Crimp advice needed

[Snuby642]

38 special 125gr barrys fn
4.2gr bullseye 1.45 coal.
Dillon 550.

Having trouble judging crimp.

 

[Nimothy]

That’s a pretty light .38 load shouldn’t hardly be crimped at all, heavy roll crimps are for mags in my opinion, I dont think you’ll do accuracy any service by a heavy crimp. I would do it just enough to get the flare out and a 1/8-1/4 turn more on the die. And call it good. Especially at 4.2 grains

 

[usafa77]

Agreed. Just crimp it enough to smooth it out , make sure it fits in the cylinder.

 

[Snuby642]

Thanks, my son had set the dies up and shot them with more crimp than this. The crimp shown is after I backed it off some allready.

I am used to crimps for ar's, things like 300 blk with a 220gr will move if not crimped enough.

I like your explinations and now understand. Will be resetting crimp asap.

As far as lite load, hornady, lee, lyman and hogden were all over the place for fps / load.
I just want 800-850 fps load and know in the snubs it might not make that and may shoot it in 357's also. Short range paper / can poppers.

Thanks @usafa77 and @Nimothy

 

[Nimothy]

Thanks, my son had set the dies up and shot them with more crimp than this. The crimp shown is after I backed it off some allready.

I am used to crimps for ar's, things like 300 blk with a 220gr will move if not crimped enough.

I like your explinations and now understand. Will be resetting crimp asap.

As far as lite load, hornady, lee, lyman and hogden were all over the place for fps / load.
I just want 800-850 fps load and know in the snubs it might not make that and may shoot it in 357's also. Short range paper / can poppers.

Thanks @usafa77 and @Nimothy

I take the powder manufactures load advice first, that’s only constant, ya know everything else is just close, like we load for a125 no matter who made it with data from hornady

 

[ken4570tc in WY]

The lighter crimp will help the brass last longer.

 

[clcustom1911]

I crimp all my pistol ammo and some rifle. I really dislike roll crimping. I do taper crimping with a Lee Factory Crimp Die. I think you could investigate it and see if its something you could add to your process.

 

[Steel head]

I crimp all my pistol ammo and some rifle. I really dislike roll crimping. I do taper crimping with a Lee Factory Crimp Die. I think you could investigate it and see if its something you could add to your process.

Lee taper crimp is easy and nice

 

[Snuby642]

This is with Dillon dies, the bullets were spinning in the case and then just got adjusted down a bit much. Very thin range on that adjustment.

That is why I prefer the Lee crimp die as well, and the only kind I buy for single stage.

 

[Nimothy]

I really really like hornady pistol dies they have a great range of adjustment and are pretty cheap. Very easy to dial in