Negative effect of crimp on Barnes TSX/TAC-X?

[Ironman8]

Did "3 chamber test" last night and found the one with the crimp moved a total of between .001" and .002" where the non-crimped one moved a total of .001 if at all after being chambered three times.

Not what I was expecting but convinced my that I don't need to crimp 'em anymore. Outstanding information.

God bless the interwebs, it's like having an instructor in your house. Best part is I don't have to pay Ironman8 by the hour.

Thanks Bro.

Haha I was pretty surprised with the results myself. I just do a light crimp to form the mouth around the bullet for a better "seal"...whether it actually does anything is up for debate, but it does satisfy my OCD inner-child.

Glad the info helped and even more happy to hear you found powder, even for stupid prices

Btw, been meaning to email you back with an OT subject...standby.

[Snake Plissken]

I just jam the nose of a loaded round into a hard object and see if it moves. Much less scientific.

[rocsteady]

In an AR-15, you ought to seat to what the magazine allows. If your act of crimping is changing the seating depth you are over-crimping. You should not require any crimp on the TSX bullets or any others in .223. COAL is only important for ensuring clearance in magazines and feeding. Your true seating depth is determined by measuring from the ogive of the bullet. You can determine the max COAL in your rifle using the dowel rod method...or a hornady OAL gauge (flimsy and overpriced for a little more precision). From that you'll find that the throat of your rifle is going to allow a COAL with what bullet you're using which exceeds the magazine allowance of your rifle.

Snake, What's this (the bolded part about the dowel rod method)?

[rocsteady]

So I loaded up a some 62g TSXs in groups of different powder weights and did put a crimp on them before I saw the info from this thread and decided that I won't be needing the crimp on future rounds I make.

When I was done I used my kinetic bullet puller on a few rejects and the ones with the crimp just will not be budged.

Does that mean they shouldn't be fired? The non-crimped ones took a while, but did work their way out using the bullet puller.

[Magelk]

So I loaded up a some 62g TSXs in groups of different powder weights and did put a crimp on them before I saw the info from this thread and decided that I won't be needing the crimp on future rounds I make.

When I was done I used my kinetic bullet puller on a few rejects and the ones with the crimp just will not be budged.

Does that mean they shouldn't be fired? The non-crimped ones took a while, but did work their way out using the bullet puller.

Get a collet type puller. I hate them stupid kinetic pullers.

But then like my wife says "who care what you(me) think!"