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"Factory Crimp" While Reloading Rifle Ammunition Cases?
I am a newbie wanting to reload rifle ammunition of the bottle-neck variety. In this case .223 cal. is my interest. For this purpose, I have a Lee die set with four dies, one of them the Lee "Factory Crimp" die. Several persons tell me to seat the bullet, but not crimp it. Others say I should crimp the bullet. I will be using brass fired only a few times at most. If you can explain the pro's and con's, I would be grateful.
Unbelievable! I can't believe some of the, 'expert advice' you've just been given.
Where to begin? First, are you talking, '223' as in, '223 Remington'; or are you referring to, '223' as in, '5.56 x 45mm'? If you're favorite flavor is military semiautomatic 5.56mm then you should absolutely crimp your bullets into the cartridge cases.
If you are talking about 223 Rem. that's often used in bolt action rifles then you may - may - be able to get away without crimping the bullets into the cases. (It all depends on whether or not you experience, 'bullet walking' in your magazine while firing.)
Rifle/carbine bullets may or may not be, 'roll crimped'. Some are; some aren't. It all depends on where the cartridge is headspaced in the chamber, and/or how much energy a particular cartridge generates.
Rifle cartridges that headspace off the rim, or belt, or shoulder are, all, able to (and, probably, should) be roll crimped. Rifle cartridges that headspace off the shoulder or casemouth are often, but not always, taper crimped.
Personally speaking, I have nothing but contempt for Lee's, 'factory crimp die'. It's actually an additional,'compression' die for lightly skilled reloaders who have - I strongly suspect - never really learned how to set their bullet seater/crimper dies correctly. In some 40 years of reloading I never once used a Lee, 'factory crimp' die.
Why? Because I knew how to correctly set up my dies in the first place; and, on those rare occasions when RCBS, or Dillon sold me a die set that was slightly out-of-spec. I promptly returned the dies with a note to send me a new tighter set.
The only company who ever squawked back at me was Dillon; but, a couple of weeks later they did send me exactly the properly dimensioned (tighter) dies I'd asked for. (RCBS always gives you exactly what you request!)
It is not neck sizing that determines whether or not you need to crimp; all neck sizing does is guarantee the cartridge is going to fit inside the firing chamber. (Geeze, guys!)
If you're using a semiautomatic action, or if your bullets are, 'walking' in the magazine, then, you need to pay more attention to how you're seating those bullets.
By the way, it's impossible to make good durable and reliable ammunition without properly crimping (and often sealing) the bullets into the cartridge cases.
I know I wouldn't want to go hunting or traveling in the back country with improperly crimped (or unsealed) ammunition. At a target range it truly might not matter; but in competition, or way back in the woods it's definitely going to make an important difference.
I'd suggest you take all that Lee sales propaganda you've been reading with a grain of salt. I used RCBS two die rifle sets for more than 35 years without, ever once, needing a 3rd crimp die.
If you learn how to properly set up your two die sets, in the first place, you aren't going to need to squeeze the crap out of a case neck before finishing the cartridge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handloading
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