.410 Re- Loader

[9.3X62AL]

NICELY finished 410s, for certain!

I hunt doves and quail with a Rem 870 in 410, 3" shells with 11/16 oz of #9 shot. If I limit shots to 35 yards, I see little difference in effectiveness to the 20 or 12 bores on smaller birds.

[JIMinPHX]

The ones that I loaded were 3/4 oz #8 in 3" Winchester HS hulls. They seemed to pattern well out of a full choke topper.

[oldtoolsniper]

JIMinPHX,
I load a lot of shotgun shells. The .410 is the most demanding as far as I am concerned. With the twelve a small problem is hidden in a large mass and in the .410 a small problem is a big problem with those little buggers. I am impressed in what you have accomplished, the biggest hurdle to overcome on the .410 is case buckling. When you go into production let me know! I need a 2 3/4" and a 3" even though I have the full size presses.

[part_timer]

Very nice Jim, I'm always amazed at the "Git er Done" that the members here come up with.

[Catshooter]

Very informative Jim, thank you!


Cat

[BCB]

JIMinPHX,

Are you planning on making these available for sale?

Or, are they simply to labor intensive to sort of mass produce?

I sure would be interesed...

Thanks...BCB

[JIMinPHX]

JIMinPHX,

Are you planning on making these available for sale?

Or, are they simply to labor intensive to sort of mass produce?

I've got to figure out how I can do that efficiently. I've got a prototype shop, not a production shop. I can make a few here & there, but I'm probably not going to be able to get anywhere near the traditional pricing from Lee, at least not the way that I'm making them now. They really need to be made on a CNC lathe & I don't have one of those at the moment. I'll have to think about what the best way to do that would be. Please give me some time on that.

[Bret4207]

I've been told and have done very limited experimenting that indicates a little heat helps the crimp form. Their used to be a "spinner" that fit over the case mouth and when spun with a drill finish formed the crimp. The heat from the spinning supposedly relaxed the memory of the plastic and let it reform. Maybe warming your crimping tool with a blow dryer would help?

[oldtoolsniper]

Bret,
That is true to a certain extent but you have to apply pressure at the same time and then you get case buckle or a burr head for lack of a better term that won't chamber. I roll crimp all sorts of shotgun shells on a drill press and the friction produces heat and then the case head collapses into a roll crimp. It takes some pressure and a few wrecked cases before you get the feel for it. I hold the cases in a Mec super sizer to try and prevent case bulging. For roll crimping the best tools are the old Lyman roll crimpers that are no longer made.

[JIMinPHX]

I've come up with a few ways to simplify the tool. In a few more days, I hope to have an equally effective, but less expensive version prototyped.

[Mk42gunner]

Jim,

I like the looks of your setup. I started reloading with a .410 Lee Loader then got one for a 20 Ga. The weak points that I found were there didn't seem to be any sizing of the case, (important with an H&R), and the crimps were next to impossible to get right. Also on the .410, if memory serves different makes of cases were different lengths. Also I never could get Federals to crimp because at that time (late 70's) they were roll crimped.

Robert

[JIMinPHX]

Thanks Robert,
That's good information.

I think that I am going to come out of the gate with a gizmo that is set up for 3" Winchester HS hulls as a standard. If someone needs a version that will work with different hulls, then that will be a custom item & they will need to send me a few hulls as samples to measure.

If someone want's to do roll crimps, then they are going to need a different tool. I haven't had any luck with roll crimping at all.

At this time, I am not including a sizing ring, because my Topper doesn't seem to mind the same shells being used again without sizing. It shouldn't be a big deal to add a sizing ring if someone needs one though.

[oldtoolsniper]

Jim,
I have seven or eight roll crimpers for , 10, 12 and 20 gauge and they are not created equal. The old lymans are the best if you can find them. I have a 10 gauge one made out of brass that works incredibly well, it was made by E.O. Dugdale back in the fifty's as far as I can tell. Shotgun shell trimmers make your cases all the same.

[lawhetzel]

Ballistic Products which carries a full line of shot shell reloading supplies -- hulls, wads, shot, etc. -- has a line of "spinners" for roll crimping shot shells using a drill. They have them for all gauges including .410 bore.

[Phat Man Mike]

looking good I just picked up a versa M E C with some extras for a c note the other day!! I need to get of my but and get it set up !

[oldtoolsniper]

I have a Ballistic Products 12 gauge roll crimper and it is very poor. I would recommend the Precision Reloading companies roll crimpers if I had to buy modern. I own theirs as well and it is real close to the Lymans.

[JIMinPHX]

I'm up to revision #3 now. This is what it looks like -

[Lucky Joe]

That looks good, I have a Lee hand loader for the .410 and a Mec .410 loader. Don't think the Mec does as good a job as yours. Let us know when they are available I'd like to try one.

[JIMinPHX]

I think that I have a way to make this thing adjustable, both for fine tuning & also to allow it to be used with shells as short as 2-1/2". I should be able to have that worked out by Tuesday. I hope to get some pricing together by then too.

[JIMinPHX]

Version 4 is up & running. This is what it looks like. I'll try to figure out what pricing needs to be by tonight.