should I crimp .243?

[J_McLeod]

I just got a .243 and an going to start loading for it. I got the Hornady dies, Varget or H414 and Hornady 100gr BTSP. The bullets have a cannelure so I I'll seat then to it. Should they be crimped?

 

[jwrowland77]

There is no good reason to ever really crimp a rifle round.

The only reason I can think of is maybe for a auto. For a bolt gun, you never should have to crimp.

Don't worry about the cannelure and just seat the bullet where you need it and ignore the cannelure.

 

[Vol46]

No need to crimp a mild recoiling bottleneck rifle cartridge.

 

[45lcshooter]

Depending on how many times the brass was shot, you may loose neck tension. Neck tension is what truely holds the bullet there in the case. After several firings the neck tension will not be there and your bullet will wiggle or even pull out of the case, either crimp it, or throw the case out.

Ive crimped several cases that lost neck tension and i've got another 2 or 3 reloads out of them before something else went wrong and just tossed them in to scrap bucket.

 

[jwrowland77]

Depending on how many times the brass was shot, you may loose neck tension. Neck tension is what truely holds the bullet there in the case. After several firings the neck tension will not be there and your bullet will wiggle or even pull out of the case, either crimp it, or throw the case out.

Ive crimped several cases that lost neck tension and i've got another 2 or 3 reloads out of them before something else went wrong and just tossed them in to scrap bucket.

You lose neck tension, because the brass is getting stiffer from multiple reloads. The best thing to do is if you lose neck tension, is to either anneal the brass or toss the brass and move on to the next batch of brass.

 

[4895]

I wouldn't crimp .243 Win.

 

[plmitch]

No real need to.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Depending on how many times the brass was shot, you may loose neck tension. Neck tension is what truely holds the bullet there in the case. After several firings the neck tension will not be there and your bullet will wiggle or even pull out of the case, either crimp it, or throw the case out.

Ive crimped several cases that lost neck tension and i've got another 2 or 3 reloads out of them before something else went wrong and just tossed them in to scrap bucket.

Crimping the neck will never solve a tension problem, it just doesn't work.

Like said above, no real reason to crimp bottleneck rifle cartridges meant for a bolt action rifle. That said I usually add a light Factory Crimp to my rifle rounds for no good reason other than I have the dies... I have tested the same batch of handloaded ammo with and without a crimp and there was no change in accuracy or velocity so like said above, there is no good reason to crimp. I had thought the ammo would be more consistent but it appears it isn't.