RELOADS WITHOUT CRIMPING = MORE ACCURATE?
Posted: March 8th, 2015, 9:03 pm
I've recently tried reloading 9x18 mak for my P64. I'm using trimmed down 9mm cases, 93 grain cast from MBC and AA#2.
At one reloading session, I had a few rounds that didn't seat well. There were some lead scraping around the case mouth, guess I forgot to bell those cases or didn't bell it deeper. Anyway, I didn't noticed until after I was done crimping, three of those loads were seated a little too deep. I pulled the bullets, resized the brass and tried to seat the same bullets back. The problem though was, I couldn't seat it at the correct OAL, it went in deeper when I tried to crimp it again.
Being el-cheapo, I didn't want to waste the bullet. So I pulled and load it back after resizing again, but this time I did not apply any crimp, after seating it at the correct OAL. I tried to push the bullet in with my thumb, and I cant get it in, so I guess its tight enough.
When I shot those uncrimped rounds, at 7 yards, I was surprise to get a tight grouping. I took a picture before shooting the rest of my loads, as I figure, the other shots would surely not be as tight. Im not a good shooter, and never have I shot good groupings in one mag dump.
So my question to the seasoned reloaders, can pistol reloads be done without crimping the casings? I know everyone will say crimping is a must for pistols. But if I was able to safely shoot 3 umcrimp loads and got a very good grouping, why not try it again?
Here's my 3 shot group;
At one reloading session, I had a few rounds that didn't seat well. There were some lead scraping around the case mouth, guess I forgot to bell those cases or didn't bell it deeper. Anyway, I didn't noticed until after I was done crimping, three of those loads were seated a little too deep. I pulled the bullets, resized the brass and tried to seat the same bullets back. The problem though was, I couldn't seat it at the correct OAL, it went in deeper when I tried to crimp it again.
Being el-cheapo, I didn't want to waste the bullet. So I pulled and load it back after resizing again, but this time I did not apply any crimp, after seating it at the correct OAL. I tried to push the bullet in with my thumb, and I cant get it in, so I guess its tight enough.
When I shot those uncrimped rounds, at 7 yards, I was surprise to get a tight grouping. I took a picture before shooting the rest of my loads, as I figure, the other shots would surely not be as tight. Im not a good shooter, and never have I shot good groupings in one mag dump.
So my question to the seasoned reloaders, can pistol reloads be done without crimping the casings? I know everyone will say crimping is a must for pistols. But if I was able to safely shoot 3 umcrimp loads and got a very good grouping, why not try it again?
Here's my 3 shot group;