Howdy,

Would like some opinions of the greater forum here on how my LEE FCD is doing....

Does the crimp look good? Deep enough? Firm enough?

I loaded 15 total with 1 as a tester ill run 5 check, then another 5 check then run the 4 and check again see if she holds....

I've been reading alot about how to get the bullet seeting die to apply crimp, but never how its accomplished?!?

Any thoughts opinions would be greatly appreciated...

14gr of 2400 and a JSP 158gr pill

Attached Images

	20200623_212133.jpg (22.2 KB, 243 views)
	20200623_212158.jpg (26.1 KB, 244 views)

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This is the way....

Im no expert but that crimp looks healthy and uniform. I say load up a cylinder full and take note of any bullet jump/creep from recoil by examining and mic'ing overall length after subsequent shots?

When I set up my bullet seating die, I first seat the bullet to the COAL I want. Then I back off the bullet seater and slowly screw the die down until I get the crimp I want. Then with the die tightened in the press, I screw the bullet seater down until it contacts the top of the bullet and set it in place. Now taking another primed and charged piece of brass I slowly seat a bullet and usually get the correct COAL and crimp. I'm sure someone will come in with a better way but this works for me. To be sure we're clear, this is the procedure I use for pistol brass.

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Ed

It looks to me like that bullet could be seated a little deeper. I seat the bullet so the case mouth about in the middle of the cannelure, or slightly deeper.

Your crimp looks fine to me.

Jacketed bullets all seem to have a shallow cannelure for crimping when used in revolvers. Crimp as deep as possible without buckling the case outward below the case mouth.

The bullet is set at 1.158 oal

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This is the way....

I prefer to have the case mouth as close to the middle of the cannelure as possible, so you might want to seat just a little deeper. The crimp itself looks uniform and the profile appears to be a heavy crimp. I would not further increase the amount of crimp.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

I too prefer the middle of the cannelure as it gives you a little leeway either direction with regards to slight irregularities with bullet seating depth.

When using the bullet seating die with the crimp built-in it is important that all of your brass be uniformed in length if you want a uniform crimp tension. If using the bullet seating die crimper I will usually seat all of the bullets in one step. In a separate step I back the bullet seating stem out a bit and adjust the die for the desired amount of crimp, and then crimp all of them.

I also have the separate factory crimp dies and they don't tend to be as critical as using the bullet seating die for crimping with regards to exactness of case length...…..but to be honest I usually uniform my brass length for everything I handload. It's not that difficult to do.

Dale

It does not take much of an adjustment in a die to go from a light to a heavy crimp on a brass 38/357 case.

I have mine set for a 148 wc target load, std, +P and 357 Magnum hunting loads with a JSP loading.

I am old fashioned and use a single stage loader but it does all the work that I need.
Here is a picture of my set up, that has been posted before.

Notice that there is really is not that much movement in the die setting from a light to a heavy crimp.

Good loading.

The crimp looks good, but I have to agree that projectile needs to be seated a little deeper

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"Acta non verba"

I seat my bullets a little deeper as well but the bottom line is how do they group.
If you don't get a good group who cares what it looks like.

Crimp looks ok, but I prefer to seat a little deeper with just a bit of the cannelure showing (as a factory round)

I would agree with other that it should be seated a little deeper. For reference take a look at a factory round if you have one handy.

I do NOT re-load any more as I only shoot factory ammo now.

I still "Carry" when outside my abode.

I am 81 now, and have lost my "sense of humor"....

Bishop,California is my abode now, and have worked here along time in my past career, and is a very very safe community in the High Sierra's.

Looks a bit heavy to me..

Crimp looks good. I use a similar bullet for handloads, but crimp to the center of the groove. 14gr of 2400 is a good factory-duplicate load. Used that load years ago. These days, I've found 6.1gr of Universal is good for both of my .357's, and shoots well in my 77-357 rifle. Heavier bullets, I use 296.

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Heavily armed old man.

You crimp looks fine, maybe a hair too heavy, but serviceable.

