Crimps popping from the heat?

[bruce drake]

So, while unpacking the ammo crates from the move, I discovered that about 20% of my 20 and 12 gauge reloads (I own both LEE shotgun presses) had popped their crimps in the two months since I loaded them in the cooler NY climate and I had #7.5 shot all over the bottom of the boxes.

The last couple of weeks have seen 100+ heat here in KS and for 3 of the last 8 weeks the ammo cans where in the back of my car where it got even hotter.

Could this be a cause for the crimps to pop out or simply LEE Press issues?

Bruce

[sundog]

Bruce, welcome to the heartland drought and heat. I load on a MEC and have the same thing from time to time. I think is has more to do with the condition of the cases than anything or maybe not getting enough pressure on the column before crimping. What cases are the ones giving you a problem?

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Hello Bruce, big mistake on your part if you left them in your car, specially when its been so hot 100+ degrees!
God's been watching over you, look up and Thank him!
Its a lesson for you to learn from this or else your car could have blown up, had the crimp not opened!
I have Mec Grabber , Hornady progressive in both 20 and 12 gauge yet I like the way my Lee load all crimps and offten crimp with it!
Sundog, brings up a good point tho,
" maybe not getting enough pressure on the column before crimping "

Amen brother!

Ajay
www.Blazing Sabots.com
www.PreciousVideoMemories.com

[shotman]

you most likely are getting too much pressure on the wad, causing it to crush too much when crimped. AA wads are bad about that. the figuer 8 wad is good not to crush.

[bruce drake]

I used the Claybuster Wads that are duplicates for the AA. The cases are Federal Bulk box (12) and Remington bulk (20).

I wasn't about to leave those ammo cans in the hotel room while I was waiting for my quarters to be made ready. I could just see the evening news now..."Local EOD Team called to diffuse potential bomb situation at the Days Inn....more at 11..."

No issues at the moment. I pulled the presses down from the shelf and recrimped most of them with no issues after putting the shot back into them again with a funnel. Now they are back in their boxes in a hot garage :)

[Moonie]

Hello Bruce, big mistake on your part if you left them in your car, specially when its been so hot 100+ degrees!
God's been watching over you, look up and Thank him!
Its a lesson for you to learn from this or else your car could have blown up, had the crimp not opened!


Um what???

Can you explain this in a bit more detail?

[bruce drake]

Kind of curious myself as I've walked around Iraq with 12 gauge slug loads in my pockets in 130+ heat and never had a crimp go or explode off.

[sundog]

Bruce, the issue rounds are more than likely sealed/waterproofed, something few of us might do regularly for reloads unless needed for a wet environment.

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Its a known fact, in hot weather in a car the tempreature can get as high as 180 to 190*
Ajay
www.Blazing Sabots.com
www.PreciousVideoMemories.com

[35remington]

What kind of radius do you have on the crimp? That is, is there a prominent raised ridge at the edge of the shell to provide a reinforce and prevent the crimp from opening easily? If this is not present, the crimp tends to open more easily than if it was there.

[skeettx]

Three things

Heat

Too much in the payload and wad expanding

Barometric pressure difference, I have seen shells loaded at sea level with air trapped
expand at higher altitudes.

Fill up with shot, recrimp and shoot soon, and use candle wax if necessary to keep shot
from dribbling out

Mike

[bruce drake]

only a 1oz load for the 12 and a 3/4 oz load for the 20 shells. light powder loads as well as a good crimp seal on the shells. The shells are reloads (recent range pickups from a known commercial-only shooter) and not virgin shells.

Interesting thoughts about sea level changes having an effect. I never thought that would be an issue with reloads.

Bruce.

[krag35]

I have had16 ga. crimps open up from sitting in the sun in a vehicle. these loads had been loaded for years with no problem, until I left them in the car.

[mac1911]

I'm throwing this out there......if all your crimps came undone I would say heat played a roll. If only some or only a few boxes I would say you did something different on that batch?
I had a problems with crimps opening. Drove me nuts. Then I relized the last crimp stage on my Mec 9000 stage 6 was no longer putting the taper kn the shell. Once I re adjusted this my crimps stay put.

As for ammo blowing up in your car.....unlikely unless it gets really really hot. As a kid growing up we threw everything in the fire. Ammo even in a hot hot fire would take a good amount of time to cook off. And even the largest cals would just pop. Heck the sap popping tossed more debris than the bullets popping. The worst and most injury produced item tossed in all the fires was a can of corn. It dam near put the fire out when it blew. The corn went everywhere several people got cornburned! Brownbread in the can got a close 2 nd!......... stupid yes but as kids we did many stupid things. How we didn't kill each other is a mystery or luck!

[Moonie]

We had a kid throw in a can of Off, THAT got your attention, said kid got shrapnel in his leg for the effort. 180-190F is no where near hot enough to cook off a round, I call horse hockey.

[mac1911]

http://www.winchester.com/learning-center/ballistic-silvertip/Pages/Material-Safety-Data-Sheets.aspx

Here's the data sheets. I read through some. They don't even list flash point temp for loaded shotshell ammo?

[bruce drake]

well, the recrimped ammo shot just fine today. Looking forward to reloading some more and busting more clays.

Bruce