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I was shooting some reloads (40gr lil gun and 230gr RN). I was shooting three shot groups out of the magazine and twice, on the first shot, it seemed to "hang fire". I had plugs and muffs on so it was hard to tell, but I heard something (trigger I think), then the rifle went off. No noticeable difference in recoil. Once the bullet was in with the group and the other time I could not tell where the bullet hit, but I moved some after hearing the noise before the bullet fired. Any ideas?

what primers you using and how old?

what crimp you using?

also, outside temp?

those 230gr are .451 I believe, check one if you can. Very possible your not getting enough tension on the bullet.

I was thinking it was the crimp. The primers are a couple years old and it was about 20 degrees. I use the crimp on the seating die. Screwed it down until it touched the bullet, then a half of a turn more. The crimp is close to where the bullet starts to taper down

I believe too that it is the crimp. Do not use the crimp in the seater die as it imparts a roll crimp, this could cause excessive head space. The firing might not be gettimg a good enough hit for snappy ignition. Use the taper crimper and see if that makes a difference. Be sure to back the seating die off so it does not crimp.

Thanks, is that a separate die?

I have found the info I need in past threads on this site. Thanks to all who posted past and present. One last question that has probably been answered already, but I haven't found yet, do you need both a tapered crimp and a side crimp (LeGandre) or is just the tapered crimp good. Past posts were correct about the poor instructions given by Hornady on the crimping process

Yes the taper crimp die is separate but is included in the Hornady set.

Taper crimp will suit most people fine. You do not need the side crimp.

To what COL were you seating those FMJ's?
IMHO, of all the bullets greater >= 200gr, they are the hardest to get a good purchase on. That's why you need to set them to a COL of only around 2.05-2.10 inches. That having been said, seating them without a crimp of some kind will make them too loose to cha-cha. I saw what you did once myself, when trying to load some C.O.P. 160gr bullets. Not because I didn't use a crimp, but because I later discovered that they were only .446-.448 in diameter. The net result was equivalent to no crimp. Nothing worse than a squib load that gets stuck a little down the barrel and when you jack it open, all that unburned powder falls down into your trigger group.

TexasSheepDawg has had good luck with the 230's because he applies a stab crimp on the side using a modified Lee 45-70 Factory Crimp Die. Being a smooth-sided bullet doesn't help either. Nothing to crimp down into, like the FTX's.

Try applying enough taper crimp to yield a diameter of .476 measured using a micrometer as close to the actual mouth edge as possible. Don't worry about the rim spilling past the edge of the chamber. I intentionally crimped a test dummy cartridge, using a soft Berry's 230 FMJ once to see where that actually occurs. IIRC, it was down around .460 measured at the mouth. That's not meant to condone crimping the 230's down past .476 however. You'll just make the case mouth walls permanently squeeze thinner and distort the bullet to where it looks like a domed air rifle pellet. If you want affordable plinking bullets, watch for a bulk blem sale of Hornady 225gr FTX's from Midway and load up on then when you do. The cost per bullet will not be much more than bulk 230 FMJ and you not only get a true .452 bullet, you get a cannelure to crimp down into. My best 5-shot group ever was using 225 FTX.

Even when they're not on sale, you can find them for around $26.13/100 such as at ManVentureOutdoor. Those are good folks to deal with. At 3.3 pounds, they're not cheap to ship, but do some comparison online shopping or check local merchants.

Hoot

I also experienced hang fires on the 230 grain full metal jackets when I first started loading them. I narrowed it down to the Timney triggers' soft strike on the primers. When I swapped out and went back to 4 pound trigger and a standard hammer spring the hang fires quit. Reading one of your other posts it seems you're having issues with your hammer trigger group. But like everybody else is saying, don't use the crimp on the seating die, use the taper crimp die that's included in the die set. We've been using that die to crimp to about 0.474". But it seems that the lil gun and the 230 grain full metal jacket perform much better with The LeGender side crimp.