which do ya'll perfer crimping or tight bushing in die

[lal357]

i've been thinking about what would be better to do take a 223 case i have a rcbs bushing neck sizing die with various bushings after i measure the loaded round to get a starting point. if i went with a size under the normal bushing(or 2) wouldnt that be better than crimping the the end of the case the bullet would have a more uniform holding pressure than just the at the end. just something i've been pondering.

[helotaxi]

A crimp doesn't make up for inadequate neck tension. Also too much neck tension isn't a good thing. You basically want 0.002" of neck tension. More than that is too much and working the brass more than needed. Less than that can lead to bullet creep.

[lal357]

yeah i understand what your getting at i was trying to get away from crimping my AR rounds i dont crimp my target rounds since they are single shot from a bolt gun. i know some guys who dont crimp their AR bullets and have seen some of thier rounds with bullet set back as a result. just thinking if any accuracy could be gained from more neck tension instead of a crimp. thanks for the input

[barrel-nut]

I use the Lee Factory Crimp die on my .30-06 and 7-mag loads, and it works great. I have seen accuracy improve slightly on both since I began using this die. Cheap and easy to set up too. So cheap, it can't hurt to try it. As stated above, though, it's no substitute for good neck tension.

[fyimo]

Several years ago I bought several lee crimping dies in various calibers as I thought they would perform as advertised. At best I had mixed results with a couple of loads grouping better but most either stayed the same or were worst so I discontinued using the lee crimping dies. I've even recieved some in my deluxe lee die sets and I never use them.

[lal357]

i use them for my auto pistol loads and use one for my AR loads i pulled some heads and found a slight ring around some of them which got me to think about buying a f/l bushing sizer die and use a smaller neck bushing for instance i mic'd a winchester case .011 so if i took .011+.011+.224=.246 subtract .001 leaves me with a bushing size of .245 now what i'm thing of is subtracting another .001 for a final bushing size of .244 since the whole neck will be sized the bullet should have better holding force.

[helotaxi]

0.001" of sizing isn't enough. If the brass is newly annealed, it might hold the bullet but not very tightly. If the brass has been fired a few times, the case is work hardened enough that 0.001" of sizing may as well be no sizing at all. At that point 0.003" or 0.004" is required.

[lal357]

i was going to use this as a starting point and look for pressure signs as well as grouping performance..0001 is what works in my f-open gun which is a single shot it seems to like them and pressure signs since it is just as bad to have them to loose

[Ring31]

bushing dies require all your brass to have the same neck thickness to work.. the crimp die dont... you can adjust the crimp to adjust the tension as you need..

[helotaxi]

I like the collet neck sizer from Lee for setting consistent neck tension without the hassle of neck turning/reaming or worrying about an expander ball pulling the neck off center.