Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Can't crimp .375 Ruger handloads

Hornady brass, bullets and dies. Turn the die in a 1/16th turn, no crimp. Do that three more times and the brass collapses! Have tried four different bullet types, No luck.

I gave up and just seated the loads. Bench accuratecy was fine and no bullet setbacks from recoil.

Has anyone else had this problem? Is it solvable? Does it even matter?

Ron B

Ron B, I've now shot several hundred full power handloads in both of my 375 Rugers with 300 grain TSXs, no crimp, and haven't had any bullet setback problems. I don't consider crimping necessary in the 375 Ruger. My loads fill the case with extruded powders (I usually use H4350) and this volume of powder and normal case neck tension are sufficient to hold the bullet in place. BTW, I think the Hornady brass is relatively soft, but it holds up very well to multiple reloads. Great caliber for critters that can bite back - enjoy it an forget about the crimping!

Thanks, it's a comfort to know that crimping is not necessary.

I'm working with 260gr Accubonds for Elk season next fall. I'm amazed at the small groups this thing shots! Always thought larger calibers would not be as accurate.

Just curious. What are you planning to shoot with those 300 TSXs?

I have found that larger calibers tend to be more accurate.

So have I. My 375H&H and 416 Rigby are amazing. Weird thing is they are far less finicky than any of my smaller rifles. I swear that 375 would put .308 bullets into 1" groups. It's definitely much easier to load for than my 22-250 or 257 Roberts, or even the 300 Roy for that matter.

Have fun,

David

So far, 2 black and 1 brown bear. Hopefully a couple more black bears in the next few months. After that, any large critter I am fortunate enough to hunt.

You need to readjust the lock ring to crimp; either that or the die must be adjusted to seat and crimp simulataneously. You might want to try removing the seater "stem" too, if you are adamant about crimping.

Not a fan of the Hornandy seating die...

I wouldn't crimp anything short of maybe a lever gun round, shotshell or heavy handgun/auto.

The Hornady dies were the only thing I could locate at the time. Might try crimping once I get RCBS dies in. I Like their competition series but it's not available in .375R yet.

Ground a "ShredMaster" LimbSaver pad for this Alaskan, as there's not much meat on these skinny old bones. Still felt like a bobble-head doll at the bench, but it's a pussy cat from hunting positions. Still can't believe the tiny groups!

Wish my 30-06 Hawkeye shot as well. Guess I need to learn how to bed a stock/action to fix that one.

My african shoots the 260 AB very well, it's consistantly under an inch. I got it out the other day and shot a clover leaf, 3 shots touching, with the 260 AB's. I need to post a pic of the group. The only rifle I have that consistantly shoots better is my 35 whelen. I'm starting to think there's something to these mid bores.

I was playing around with 225g hornadys in my 375 alaskan the other day and got them clocking nearly 3000fps from the 20" barrel and grouping just over 1". Ground squirrels Beware!!!

I never crimp my 375 ruger loads and haven't had a problem yet. The hornady brass does have fairly thick necks and may be hard to crimp. I've been seating the 225's to were the base of the bullet it almost right at the base of the neck. They seem to be shooting pretty well so far but I'm still tinkering.

Bb

Normally on big bore loads it seems the crimp is always in the wrong place. The option to a crimp is to turn about .003 give or take .001 off the expander button, and then combine that with a powder that pretty well fills the case. I have never had any set back using this method and I can ignore the crimp groove.

I had the exact same problem. The hornady dies will crush the case if you try to crimp even without the seating plug touching the bullet. Get the RCBS dies. It'l make a big difference. I even had a case crush just from seating a 260 accubond.

Does Lee make a crimp die for it yet? That's the route I'd take.

I have not had problems crimping the 416 Ruger or the 375 Ruger, most folks seem to want too much crimp and that does crush cases..If one turn does not do then take a half turn one or two times not three turns as you state. Also if you chamfer you case mouth the crimp easier..OR go back to my other post and use that method without a crimp. You also have to take into consideration the ogive of a particular bullet.

You need good bullet purchase if your hunting dangerous game and that is what those calibers are designed for, no room for error IMO, and a very light crimp is one method of being safe over sorry..

Even with a light crimp I wouldn't trust the load to chamber. The shoulder profile gets changed and you can't trust it to space.
Burley has the right idea, align the neck right where the bullet starts curving to a point - it seems stubby - but chambers and shoots well. I wish I could get sub MOA but it's good enough.
I have a bunch of GS 265 grain HVs and the loading instructions specifically state "do not crimp". I'm going to load them in front of 70-something grains of 4895 (background in the 30-06)when I get some time and see what happens. They're moly coated and maybe that would make them more prone to set back?
At any rate - around DG I'll keep a couple factory 300 RNs as 2nd and 3rd shots in the magazine with this caliber.
The GS at nearly 3000 FPS is probably a devestating load for any animal but won't do much good stuck in the breach.

mikeF, you are right on. If people are getting thier Hornady dies for this caliber to crimp at all, then there must be a pretty good margine off difference from die to die because I can tell you that my hornady dies will absolutely not even apply the slightest crimp without bulging the sholder. I think it's due to weak brass or undersized expanders.

A couple of things come to mind with my post and gohips and Mike F's and that is my guns are not Rugers but custom Mausers and I use RCBS dies, file trim dies with all DG calibers and chamfer the case mouth..

I suspect the real problem we have here is the case mounths are uneven and thus crimping is different on each case..This is the reason I use File Trim Dies on all brass and calibers that I crimp. If a case is just a tad long then the case will crush in some cases and the next one won't. Case trimmers today are very inaccurate if you use a mic to check them.

I havn't had a single problem and I have crimped more than a few 375 and 416 Rugers, albiet my .416 Ruger was from expanded 375 Ruger brass and that probably thins out the brass..but my other option of a smaller expander ball and full case of powder seems to work as well..Had no problems with my 375 Ruger however.

I have seen many cases in Africa wherein folks leave those two bottom rounds in the magazine and keep reloading the top throughout the hunting and that can lead to the bullet setback if you do not crimp, but it's foolish to load like that. It happened a lot on elephant culling until they figured out to empty the guns and keep the bottom rounds fresh..

If you feel like crimping is required, get Lee to make you a custom factory crimp die.

If you can't crimp into a canalure in a separate step IMHO the die needs to be fixed by the manufacturer or your money refunded. And the Lee Factory Crimp dies work well and are available inexpensively as custom if the Ruger FC die isn't in production yet.

Good idea. I think I'll see if Hornady will give me my money back. My dies will not crimp even if the cases are a uniform length, even if I do the crimp in it's own step(which is what I do for every caliber I load and have never had this issue), Even though I always try to crimp in the crimp groove.

Hopefully they will because these dies are pretty much useless. Hornady must have had some substandard workers machining or making some of these dies.

WOuld you post what happens when you try to crimp with some other manudacturer's dies? This puzzles me because I can hardly comprehend Hornady machining the dies so sloppely and wonder if the cases are perfectly formed in the die and change when removed - maybe the large case and sharp shoulder have some inherent tendancy or maybe the brass is springy and won't reform.