Jim in Houston wrote:Three (or maybe more) questions, which I think have been covered elsewhere previously, but to which I cannot find the answers:
How far below the case mouth should the taper crimp be?
Far enough below the mouth so as not to decrease it's diameter to the point where it will not headspace on the lip in the chamber. As far as what is the optimal depth, that is an area ripe for experimentation.
What should be the diameter of the taper crimped case after the crimp is applied?
WRT the depth of the side crimp. Again that's an area for experimentation, but you don't want to misshape the bullet so much as to impact it's accuracy. Needless to say, you also don't want the bullet retained so tightly that it's more of a controlled explosion than a burn. I don't recall measuring mine, more like setting it until it looked right and crimping the rest to the same degree. I can't see any reason for crimping it tighter than what you might accomplish with the taper crimp, so I'm guessing .474 would be the most I'd go. I emphasize that it's an area for more experimentation. IIRC, after doing a side crimp, I taper crimped the mouth very little, say .476. That's just to remove the slight flaring that side crimping near the mouth causes.
If I am crimping a bullet with cannelures (some, if not all of the 225's), should I side crimp into the cannelure, and - if so - to what diameter? Ditto for the follow-on taper crimp?
Whenever possible, I tried to crimp into the cannelure. That's what they're there for. You don't misshape the bullet and it provides an excellent purchase. Again, I never measured the degree, but I'd guess it was in the area of .474 maximum. You don't need to squeeze as hard when you're hitting a cannelure.
Hoot