irishlad
Contributing Member
I don't crimp my 55 gr vmax bullets for my .223s. Getting ready to load some 55 gr fmj bullets that have a cannelure. I wasn't gonna crimp these either. Is this a mistake ? Thanks in advance.
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!
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.
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.
I do not crimp my cartridges used in AR-15’s, M1’s, M1A’s,