Reloading is becoming more and more important with rising prices. I noticed that bullets without the cannula, or the ribbed part

[officerdom1987]

Reloading is becoming more and more important with rising prices. I noticed that bullets without the cannula, or the ribbed part for crimping, are much cheaper. Question is, how is it for crimping, especially on some of those magnum rounds I shoot like .454? What does the brass grab onto to avoid "Crimp Creep?" Any tips on these bullets is much appreciated.

[DSMbirddog]

You can crimp it tight enough with a Lee factory crimp die so that the case neck actually bites into the copper jacket. However, I would stick with bullets with a cannelure for crimping. The extra cost is worth it for your hunting rounds at least.

[JM]

If you have good brass I do not think you would need to crimp. Try loading one without crimping and check how much tension it has.

[DSMbirddog]

What can happen when not crimping heavy revolver loads is that recoil will back the bullets out to a point one or more are sticking out past the front of the cylinder. At that point your cylinder is effectivley locked from rotating. Once locked you can't get it unloaded either.

[jhjimbo]

Measure the inside diameter of your brass after sizing and you should have about .002" bullet grip. One of the crimp dies should hold a bullet without a cannelure. There is a factory crimp die, a roll crimp die and a tapper crimp die. The roll crimp should do the trick. I use mostly lead bullets now so the crimp is not a issue.