I started reloading waaaay pre-web, around '69, and seated all my bullets, those with a crimp groove and a cannalure, to the upper edge of the groove/cannalure and rolled the case mouth in. I figgered the bullet designers knew where to place the groove/cannalure and I disregarded book OAL. Never a problem since then reloading for 9 revolvers in 4 different calibers...

It looks like you at least caught the bottom of the cannelure, which is ok. But note that when you seat the bullet, the roll crimp shortens the case a little so to catch the cannelure good the bullet needs to be a little deeper. Probably seat to where there is just a little cannelure showing at the top and when crimped, it will be in the right place.

Until you get adept at crimping and seating at the same time, you might want to do separate operations. Seat the bullets, then back off the seater and set up the crimp and run them through. i find that I don't need to do that with taper crimps, but if I'm using mixed revolver brass the length of the cases might vary enough to make crimping inconsistent. Of course if you separate brass, you reduce this problem, but my eyes ain't so good and that's a REAL job for me.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

How much deeper I'm at 1.158 now?

I was under the impression seating deeper increase pressures ?

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This is the way....

The crimp looks heavy to me. I usually seat them so the case mouth is at the top of crimp groove.

Seating deeper does increase pressure, but a couple .001 won't matter much.

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Common sense isn't so common.

There is no answer to how adequate a crimp is, only subjective opinion. SAAMI publishes no dimensional information on what a crimp should look like. We all think we know what a crimp should look like, but that's the best we can do. Look at a bunch of factory rounds and you will see roll crimps, taper crimps and collet compression crimps. If one could exactly duplicate the same dimensional crimp there is no guarantee that case mouth ductility or hardness would render the whole exercise moot. Results are what matter. If bullets don't back out or get pushed in, and accuracy is O.K. without excessive pressure, than declare success. There is wisdom in what benchrest shooters do. I don't follow that sport at all, but I hear that they very carefully machine throats and case necks to achieve uniform neck I.D. then go with no crimp. Makes sense. I have read of exacting handloaders rigging up pull test fixtures to measure the pull weight of bullets in case necks, but there is nothing I know of in published literature about the correct bullet pull weight, or force curve to yank a bullet out of a neck.

Just seat it deeper and don't worry about book OAL. Any 357 Magnum round that is not sticking out the end of the cylinder and crimped in the cannalure (middle of the cannalure or deeper) will work safely...

The .38/.357 was derived from an old black powder cartridge that about filled the case with the powder. When it was switched over to smokeless powder, many types of powder don't fill the case at all., leaving a lot of airspace inside. Because of this, .38/.357 and .44/.44 mag are very forgiving to bullet depth. So a 1/10 of an inch isn't going to make much difference.

Now this is not true with cartridges invented with smokeless powder and higher pressure in mind, like 9mm, .40 call, 10 mm, etc. because they are made for higher pressure with very little airspace and the bullet depth on those are way more critical. Even so, sometimes I load a medium load and have a few thousandths of leeway to get the bullet where I want, especially if I seat a little shallow, I can lengthen the OAL. But I can only shorten it a few thousandths and none if I'm close to a full pressure load.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Looks OK to me, seating depth not so critical so long as the cylinder turns. I roll crimp a little less, but YMMV. No need to overthink it. One thing to try is to load up a dummy and measure the crimp jump after 5 firings or even more.

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NRA Life Member

My take is that the crimp should lock in tight behind the front of the the cannelure or crimp groove in order to lessen any bullet setback from recoil.

I doubt that amount of setback would make any real difference, but it just bothers me to see potential movement in the cartridge.

Crimp looks just fine to me. I load my .357 just like it. For .38 Special I use a lighter crimp.

Proper bullet seating is dependent upon the length of the brass and the location of the crimping groove or cannelure on the bullet. The published lengths are correct for the components used by whatever company developed that particular load and does not exceed SAAMI specifications.

Unless you are at or very near a maximum load, seating a few thousandths of an inch deeper should not put your ammo into the danger zone. If you are at or very near maximum safe pressure, then do not seat any deeper.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA