how much crimp is needed on a 223 bullet

chadn22 · Rookie Member Joined: Feb 03, 2008 Posts: 3

hey guys new to reloading. Trying to figure out how much crimp to put on a reloaded shell. Im shooting them in a ar-15 . I am useing a lee pro 1000.any help wouls be great. thanks Chad

BHP9

You could use the Lee Factory Crimp Die.

Bushmaster

Just enough to remove the bell (if you belled the case mouth in the first place) and maybe a very light crimp. If the bullet has no cannelure and you crimp it too much you can cause the neck to expand and and cause the bullet to be loose. You may also distort the bullet. The neck tension on the bullet should be enough to hold the bullet without crimping. If the bullet is cannelured you can crimp the case mouth into the cannelure with no problems. Your regular seating/crimp die should do the job just fine. If you wish to crimp in a seperate operation I would recommend the Lee FCD (Factory Crimp Die)

I don't crimp my rifle cases except .30-30...

d_hoffman

I don't crimp mine at all. If you size your cases properly you really don't need to. Like Bushy said, The neck tension is enough.

hermit

You should not have to crimp them at all unless your using a bullet with the cannler (SP)

gelandangan

I have been using Lee FCD since were told to do so last year (when I ask about crimping too).
I would have to say that they are GREAT!!!
improves the accuracy a bit too..

Crackshot

If your dies are set up right and you have good neck tension, you do not need any crimp on 223's in an AR-15. I have loaded 1000's for me and my daughters for NRA high power with no crimps on 69gr and 80gr bullets. Its not that important with the 80gr bullet as you load them 1 at a time. but the 69's are capabal of jumping and tieing up your mag, and inturn, the rifle.
Also, I have loaded 1000's of elcheapo FMJ's with cannelure with no crimp and no problem.

chadn22 · Rookie Member Joined: Feb 03, 2008 Posts: 3

thanks for all the help and opinions on crimping

SingleShotLover

I know that this is a subject upon which there are a lot of differing opinions, but I never crimp bottle-necked cartridges. As mentioned, if your expander ball is sized correctly there will be plenty of neck-tension to hold the bullet. I can see the reasoning for the real big recoil generating cartridges, but .30 caliber and under is pretty much a waste in my experience. One of the very real drawbacks is that case length is even more critical with crimped cases to prevent uneven crimping pressure. If the case mouth is even the tiniest bit out of square or cases vary in the amount of neck length accuracy can be a problem.

English Mike

Using a Lee FCD to give a medium crimp saw our .270 loads improve in accuracy by 25%+
I guess a lot is down to the individual rifle.