Spencer Loading - The Radical Method

[Eggman]

I don't know if I'm on the far right or the far left, but here is how I do it. 
Way way way back when I fired the rimfires exclusively I was concerned about cramming both powder and bullet in the short rimfire case. After a long process and the addition of a .50 cal Hoyt liner I ended up shooting a .50-70 bullet ahead of 24 grains of fffg. I use the .50-70 bullet from the Dixie haircurler mould. It already has a flat nose. It registers different diameters from different measuring points, but I figure as the bullet travels down the barrel that all evens out. I believe the longer bullet at the fairly fast Hoyt twist gives it lots of stability. Results prove this. I shoot almost pure lead.
I lube the poodoodle out of my bullets with a mix of bees wax, glycerine soap and Neetsfoot oil. The powder load and bullet results in an overall bullet length right at the prescribed 1.64" or whatever it is. For a considerable time as part of my loading proceedure  I would bang around the bottom edge of the bullet with a hammer to get the bullet wide enough at the base to stay put in the case. But I've recently switched to an RCBS .56-50 Spencer die set (leaving my .50-70 Lyman set behind) which results in a snug fit. I've read you guys' posts about "crimping." What's crimping??
Results -- a basket full of N-SSA medals with numerous wins over the Henrys. The gun is a tack driver.
What about the long 100 yard shots?? I use the issue rear sight on the gun with a replacement front sight installed by me for a 50 yd zero. At 100 yards I flip the rear sight up and use that notch (not the one on the slider). The gun now shoots one bathroom tile high. So I aim a tile's distance below the target for a center hit. I have equaled or bettered my Henry teammates with this method. I won the 100 yd repeater at a Brierfield, AL skirmish last year with a 46.
It all makes sense right?
 

[Trailrider]

Not sure if you are being fasicious about "crimping" or really don't know, but basically crimping means either rolling the mouth of the case into a curve that folds into the crimp groove of the bullet (if it has one), or into the top grease groove (if not), or ahead of the forward driving ban, or even onto the ogive of the bullet. If you are loading black powder, then the crimp is to keep the bullet from backing out of the case under recoil or because of the pressure of the powder on the base of the bullet. (With smokeless powder it might also keep the bullet from being pushed into the case.  A roll crimp is produced by a ridge inside the seating die (or sometimes we use a separate crimp die). The die is adjusted down a little at a time until the desired crimp is achieved. What you want is a slight curvature on the mouth of the case, but NOT so much as to bulge the case outward at the base of the crimp. There is also a type of crimp called a "taper crimp", which, as its name implies, tapers the case mouth slightly to hold the bullet in the case. Although some reloaders do this on rimmed or rimless cartridges, taper crimps are mostly used on those cartridges that headspace on the case mouth, such as the .45 ACP, .40 S&W, etc. The taper crimp is applied by a die that is manufactured differently.

[Eggman]

Excellent summary Trailrider. I've progressed from "kind of loose" bullets in my Spencer cartridges, and my .50 Maynard cartridges(another Hoyt liner only with a very pointie .50-70 bullet from a Lee mould -- same 24 grain charge) to very snug fitting bullets in each. As for the "crimp," I'd be hard pressed to think I'd gain anything from crimping in these low powered gems, although there are guys a Winchester who would view any variation in case/bullet grip as unacceptable. I guess they shoot the 49s. As to high power however, most desirable.
What is the "head space" thing? My algebra teacher back in 9th grade told me I had a whole bunch of this.