Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles To Crimp or not to crimp 30-30

I have been reloading since the dawn of man but never for a level action rifle. Do you always crimp for your 30-30 lever action? TYIA

Don't own a 30-30, but the practice is fairly normal for rounds stacked in a tubular magazine. I crimp for a 45-70 (Marlin with 400 grain slugs), but not a 45-90 that's a single shot.

Yes....in a lever!

Some lever action rifles have spool, rotary, box magazines or other which don't require ammunition to have a crimp. A crimp is used on those having a tubular magazine where the rounds are stacked up on each other. Even in tubular magazine rifles a crimp is not needed if no more than two rounds are in the gun at a given time. I would say the same applies to pointed bullets.

I load for the 32 Spl (its better than the 30-30 ) and yes I crimp them. I also trim the cases every time, just so that the length is uniform before crimping.

I've never loaded for the old Remington pumps (14, 141?) but I imagine they need crimped also.

Dale

all you need is the Lee FCD (factory crimp die)

$13......money well spent

Yes, crimp the 30-30 for use in a lever gun. The Lee Factory Crimp Die works very well.

Yes in a tubular magazine, no otherwise.

While the LEE factory crimp die works well and is economically priced, most all seating dies have the capacity to crimp built into them. I have owned a LEE FCD and use the seater's built in crimping ability to seat and crimp in one operation rather than adding another step to utilize the LEE. I'd say it's six of one and half a dozen of the other, go with whatever you prefer. BTW I did a side by side comparison to see if either method of crimping offered any advantage accuracy-wise and found no difference.

The only time I would not crimp a 30-30 is if it were be shot out of a Thompson Centerfire or some other break open single shot

Agree with you for the most part. The only hitch though would be the lazy guy that hates trimming (like me).

The roll crimp of the seater die works best when all cases are the same length. A few long necks may buckle the case when crimping and the shorter necks won't get as much crimp.

The stab-type crimp of the Lee FCD doesn't depend on uniform trim lengths for consistent crimp. Nor does it depend on the presence of a cannelure if the bullet you choose doesn't have one or you seat where the cannelure doesn't align with the case mouth (not typical with .30-30 I will admit).

Pray tell why just break open single shots? Like the rest, I only crimp for tube magazine guns, all the rest- to include bolt actions and falling block single shots, both of which I own or have owned in .30-30- I don't.

Yep, and I don't do it for lever actions that don't have a tubular magazine.

I was going to but found I had enough neck tension.
I always shot Hornady or Speer bullets and never had a problem. Sierra bullets are advertised as .307" but I have a box that runs .306"+.
Might crimp those.

Crimp 'em! It makes no since not to crimp, especially if you are loading stout loads with even standard 160 or 170 grain bullets.