Lee Factory Crimp Die

[Salvo]

I thought the die would be late this week getting here, but the tracking number says it should arrive today.

I have loaded 40 rounds up, all with the case mouth near the front edge of the bullet's crimping groove.

When the Factory Crimp Die shows up, I'll crimp twenty of those rounds, so that I can shoot four groups of five, alternating on a per-group basis between the crimped and un-crimped rounds.

I'll chronograph each round, and record which round hit where in the targets. My shooting software will give me the overall velocity and deviation figures for the crimped and un-crimped loads, plus any difference in the group sizes.

Right now it is raining here, but things dry up quickly in the desert. Unless there is too much wind for the chronograph, I will be shooting early tomorrow morning.

[Ranch Dog]

Looking forward to the results.

[Salvo]

There has been a delay... I had a health scare, and it turned out that there was nothing to it - but I still wound up in the hospital for a day or so doing my imitation of the human pincushion while they ran a lot of tests on me. - But I was happy to be told that it was all just a false alarm and when I got home, the package with the Factory Crimp die was waiting on my front porch.

Using the crimp die was really easy. From the time I took it out of the package until I had twenty rounds crimped was just under five minutes. Later on when I get used to it, I'm sure that it will go a bit faster.

I'm too exhausted from the hospital bed, the wires and tubes, and the hospital food to shoot today, but I have hopes of getting to the sportsman's club tomorrow morning. I have enlisted my son to give me a hand with the record keeping.

I'll take a few pictures while we are there. - Here's hoping for a calm, dry morning!

[GasGuzzler]

Good news. Hope you feel better soon.

[Ranch Dog]

Yikes, glad all is well. Time at the reloading & shooting bench is always a great come back!

[Salvo]

The worst thing about the entire experience was the hospital stay. - But that's behind me now!

I got out there Saturday and had fired maybe ten rounds or so when a bunch of guys drove in to conduct a service rifle match. One of the fellows asked me if I was almost finished, as it would take them half an hour to get ready. I told him that it was no problem for me to clear out, as I could pick up where I left off, later on.

I was glad to see a service match, they haven't had one since September and it's a particularly nice group of shooters who participate in that. One of these days I intend to build an AR and join them.

Today its rainy, so it looks like it will be a day or so more before I go back out there. I was having some problems with my chronograph setup that I have since worked out. In the long run, I think those guys did me a favor by running me off when they did. The next try should go a lot smoother.

[Salvo]

I got a chance to go out to the range this morning. There was a bit of a breeze, so I decided to do what I could without the chronograph. - I fired two ten-round groups, one without the crimp (top target) then one with the crimp (bottom target).

Click image to see it larger.


I thought that the group with the crimped cartridges on the bottom target looked much better.

Here are some images of the rifle at the bench. This is an older Howa 1500 with 1:12" twist in .223. The new ones are 1:9" twist, nowadays. I have reduced the barrel to 18" and gave it an 11 degree target crown, which I superstitiously believe to have magical accuracy powers. It has a Rifle Basix varmint/target trigger set at one pound. I got a Boyds stock for it in "coyote" color and glass bedded the action. The scope is a Nikon P-223 4-12x40 BDC. Unlike many guns of this type, I have the scope mounted as low as I could get it for enhanced operation at short range.







I'll make another stab at it as soon as I can with the chronograph, so I'll have figures on the velocity spread of the two loads. (crimped and un-crimped)

The load I am testing with is 22.6 grains H4895 in Lake City cases, with Winchester SR primers and a Hornady 55 grn FMJ-BT bullet that I bought in bulk to save a little money. The bullet has a crimping groove, which makes it good for the test.

[klr]

I agree, I think the bottom group looks better. Was this at 100 yards?

BTW, nice looking rifle.

[Salvo]

No, I was shooting at 50 yards this morning. - I have not come up with a good shooting load for this rifle yet, though I have hopes for a load using 25 grains of 748 with the same bullet.

I have lots of H4895 though, so I'm using it for this test.

This rifle has a long throat. If I load 55 grain Hornady V-Max bullets to within .020" of the lands, only 1/16" of the bullet is in the case. Heavier, longer bullets will not stabilize and give me keyholes. I am hoping that the crimp die will give me some of the ignition consistency that I would normally get by seating the bullet out close to the lands. As it is, they must jump close to 3/16" before engaging the rifling.

If it works out that I cannot overcome this handicap, I'll have to think about a new barrel. So far, my best 100 yard groups are around 3/4", about twice as large as what I would be willing to settle for.

Besides the long lead, there is also some pitting and corrosion about halfway down the tube. It may be that the previous owner fired some really cheap surplus ammo through it. In any case, if I do not find a good load for it soon, I'll have to cough up the bucks for a new barrel. This I am reluctant to do, except as a last resort as my lathe is in storage. - I'd have to pay somebody else to put a new barrel on it.

I like the "Coyote" varmint thumb-hole stock from Boyds. I wanted to get it in "Zombie", which is alternating day-glo green and black, but my son said that would be too garish. We finally agreed on "Coyote".

[klr]

How about reaming it to 22-204? The case is .100" longer and the additional powder capacity would give you more velocity which may help stabilize a heavier bullet.