doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Roll crimping help!

I'm quite sure I have enough plastic, maybe too much but I tried adjusting for that and had no luck.

I am, however, convinced that the BPI roller I'm using is probably at least a large part of the culprit. I have a 16 gauge antique roller but I broke the lever handle on it that pushes the cartridge into the crimper. I may be able to salvage the crimper and use it in the drill press. I know it makes a better crimp before it broke some years ago.

Better yet, there is a gun show this weekend, hunting seasons are largely closed, so now I have a good reason to go and a mission while I'm wading through the black guns. I need a 16 gauge hand capper too.

Thanks one and all. I'll get a good crimp on these yet.

BTW, could it be that Cheddite hulls are worse than average plastic for roll crimping? Maybe that is part of the problem. I have some old AAs that I can try too.

I have the same BPI roll crimpers in 12 and 16 that I chuck in my cheapee drill press. My initial results were just like yours but once I applied a little lube and went easy with the press my crimps were perfect. I�ve used Cheddite, Fiocchi, paper, etc and all crimped nicely after I figured out the nuances of roll crimping.

eeb, so you are saying it's the Indian and not the arrow? Can't be.. I've got another 50 loads waiting for me tonight. I'll keep experimenting.

GAEP is an Italian reloading company. Buying from them is a pain, but their quality is excellent http://www.gaep.net

Sent you a PM

I use a exacto blade in a wood dowel taped to fit the I.D. of the hull with a bit of clearance. A wood screw is in the bottom to set the length. For the best roll crimps it is necessary for the hulls to be the same length. If the wad column and shot do not come to the same height I add a few pellets to bring them all level. About 3/6'th inch of hull over the overshot card works well. Setting the stop on the drill press insures that you do not mash the crimp. I do not skive, lube or heat the hull or crimper. I use a Precision crimper and a BPI hull vice for this task. Do not make this too difficult because it really is not. Just uniformity along the way. Uneven lengths make the crimps look frazzled or twisted. The set stop makes them all look the same.

I found an 8x1 metric bolt will fit my old, antique crimping tool, so tonight I'll try using it in the drill press. Can't be any worse than the crimping tool I was using. This one has 3 shaping "bumps" in the crimper as opposed to just the one in BPI's version. Those "bumps" are shaped much differently as well, plus it is brass or bronze and that may help as well.

I'll find out tonight.

Brent

After you shoot the roll crimped loads the mouths of the hulls will look awful. You might have to retrim them so don't start out with fresh hulls trimmed too short. You might get longer hull life using the compromised Harten crimp which falls somewhere in appearance between a roll crimp and a star crimp but requires a press. Gil

GLS, I've shot roll crimped bp loads a fair bit and I've been able to reuse most of the shells - 90% anyway. I have to reshape the case mouth but it's not been hard. I think, if I can get decent crimps again, I can do that with these too. But as cheap as primed Cheddites are on sale, it may not be worthwhile.

A spindle depth adjustment on a drill press works nicely for roll crimping. Every shell is crimped to the same depth.

I use Precision, Lyman, and GAEP crimp heads. No BPI for me. Tried one and no good results.

As others commented.....IMHO you have too much plastic above the overshot card.

Eric,
I cut the hulls very precisely on my table saw. That part is very uniform. There is a little variation in the shot column but I try to keep it minimal. I haven't used a stop with the drill press, but I have experimented with different degrees of plunging while searching for a correct length that I would then set the stop for. So far, no luck. But maybe tonight with the new crimping die, I'll get it right. I used to make pretty nice black powder loads in plastic AA hulls and a few Cheddites. But that was with the hand tool.

The weather was pretty miserable late yesterday and last night so this gave me something to play with. I think I'll have more success tonight with the new (old) crimper. I may also try a little more lead to fill that space a bit better. Looking at the load tables, this should be okay.