Thread: .44 Mag Crimping

Hi Guys

So I'm reloading .44 mag for the first time - and crimping for the first time as this is the first pistol round I've reloaded. It seemed to go pretty smoothly but when crimping I got a very fine shaving of brass coming off the edge of the case, hair thin - as you can see in the picture. I backed off the die but couldn't find a way to stop it happening. Is this common? Is it a problem? Really not sure. I can easily just wipe the offending piece away with a thumb. Which is what I've done.

Also, just in general, does the crimp look ok?

Cheers

PS .44 mag Bergara single shot with a red dot is a lot of fun!

You need to seat with the case level with the top edge of the groove then it will crimp properly But as its a single shot you don't need to crimp and will get better brass life.

^^^ What he said!

I’ve loaded hundreds off 44 rounds and never seen that before.which brand of brass?

It’s Federal American Eagle - factory. Which I bought to get started. But I’ve got a bag of Starline on the way.

Thanks for the tip Cigar and Walker re crimp. I will have to at least straighten up the flare I put in it to seat the projectiles though eh? The dies are RCBS carbide. Maybe they have a sharp edge or something?

Those jacketed bullets don’t really have a crimp groove, so I’m not sure how a roll crimp would work. It does look like it’s overcrimped, but you’ve stated that you have backed it off. You could try a crimp die, which gives a different kind of crimp. Or just not crimp seeing as it’s a single shot.

Maybe I’ll try seating a bullet without flaring the case to seat it and if it goes in ok then I won’t have to crimp

Should work if you chamfer the case mouth, a seperate crimp die is handy I use them on my pistol calibres,

Cheers thanks very much for that and thanks to all!

What powder are you using? I'm using AR2205 with 240gr XTP's and it likes both a decent crimp and a magnum primer in order to get a good burn. I also load subs using Trail Boss (standard primer and just enough crimp to take out the flare).

When your seating die is crimping down on the case whilst it's still trying to seat the bullet at the bottom of the stroke, it's very easy to overdo it, when you're aiming for a heavy crimp. You can end up with the case buckling if you're not careful.

Because of that, and because I am messing the dies each time I want to switch between loads (vs having one load and leaving them set), I've opted to do it on two passes: 1st, leave the body screwed out so that I am only seating the bullet. 2nd, raise the seating stem and screw in the body until I get the desired crimp.

wait till you try the hornady leverlution projectiles !

Hey Pommy I’m using 2205 and 240 XTP also and have some trailboss for subs as well. And that’s the procedure I’ve followed for crimping too. Seemed easier than trying to do it all in one. Are you loading for a single shot or lever action?

Single shot Bergara, just like yourself. I had a red dot on there but, having crappy eyesight, I have just thrown on a VX Freedom to see how she groups at 100m. Surprisingly well!

The 200gr Frontier projectiles over 7.8gr of Trail Boss works beautifully at around 1030fps with an SD of around 10.

If you are going to crimp, seat the projectile so the edge of the case is just below the top of the cannula groove (top being closest to pointy end).
You don't need to crimp much, so try not to overcrimp. To stop projectiles moving in my tube mag 30-30 I only need to roll the case mouth slightly so that projectile can only move as far as the edge of the cannula.

Thanks Cigar that sounds like a plan. I’ll tweak my test loads just lightly. Pommy - snap! Same set up. I still have a red dot on mine. I’ve been umming and ahhhing about a low powered scope but the red dot is such fun. How do you like the VX Freedom? What mag is it?