Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 358 Winchester loads...crimp or not?

I shoot the 200 TTSX at 2700 FPS over TAC in my M99. I don't crimp and never got any bullet creep on rounds in the magazine in my tests. In 2020 I shot a cow elk right behind the shoulder with it and she didn't DRT, but rather ran...away from the closest trail. So I levered up three more shots as she ran, two of which went right through the lungs too. She fell, pretty much right where I reckon she'd have fallen anyway (about 70 yards run), but the point is the three follow-up rounds fed slick could be, even though they were loaded pretty close to max mag length anyway.
The 250s you plan to use will have a little more inertia, and I can't 100% accurately predict if they will move under recoil. Your degree of neck tension will also obviously affect the potential for the rounds to move.

As has been suggested earlier:
1) Test your handloads with rounds in the chamber to see if they move under recoil. If they do, crimp.
2) Crimp anyway if you feel like it, as it probably won't take you out of minute-of-moose.

Good luck and enjoy your hunt!
Rex

I found a couple boxes of 200 grain TTSX. I have used TAC with Hornady bullets, and will try with the Barnes. I have XTerminator and H-335 on hand if needed….Thanks much for the post Rex!

Never crimp 358 win. Only been using it 30 yrs.

I like the 178 gr. Shock Hammer over RL-7.

I use the Lee Factory crimp to make a smooth transition, case to bullet grooves. Don’t know if it helps accuracy, but looks good. Looks professional. Deer and hogs don’t seem to care.

DF