I have reloaded a few thousand straight wall pistol rounds. Now I'm thinking of getting some die for my 30- 30 Marlin 336. My question is do you guys seat and crimp at the same time or do it in 2 steps? All the rounds I have loaded I did it at the same time on a single stage press. I did buy a Dillon 550 but haven't got it set up yet. But not sure if I need to use the progressive for the 30-30. As I don't go through to many rounds. Mostly just shoot a few rounds to make sure it's on for deer season. And of course to shoot deer with.

RCBS dies will crimp and seat the bullet at the same time. Case length is pretty critical. They must all be the same for it to work properly. H335 is a good 30-30 powder if you dont want to weigh every charge.

What Danny said about the seat/crimp. Trim length must be the same for crimp to be uniform.
No comment about powder as haven’t loaded for thirty-thirty.

Hmmmmm. Going to have to make sure all my cases are the same length. Thanks guys

I load the 30-30 on a turret press and crimp with separately. I use Leverevolution powder with Sierra classic hunter bullets. The round nose version of them with good results.

I seat and crimp separately.

I never needed to worry about a crimp on rifle rounds. Not even when I loaded my 1100 yard target round. Only ever crimp on hand guns. Maybe I did also on my Ar rounds but been to long since I set those dies or or loaded any? Got on a kick years ago and loaded so many I haven needed to load any more in the last ten years and am probably good for the next 10 as well.

I have Lee dies. I do it in 2 steps. Case length isn’t quite as critical as the single step.

Thanks for the replies so far guys. So what is everyone using to trim there brass. I was thinking of trying the Lee trimmer where you lock the shells in a drill. Any opinions good bad or otherwise?

I never tried a lee tool. Mine is rcbs. One problem I did have when I first tried reloading 30-30 was too much lube on my cases. I got dents in the case shoulder. It seems they are more prone to this for some reason.

I use a Lyman Universal Case Trimmer. There are several others on the market of similar design. You will need a good caliper. You should really be using a caliper and trimmer for your straight wall pistol cartridges too especially the higher power cartridges like .357 & .44 mag. Otherwise case stretching can cause over crimping and increased pressure.

Like Prov Farm, I have never crimped the bullet in a bottleneck cartridge, but I don't have a rifle with a tubular mag that shoots bottleneck cartridges. I do crimp for my .444 Marlin.

RCBS, Hornady and many other die sets will seat and crimp in one step. The crimp is set based on how far you thread the die into the press and the seating depth is set by how far you thread the seating stem into the die. For seating with no crimp the die is backed off the case just a little and the seating stem adjusted to give the bullet depth you want. If you want to seat and crimp in separate steps, back the die out to seat, then remove the seating stem and thread the die in to give the desired crimp.

Lots of good advise here. For the record, bullets used in tubular magazines should be crimped to prevent the bullet from pushing into the case under spring pressure and recoil. Only other thing that I would add is that bullets specifically for the .30/30 have the crimp groove in the right place. Maybe more importantly, they are designed to expand at lower velocities. Not all .30 caliber bullets are created equally. I have used IMR 3031 in the past with good results.

The Leet rimmer is a great little tool. Its dead on and you can't crew it up due to its design. I have used it for some cartridges in the past. I use a Hornady case trimmer now as I load for bunch of different calibers and like the adjustability of it. But if you only load for a couple of calibers, the Lee tool works just fine and is to SAMI specs.

I seat and crimp separately, when I crimp at all. I do crimp for the Marlin M1895 and the buffalo gun, .416 Rem Mag.

Jim

I did get one Lee trimmer for a .223 that trimmed then down a little to far. They still shot fine just looked a little funny. Won't have to trim them again for several firings.
I didn't notice tell after I did a few thousand.

Just something to keep in mind when you get a new one.

I trim with the lee quick trim die and my cordless driver

I load on the lee turret press , with that long neck on 30-30 I don't do a separate crimp operation there has always been plenty of neck tension it is not a hard recoiling cartridge , if I had the crimp die I might use it I bought my 30-30 dies used and it was just a 2 die set

H4895 is my go to powder because I have it for M1 30-06 , 308win , and 223 rem

it may not be the most ideal powder but it works well enough in all 4

Thanks again for the replies. Lots of good info here. Think I will start out trying the seat and crimp separate. And get the Lee trimmer. Anyone care to share a couple recipes.

Once you get into the reloading and chasing the best recipe you will find no 2 guns will perform identical. If pay attention you can find a big difference in how 22 rifles and pistols will do better with multiple brands.

reload tables Here is a site that will give you some guides. It never hurts to reference more then 1 source. Start low and work your way up slowly.

I've done all of my straight wall rounds using RCBS seat and crimp with the same stroke but my bottleneck rounds I've taken to using Lee Factory Crimp Dies. They work great, I get more consistent results down range and its easy. Also length of brass isn't as critical.

I would not go to crazy about being dead nuts on with your brass prep etc. Remember that a tube fed lever action rifle is not a bench rest rig less so when you shoot open sights like I do. Minute of venison is good enough. The 30-30 has to be one of the easiest and most forgiving cartridges to load. There is a whole bunch of powders that work well with it.