doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Open center in crimp.

The center of my crimps are open. A little hole that leaks shot.
How do I fix ?
Lower the pre crimp station?
Shorten load components ?

If you are using a MEC machine you need to lower your cam on the final crimp down. If out of adjustment you need to lower crimp starter. If not clear just go to MEC and watch their video. Jon

I had that problem with heat sealed AA's and solved it by use of a overshot card, I have also used a myler overshot card for the same purpose.

Those center holes are for "Scouts".

I've been sitting here the last few days loading flats of Remington 20-gauge Gun Club hulls, while I watch the various "also played football" bowls!! I'm finding a lot of variation in the length of these Gun Club hulls, from a full 2 3/4 inch, which crimp beautifully, to some 3/32" or a bit more short which leave a hole too large for #9s. I can feel when they hit the crimp starter station whether they go in the box or the line-up for a drop of candle wax.

I mostly reload 12 ga. Gun Clubs and also have noticed they vary in length, but most hulls do. What I found out that works best is to set the crimp station a little deeper so that the final crimp on the longer hulls will leave a swirl crimp and the shorter ones will look even.

I also load AA's in the HS hull and if I only reload a few boxes with different shot using all the same components, I will just melt some wax over the hole. The AA's are shorter than the Gun Clubs.

Yes there is a variation in factory hull length. I have 2-3/4" Fiocchis which measure 2-5/8"; lots of them. 16 gauge.

He he he, Yes Researcher, candle wax and cheerios are our friends

Those are strange looking hulls, Marks 21, as in rather 'different'. What are they? It appears to be a crimp section from another hull inserted in them. The one depicted top left looks like it should have gone in the trash bin at an earlier time and not been reloaded again.

You have good answers already for MECs, but if using other equipment you will want to insure that the crimp starter folds the crimp area to something smaller than a #2 pencil; then it is a matter of the crimp station coming down far enough to close the crimp and also have a correct crimp depth [roughly .050" or 1.25mm]. Your 'stack height' can and will also affect the final crimp attained w/any given setting as you noted asking about your components.

On finding hulls to be of different lengths as some posters mentioned above, they are, but there is also a second thing taking place that I've never seen anyone discuss and that is their lengthening from repeated firings. I find that the Remington hulls' mouths also tend to close up more after repeated firings. I'm speaking of a fired hull's mouth being less open. I find that an aggravation & mark those hulls as 'throw-aways' when noticed.

A drop of candle wax as previously noted will solve the leaky shot issue on the hulls depicted.