Okay. So I'm not that great at freehand drawing, you've probably seen better art in a fifth grade art class. But it's the best I can do without my mechanical drawing tools. So let's just move on to an observation and possible alternative regarding the taper crimp into the cannelure/band on The COP 200 Grain all copper bullet.
I've been examining the design of this bullet and the performance obtained by Hoot so far.
The crimping band/cannelure on this bullet is really deep. (0.023") sounds great, right?
But the average case mouth thickness of a 450 Bushmaster case is 0.015". You see where I'm headed with this?
The observation that's bugging me is that if I taper crimp into that banding groove, am I compromising the ability of the cartridge to headspace on the case mouth? The reason is when the case wall that is 0.015" is taper crimped into a band groove that's 0.023" the case mouth could be buried/recessed almost 0.008" too deeply into the cannelure groove. So how can I achieve a decent head space? In theory, I may have just done the same thing as apply a heavy roll crimp and there's no case mouth to headspace on.
See image 1.
Now I'm wondering if it might not be better to seat the bullet just a bit deeper putting the cannelure into the case, allowing the case mouth to rest just above the groove where there's a 0.065" section, right before the bullet starts to taper, then align the LeGendre Side Crimp to crimp into the banding groove, then taper crimp the case mouth to .475"?
See image 2
Now there's a definite hold on the bullet and the case mouth is back in a position for a final taper crimp into that area right above the cannelure where there's about 0.065" for the taper crimp to bite, yet allow the cartridge to still headspace on the case mouth? With such a positive crimp, the powder will get a good start, the case should expand well and soot should be minimal and the powder burn might be more efficient. And at 38 grains of Lil Gun, it should perform well.
Right now it's all just a theory, but I plan on testing this theory if nobody sees any issues that I may be missing. What do you guys think?