38 special brass life?

[divingin]

If you size the case neck properly and use a Lyman M die to expand them, a taper crimp is all you need for the light loads of easy to light off powders. Heavy jacketed bullets with loads of H110/W296 need a firm roll crimp to ignite the powder properly.


You do, because the chambering action can shift the bullet forward (just like an inertia bullet puller).

It also eases the sharp angle of the case mouth so it snags less when feeding.

I suspect a taper crimp would generate enough bullet pull to keep the bullet from shifting. That said, I've always used a roll crimp for my 52.

For case life, use as little flare as you can get away with. Then again, 38 cases are easily available and not very expensive.

 

[epc308]

Per all the above comments, I've reloaded the same 400 cases for bullseye for over 10 years. They were used when I got them, so who knows how many cycles they may have had. I toss them when I see a neck split. M die and taper crimp work quite nicely.