

 

[Hammerdown77]

0.469" taper crimp on those 45s. Feeds in every single gun I've tried. Seems to be the magic number. Not too much, not too little, juuuuust right.

 

[OpelBlitz]

I basically just remove the bell on my .45 as well.

 

[stork]

The decision on how much or wether or not to taper crimp should be decided by the chambering of the weapon being used, the hardness of the bullet being used, the thickness of the brass and the load.

I do all my testing from a Ransom rest at 50 yards, the first 10 rounds are shot into the impact berms just to settle the gun in the grip adapters. The first Kart barrel I had fitted to my wadcutter gun absolutely loved a hard crimp .463-.465. At the time I was using a harder cast bullet. It would group the hard crimp into 2" or less at 50 yards (when new), the .469-.470's would hold 4". When I used Remington brass (thinner) I knew I had to crimp a couple thousanths more. My hardball gun liked a more normal crimp. Both these guns were built by the same gunsmith with the same chambering reamer and both had Kart barrels. My current Kart in the wadcutter likes the more conventional .468-.469 crimp again. All these loads are typical Bullseye loads built for accuracy, not velocity. They normally are from 700-750 fps.

The point is, try a few different crimp measurements. You may find it likes it soft or hard.

FWIW