.25-06 Crimping

[Jimbob]

Hi All! I'm still new to handloading and I'm wanting to improve my .25-06's performance. I opted for IMR 4350 powder and Sierra 120gr. Spitzer bullets, I'm going to be using this gun primarily for Whitetail deer here in Virginia until we eventually move to (probably) Idaho then it'll be Whitetails and Antelope. My question is this, when I seat the bullets in the casing, sometimes they're very loose. I set die set I have is supposed to decap and size the shell in the same step, so would crimping fix this or am I just missing a step somewhere? Thanks in advance!

Jimbob

 

[J E Custom]

Jimbob

The expander ball may be to big !

Take it out of the die and mic it

It should be .006 to .008 smaller than
the bullet Dia. an a minium of .004 smaller.

The die maker should have a replacement
expander.

Crimping is getting harder to do because bullets with
cannelures are normally not preimum bullets, but
crimping would not solve the problem .

J E CUSTOM

 

[CatShooter]

If the bullets are loose, you have another problem, and crimping won't help.

What dies are you using, and run through how are you setting up your equipment?

 

[steve4102]

Need more info. What brand and type of die, FL, Neck, Bushing?? New brass, old brass?

 

[BillR]

Had a similar problem

A few weeks ago I posted about having a similar problem. All my bullets were able to move up and down inside the neck. Not much tension. I'm shooting a .25-06 Ackley Improved with a tight neck and had to turn every case before it could be used. One of the guys mentioned something about the necks being work hardened and that the neck had too much spring back. That kind of rang a bell and I deprimed a few and annealed the cases and rersized them. The problem went away. So I did the rest and haven't had a problem since. Of course I have to anneal them every other firing now but no big deal. Just another step in the process.
I also found that my resizing die, even though it was necking the case down enough the expander ball would sometimes open it back up larger than it should. I chucked it up in my drill and polished the heck out of it. Not enough to remove much metel but just enough that the case neck when lubed would slide easily over the expander ball.
I probably should order up a smaller neck sizing die but it all seems to be working so I guess if it isn't broken I shouldn't fix it rule kicked in.

 

[Guy M]

Jimbob - if the bullets are loose, you're not getting enough neck tension when you size that brass.

Might need new dies, or a smaller expander ball in the dies.

Trying to crimp when the neck tension isn't adequate isn't going to solve the problem. No real need to crimp for the rifle anyway.

Try different brass, or different dies. Fancier (more expensive) dies come with a neck bushing which can be changed out to provide different levels of neck tension. Standard RCBS dies generally work out real well though.

Best of luck, Guy

 

[Jimbob]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! Ok, keep in mind I'm pretty new at this. I'm using Lee .25/06 Remington dies and Speer 120 gr. .257 Spitzer SP bullets. The decapper die has a sizer mandrel in it and sizes and decaps in one step. I seat new primers, put in the powder, I'm using IMR 4350 and then seat the bullet. I did find the instructions that came with the dies and it does mention you can order "undersized" sizing mandrels, which I guessed, deductive reasoning-wise, maybe a good place to start. I guess I failed to mention I'm shooting an H&R single shot .25-06 with a 3-9X scope. Thanks again for all the help/advice. It'll probably be after the current deer season I get to address this particular problem, I'll just hunt this year with the Remington 700 .30-06, if I miss with it.....it's all me!! ;-)