roll crimper

[toot]

I hope this is the place to ask this question if not sorry. i am thinking of getting a RUSSIAN ROLL CRIMPER on FLEA-BAY, they are selling for a good price compared to the US ones, they have a 5 star 100% ratings. question has any body used one of them and how do they work?

[tomme boy]

Which one? There are 2 different ones. One is a copy of the old style clamp ones.

[toot]

tomme boy, copy of the old style type that clamps onto a table, just like the old cast iron ones. looks and works the same.

[largom]

Have a couple of the old ones if you are interested.

[toot]

largom, depends on the price?

[toot]

largom, i sent you a PM, toot.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

212891
click to enlarge.

These work well, available from Midway USA, if you have a drill press or electric drill.

[toot]

Der Gebirgsjager, Danke! i just sent for one on flea bay. that is a great roll crimp on plastic hulls and i rely like the clear see through plastic over shot wads. lets you see the shot size at a glance.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Glad to help. Yes, those clear over shot wads are really great. I used to order little colored stick-em paper dots that came on rolls, and would write the shot size on each dot and stick them on the end of the shell. Gets really tedious after a couple of boxes! As for the crimp roller, run your drill or press at a fairly low speed and use a Q-tip to apply just a little bit of oil to every 2nd or 3rd hull's mouth's outside edge and you'll get great results.
A little goes a long way.
DG

[Oklahoma Rebel]

how many times can you re- crimp with a roll crimper? I have quite a few once fired slug shells that were roll crimped, and am thinking of getting the lee 7/8th oz drive key slug to play around with. thanks!-Travis

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Those in the photo were roll crimped buckshot. After the initial firing I would say you can reload them once, definitely. Twice, probably. Third time, maybe. You have to keep an eye on the part that rolls over and if it shows a split, trash them. I think that's probably also the official line of advice the companies like Lyman would give you.

But, some folks trim the previously crimped part off and keep on reloading, shorter shells being the result, and compensate with shorter internal wads.

I'm kind of with the first school of thought.

[toot]

Der Gebirgsjager, that is rely great info. thank you. what kind of oil do you apply to the case mouths, and where do you get the clear top wads, make / cut them out ? also what do you use to hold the shells when roll crimping them, your hand?

[Baja_Traveler]

I bought the same roll crimper for my 16 gauge loads. Works great in a little cheap Harbor Freight bench top drill press. Ballistic Products sells all of the stuff you need, as well as really nice bulk virgin hulls in every gauge imaginable.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Baja is right. I bought my BPI over shot wads from Midway USA. As for the oil, I use G-96 gun oil just because I have a plastic bottle of it handy sitting beside the drill press. Yes, I do use a drill press. I just squirt a little oil on the Q-tip and give it one swipe around the outside edge of the plastic hull. One squirted Q-tip will last for at least a box of shells. Seems like some is still present inside the crimper tool, so only about every 3rd one. I think many other oils would do as well, that just happens to be what is sitting there. And, I do hold them down on the table of the drill press with my left hand and bring the drill press spindle down with my right hand. Hope you're not left handed--it could be awkward. If your fingers start getting sore you can quit for the evening, or look for something like I found which is a really old time sizing die for a 2 1/2 inch shell made by Lyman many years ago. Since you already sized the hull, when you insert it into the old die enough will stick out the top to make the crimp, and the die is a little easier to hold on to. If you can't find something suitable you could probably make something that would work, but I loaded many boxes using just the fingers to hold the hull being crimped. You'll have to experiment a bit to find the best speed to run the drill press at, but it's probably more toward slower than higher. Since I have not used a portable electric hand drill for the job I can't give you too much advice there. I think I'd find some way to gently but firmly grip the hull in a bench vise, not so hard as to crush it, maybe between two blocks of wood with curved cutouts in them to match the contour of the hull, just firmly enough to keep it from turning while it was being crimped.

[toot]

Der Gebirgsjager, thanks for taking the time in running through the steps for me. it was a great help, and no not a lefte! i have a drill press so that is a +.