Hello to all, I am new and like to deer hunt with my Ruger .44 and I like to reload. I always see on some loads it states to use a tight crimp. What I would like to know is how tight is to tight or not tight eneough with out burning up alot of time and ammo?

I'm Not A Taper-Tech But My First Expectation Would Be Indications Of High Chamber Pressure On The Fired Brass(Stiff Case Extractions,Flattened Primers,Etc.) If Those Bullets Are Sqeezed Too Tightly.

That is what I am trying to get away from is to keep fireing up ammo to find out what crimp I need to make. Is there not some wisdom on how tight to make it as one is reloading the ammo?

well goldie first welcome. i dont know that much about it but
i would use a light crimp that should be a place to start you
just want to hold the bullet from movement as one round fires
that is what i was told hope that helps
larry223

I use a Lee taper crimp die, instead of a roll crimp, for my 44's. It snugs them up nice and no worries about overpressure from too tight a crimp.

I have never needed more than a good roll crimp on 44's and 45's

My 454 would move a bit with 300gr + bullets and I would use the LEE factory crimp.

Main thing is you do not want bullets backing out and locking up the cylinder.

The other thing is if you have very light loads and the bullets back out you can get excessive volume in the case and this can cause excessive prssure just like a hot load.

i want as much crimp as i can get, without adversely affecting the case.....as in buckling etc. just a good firm crimp. you can tell by looking at them. you don't have to shoot them, other than normal accuracy checks.

some load manuals have a pic of "too much crimp". i think the older hornady i have does.

For the heavy kickers I like the profile crimp die from Redding. I have also found with the slow ball powders like H110/W296 a firm crimp helps to keep things more consistant over the chrony.

I like the Redding and RCBS crimps. I need it with the 300XTP’s in the 44 mag!

X2, Lee taper crimp makes it easy as can be!

I roll crimp all my straight wall cases and like kyode I can just tell by the way they look. I've always had bad luck with taper crimps on my hard kickers. I always end up with bullets jumping the crimp more so than with a roll crimp.

I have tried a little lighter crimp and also a little heavier crimp and have not noticed much differance in the velocity of the loads. Schould the difference show up as the differance in the high and low end of the velociaty in a string of lets say 10 shots?

I use as tight a crimp as I can get away with. Cast bullets are pretty easy to crimp with out a lot of fiddling around with the seating depth. Jacketed bullets are a bit more fussy and it's a lot easier to buckle a case with a jacketed bullet if the bullet isn't seated properly. I use a Redding profile crimp die for my 454 but I've always found the regular seating die to work just fine in 44's but I also seat and crimp in two separate steps.

Below are some sample crimps. The left most cartridge in the group of three is a factory crimp in a 500 S&W. Most of these are pretty aggressive crimps.

Thanks Gary, that is what I was looking for. I also seat and crimp in two seperate steps and now I know what a tight crimp looks like.

Gary,

In your opinion, is the crimp on the jacketed bullet too much? My jacketed bullet load crimps look like the jacketed bullet crimp in your first photo (45 Colt and 45/70). For crimping dies, I use either my RCBS seater die (crimp in separate step) or a Redding profile crimp die.

To me, it seems it would be difficult to get consistent bullet pull if using a batch of brass where some were loaded/crimped with jacketed and some with cast.

If I understand your question, the answer is that you usually have to readjust the crimp and seating die when switching between cast and jacketed bullets

I'm new to reloading, and is there anything wrong with shooting a reload that has buckled the brass just a little bit, as long as it still fits in the cyl.?

I'm new to reloading, and is there anything wrong with shooting a reload that has buckled the brass just a little bit, as long as it still fits in the cyl.?

It will straighten out when you shoot it ;-)

Great! I buckled a few trying to get it right. How many times can you the same brass?

Depends on the brass and how heavy your load is. Brass is elastic and flexes when being fired and sized. In time the brass will "work harden" from this use and become brittle. In time the brass with fail and split. It's kind of like bending a piece of tin back and forth untill it breaks.

I have 44 brass that has over 10 fireings. My 44 loads are middle of the road for pressure. The brass still looks and works good.

You are new to loading so let me add a little tid-bit here. The brass will also stretch "grow" with firing and sizing. So keep an eye on the lenght of the brass. It will need to be trimmed back in time.

If you buckle it throw it out.

Too late, I already shot the buckled brass with no ill effects. Now that it is back in the same container, I don't know which ones were buckled.
I am really liking this reloading thing. Just need to start casting, and then i'll be shooting for really cheap!!

One of the few gun magazines I still get is "Handloader". Alot of good articles and info for the handloader. Each issue has a colum on a selected powder, and a selected cartridge with it's history. It also contains alot of load data within the articles. You might want to pick up a copy and give it a look.

I'll look for it next time I'm at Gander.
thanks