All you roll crimpers out there, I need tips for roll crimping

[MW3840]

Hello everyone,

I'm about ready to throw in the towel for roll crimping. I have a 12 ga. roll crimper I believe I bought from BPI about 20 years ago. I never could turn out a good roll crimp. Put it away 19 years ago, and jut got it out again for a winter project.

And I still am failing. I even bought a speed reducer for my drill press to get the speed down to 900 fps. I begin slowly to let the plastic warm up and then bring it down. I don't get a consistent crimp. How much of the end of the fold crimp of the once fired case should I remove for a nice roll crimp? Are there some cases that roll crimp better than others?

There have to be some hints and tips that will enable me to become one of you ELITE ROLL CRIMPERS. Please, please, please help a fellow handloader out.

Thank you,
Mike

[heathydee]

What hulls are you attempting to roll crimp Mike? Previously star crimped hulls give indifferent results at best unless most of the crimp is removed . For slug or round ball loads I use Winchester AA hulls which have been trimmed by about a quarter inch . Drill press set to 600 rpm and a small amount of a WD40 clone applied to the mouth of the case to ease the crimping process .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLnoQFoRWZE

[Themoose]

I don't roll crimp anymore on folded crimp hulls... only use new skivved ones... but when I did I did better getting 3" hulls and cutting them back before crimping... I also improved my crimps when I got a hull vise(think I got it from Ballistic Products) after clamping in hull I sprayed a small amount of silicone on my roll crimp die and slowly, but evenly rolled down the crimp on the loaded hull... When I got one the way I wanted it, I set the lock on the drill press... but after loading quite a few, you can develop a feel and don't need to rely on the drill stop.

Hope this helps,

TheMoose

[GBertolet]

MW3840, I believe your speed of 900 RPM is too fast. About 600 RPM should do it, as that's what I use, and I get great crimps. About 2 seconds of contact for the plastic to warm is long enough.

[cajun shooter]

The way to get perfect roll crimps is very easy but certain things must be done. I shoot only black powder and use only roll crimp hulls.
You need to trim off the old folded crimp and start with a new edge for one thing. The type of roll crimper also makes a huge difference. The more contact points the better. The old ones only came with one and will not give that factory look.
Your speed is too fast and needs to be lower as was posted by another member. I use a table top Drill press but you can do it with a variable speed 1/2 inch hand drill on low.
If you intend on making good shells for a long time then you will have to spend some money for the proper equipment.
The hull vise sold by Ballistic Products is a great tool that I use with it clamped to my drill press table.
The best trimmer is sold by Precision Shooting supplies and is called the D-Loader. To trim hulls you also need to purchase the adapter made for hull trimming which is about $18 for the trimmer and $10 for the adapter.

[Firebricker]

David, That is some authentic looking shotgun ammo there ! FB

[Chicken Thief]

Made my own with help from members.
Dont lube, let the crimper touch the hull for 2-3 seconds before pressing down in a slow pace. Hold for 1-2 secoonds and it is there.

As you can see i did some duds before being mr. perfect
Wait for the hull to heat up from friction (you need heat to permanently alter the shape of plastic) before doing the actual roll.

[tommygirlMT]

Practice --- practice --- practice




And --- oh yah --- practice




Dont use up your good hulls practicing on --- get yourself a bag of cheap junk range pickup hulls for nothing more then your trouble to pick them up --- dont need to load nothing in them to practice roll crimping on them --- takes a while to get that magic touch but once you get it down its just like riding a bike --- you retain the muscle memory

I never had good luck with drill presses contrary to popular belief that drill press best --- I use hand drill (do like hull clamp/vise though) --- cordless is best because they slower RPM --- in fact with Dewalt 18V full trigger pull (top speed) --- is just about right and slower then plug in speed demon drills and drill presses even at half throttle

For lube --- You could use natures best (remember the lick-em stamps?) --- but lead poisoning is real issue so sponge damped in dish soap soapy water and squeezed out to just damp --- work almost as good and keeps your SO from yelling at you

[tommygirlMT]

Forgot to say --- gear 1 on dewalt cordless --- the setting you use for screwing screws --- not faster gear 2 setting

[DODGEM250]

Same here. I bought a crimp roller and now I just use the fold crimp on my presses. I gave up trying to roll crimp with a drill / drill press. The only way I see to get a successful roll is to use the old hand rollers. I see a press crimp is faster anyway.

[MW3840]

Dodgem,

Do you fold crimp any foster slugs? I tried, but not much luck. The fold crimp on my Lyman 525 grain sabot slugs, however, turn out beautifully.

[Milsurp Junkie]

I have had really good luck with an older antique roll crimper. It screws on the bench, has a handle to turn the crimper, and another handle allows you to control the feed tension. I will pull it out and take some pictures.

[MW3840]

I have one of those and can't tighten the clamp tight enough to work the handle. I was afraid to use pliers to tighten the clamp as I thought it would break.

[Milsurp Junkie]

For the short rounds that I was making (some 2" black powder loads), I actually used a portion of a 1"x2" wood placed between the push clamp and shotgun hull.

[TRG3]

Same here. I bought a crimp roller and now I just use the fold crimp on my presses. I gave up trying to roll crimp with a drill / drill press. The only way I see to get a successful roll is to use the old hand rollers. I see a press crimp is faster anyway.

I started out fold crimping my slugs, but had to note such on the side of the shell so that I knew what I was shooting. Also, the fold crimp seemed to always creep open a little bit and it just never looked as neat as the factory roll crimped slugs. I then went to Harbor Freight and for $40 bought a drill press. I've had good success with roll crimpling by applying a very thin coat of WD-40 to the outside of the hull area to be crimped, bringing the roll crimper in contact with that area for 4-5 seconds so as to heat up that portion of the hull, then bringing the roll crimper on down on the hull in order to form the roll crimp on the slug/roundball. After a very few attempt, I was able to feel when to let up on the crimping pressure. While you can purchase devices to hold the hull during the roll crimping, I just hold the hull firmly on the drill press' base and eyeball it to make sure it is square. If the finished roll crimp looks a little cockeyed, I just rotate the hull and bring the crimper down on it again to square it up. This works for me and the finished product looks nearly as good as factory.

[3006guns]

I have one of those and can't tighten the clamp tight enough to work the handle. I was afraid to use pliers to tighten the clamp as I thought it would break.

I had the same problem. The crimper does beautiful work if you don't mind chasing it all over the bench! I finally got a piece of scrap pine, traced the outline of the top clamp on it and inletted it with a Dremel for a tight fit. I clamp the wood with a c-clamp AND tighten the crimper clamp. Now it stays put pretty well.

This is the same sort of "modification" made by many reloaders to the old Belding and Mull powder measure to stop it from wiggling.

[lcclower]

+1 on the hand crimpers, I have one circa 1900 that still rolls 'em right.
I use case lube because I have it and roll the end of the hull tight against the slug.
Try using hulls with the longitudinal ribs, like factory Winchester hulls. They roll better than AA's.
There were electric hull irons on the market years ago that would remelt the wax in paper hulls, I used one to iron the wrinkles out of plastic hulls but with poor results. LC

[RMc]

BPI's roll crimp heads produce a flat top crimp edge.

Precision Reloading's roll crimp head produces a narrow rounded top crimp edge.

I have found the PR unit is easier to master, and produces a factory quality roll crimp.

[Newtire]

I got a Precision reloading crimper that produces a nice round crimp. A small touch of lube in the crimper head makes it go down real nicely. Here's a link to a Youtube video I posted. I love the way it comes out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcpNm...g_DOCZ8KSv8-jz