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Old 10-04-2018, 01:25 PM
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.44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove  
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Default .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove

I have an old box of Speer #4447 240 gr. jacketed soft point bullets. These have no crimp groove and i'm wondering about or how to crimp.
My manuals say the COL should be 1.61". If I seat at that depth the jacket protrudes from the top of the case so a roll crimp would be squeezing the jacket. If I seat them deeply enough to crimp over the jacket and into the lead I'm at 1.57".
Should just crimp enough to remove the flare?
My load is 23 gr. of 296.

FWIW I called Speer and they will get back to me tomorrow.
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Old 10-04-2018, 01:32 PM
M29since14 M29since14 is offline
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.44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove  
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If those are the old half-jacketed Speers we crimped them just over the top of the jacket cup. I never cared for that bullet but did shoot it a bit at silhouettes. I didn’t shoot it any better than cast bullets (not a great silhouette shooter ) so I just stayed with cast.
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Old 10-04-2018, 01:47 PM
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.44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove  
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That's probably the bullet. Here is a picture.
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Old 10-04-2018, 02:14 PM
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.44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove  
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Normally, if a bullet has no crimp groove or cannalure, it is taper crimped. I had some of those half jacketed 44 cal bullets way back when, I just lightly roll crimped into the jacket; lightly, not enough to distort the bullet. Crimping over the jacket seemed to make the rounds too short. Worked with light loads...

Last edited by mikld; 10-04-2018 at 02:16 PM.
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Old 10-04-2018, 02:37 PM
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.44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff423 View Post
I have an old box of Speer #4447 240 gr. jacketed soft point bullets. These have no crimp groove and i'm wondering about or how to crimp.
My manuals say the COL should be 1.61". If I seat at that depth the jacket protrudes from the top of the case so a roll crimp would be squeezing the jacket. If I seat them deeply enough to crimp over the jacket and into the lead I'm at 1.57".
Should just crimp enough to remove the flare?
My load is 23 gr. of 296.

FWIW I called Speer and they will get back to me tomorrow.
Do what m29since 14 said. I’ve shot lots of those with 24 grains of 296 in the past and crimped them as he just stated.
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Old 10-04-2018, 04:50 PM
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.44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove  
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Thanks for the replies. I just loaded them and will see how they work.
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Old 10-04-2018, 05:11 PM
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.44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove  
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I never loaded any of those in 44s, but I went through many in 357 and 41.

I have close to 1000 of the 41s remaining

We always crimped those over the end of the jacket, just like M29since14 suggests

Just remember to chart at the bottom of the load chart and work up toward maximum slowly
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Old 10-04-2018, 06:49 PM
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.44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove  
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If you are compressing the W296 by loading a little short, I would make sure to shoot those up soon.
I have had 296 congeal into a solid mass after years of storage.
Produced my only squibs and unloading them required me to scrape the powder out with a crochet hook.
One of a couple reasons I now try to stay away from ball powder in general.
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Old 10-04-2018, 08:25 PM
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.44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove  
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Do not "light" load half-jacketed bullets. The jackets can separate on firing and stick in the bore. Give them some "oomph."
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Old 10-04-2018, 08:29 PM
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.44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove  
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The "Old Style" jacket with a lead FN design is a great shooting bullet for
fps and accuracy but............
it needs to be set with the lead just above the case for the medium to heavy crimp.

Do not try to remove this style bullet with a Hammer puller !!
Just shoot it or you will be very sorry.

Enjoy those bullets.
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Old 10-04-2018, 09:49 PM
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.44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove  
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My Speer Reloading Manual #10 has that bullet. It says: "Crimp the 225 grain and 240 grain SWC jacketed bullets over the radius at the forward edge of the jacket." It also cautions that the bullets "should not be used with loads lighter than shown". It lists 296 loads of 22.7 to 24.7 using CCI magnum primers.
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Old 10-04-2018, 11:16 PM
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.44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oink View Post
My Speer Reloading Manual #10 has that bullet. It says: "Crimp the 225 grain and 240 grain SWC jacketed bullets over the radius at the forward edge of the jacket." It also cautions that the bullets "should not be used with loads lighter than shown". It lists 296 loads of 22.7 to 24.7 using CCI magnum primers.

That's what I did. Crimping over the forward edge of the radius requires more force than a normal roll crimp. I only had 20 and loaded them with 23 gr. of 296. I'll take a squib rod with me to the range
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Old 10-05-2018, 04:03 AM
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.44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove .44 Mag. 240 gr jacketed - no crimp groove  
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You won't need that hopefully unless you store those for more than a decade as I did.
They all went bang real nice before that or with fresh loads.
296 only works well at the very top end.
I have toned it down some in my "golden years" and prefer 4227 or target loads with Universal/Unique in the magnum.
95% of my revolver shooting now is in specials both gun and loads.
No matter what energy level you load at please use magnum brass in the magnums and shoot special brass in .44 special revolvers.
Your cylinder chambers will eventually thank you.
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File Type: jpg 26grainsW296.jpg (242.4 KB, 7 views)
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Last edited by Nemo288; 10-05-2018 at 04:14 AM.
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