Roll crimp

[Ithaca Gunner]

I tried my first roll crimp today and I'm pretty happy with it! I haven't been loading for shotgun all that long, maybe 5-6 years or so and it's been pretty generic, light 1oz target loads out of a MEC 600jr and some heavy Pheasant loads. This year with the addition of 2 Deer Slayer barrels for my favorite Ithaca '37 have changed that. I've been loading .69 round ball, buck and ball, buckshot, and both sabot and full bore slugs. I decided it was time to broaden my horizons and start roll crimping. I bought a roll crimper and hull vice from BPI, watched their videos, and made my first roll crimp shell today.

71648

Not too bad for a first go at it, if I do say so myself. I forgot to buy 12ga. over shot cards, so I loaded a .69 round ball instead.

I followed the tips in the video, and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be! The only thing I had any trouble with was the short shank on the crimper, getting it lined up in the drill, ( they could have made it a little longer ). Everything else worked just as it should.

A few questions for those of you who have more expertise in shot shell reloading than I have;

Is a roll crimp interchangeable with a folded crimp for regular shell reloading as far as pressure goes?

Can a shell that's been fired with an 8 point fold crimp be reloaded with a roll crimp, and vice-versa?

Can the BPI waxed fiber wads be used in place of a plastic gas seal?

I just like the way a roll crimped shell leaves a nice smooth, straight empty for reloading. They seem easier to load, but more work to crimp.

Thoughts? Opinions? Maybe some dumb questions, but I value your thoughts.

[Firebricker]

Looks pretty good. As far as roll crimping a hull that was a fold crimp without trimming they don't turn out to good. I get the best results from new hulls or hulls with the fold crimp trimmed off. I also switched to a small drill press over a hand drill and that helped.
FB

[DODGEM250]

Looks better than most of the many I tried to roll. I gave up and now I just star crimp everything. Much easier in my Lee shotshell presses.

[hubel458]

If you put crimper in little dril lpress it goes 3 times faster
and much better. BPI sells a tool to use in drill to iron out star
crimped cases so you can roll crimp

For slugs I never use all of of shotgun reloader, just iron out cases if resusing,,
size case the in the collet style MEC Super Sizer, put in stuff and
roll crimp. Have holder mounted on bench, set case on it to deprime
with a rod, prime with tool. The MEC makes cases better than new without rolling the material in the sides,
thus cases stay stronger. .Ed

[DODGEM250]

I did the roller in my drill press in my woodshop, it's a craftsman 1.75 HP similar to the one shown above. I was never happy with the results, so, I started appreciating the crimp I got from the Lee shotshell presses in both 12 and 20. Perfect star crimps everytime.

[OnHoPr]

It might be convenient to try a few of your loads with of the same loads with both rolled and crimped to see how they do in your particular weapon. Also, with certain projectiles you might find that the 8 pt will contour better to the nose of the projectile.

[jmort]

"I was wondering if the pressures are the same with identical loads between roll crimped and folded crimp."

I believe the roll crimp is generally lower pressure from everything I have read.