WOW! Crimping Really Works..(pics)

HogginHank · #1 02-07-2005, 05:49 PM

I finally shot the CRIMPED rounds that I loaded for my CZ 22 Hornet.

I took Rocky's advice and loaded up some Hogden LiL-Gun (13 gr.) and 45 gr Nosler "Hornet" bullets with Rem 6 1/2 primers.Win brass

Here are 3 of the groups I shot a couple of months ago that were NOT CRIMPED. The largest group was just over 1 1/2" and the smallest was about .93"

These are 3 of the 4 groups I shot today with the same load as mentioned above but I CRIMPED all the rounds. The group that I did not get a pic of was .62"

I am now a believer in crimping. I pretty much cut my groups in half and then some..

Rocky Raab · #2 02-07-2005, 05:52 PM

There ya go! That pretty much duplicates what I found with that load.

Kinda shoots the "Hornets are inaccurate" myth down, huh?

HogginHank · #3 02-07-2005, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rocky Raab
There ya go! That pretty much duplicates what I found with that load.

Kinda shoots the "Hornets are inaccurate" myth down, huh?

I'll say..Anyone that can get 1/2" groups at 100 from a gun should be pretty happy. My old Kimber did 5/8" to 3/4" very consistant but I'm guessing that this will do a lot better. I would be happy with 5/8" to 3/4" with this gun as well but I think I can get it to do a little better than that. I haven't chrono'd any of these yet but they did hit about 3/4" higher than the loads I had with IMR 4227 using the same bullets/primers and brass

Not sure if it's actually shooting faster but it sure does shoot well. I am going to load up 40 of these suckers and get after those hogs next week..Thanks again Rocky...

Catfish · #4 02-07-2005, 06:36 PM

Befor everone starts thinking that crimping is the cure all for accuracy, it`s not. The real secrete is getting the same bullet pull from every round so that presure remains constant from round to round. If you have a large varation in case neck thickness crimping will definately help even the presure nessary for a constant bullet pull. With the Hornet, in a factroy chamber, and varation in brass this is the most practial way to fix the problem. The problem with the Hornet comes from the fact that they have very thin brass in the case necks, and with the over size chambers of factory rifles it just does not make sence to try to turn the case necks.
If you want to get the best accuracy from your rifle you need to build it from scrach and, amoung other things, have it built with a tight necked chamber. This, of corse, requires that you turn all of your case necks which is a hasle that most shooters don`t want. I, almost never crimp my rifle ammo, and get very good accuracy from most of my rifles. I do not rule out crimping for some of the stubern one though. It is just another tool in the handloader tool box that helps him to get better accuracy than you can with factory ammo from some of those guns that are alittle harder to get the groups we are all after.

HogginHank · #5 02-07-2005, 07:36 PM

I agree with you catfish. Though I do have a few guns that have been re-barrelled with custom barrells a person can usually work up a load for a gun out of the box and do pretty good with it.

I mentioned the great success I had with crimping the LIL-Gun rounds but I did not mention that the IMR 4227 rounds actually had a greater group size after they were crimped??
They were grouping around 3/4" UNCRIMPED and they were 1" + after they were crimped..

This is my first time crimping so there is probably some fine tuning to do on my part but I am happy with the LIL-Gun loads that were crimped.. I will keep ya'll informed on how things go for me..Adios'