Cheddite paper reloading

[Eric Johanen]

Edgar are you using 2.5 or 2.75 Cheddite hulls? I have both on hand. Which Helix wads are you using the 24, 21, or 18. Since I have a good supply of PB I will give your load a try.

[edgarspencer]

Originally Posted by Eric Johanen

Edgar are you using 2.5 or 2.75 Cheddite hulls? I have both on hand. Which Helix wads are you using the 24, 21, or 18. Since I have a good supply of PB I will give your load a try.

I don't have the bag they came in, but I am pretty sure I was using the HCD24 in 2.5" Cheddite hulls, paper and plastic. It measures 1.7".
I have also used the Piston Skeet 12 gauge wad, but recovered wads don't seem to open up consistently. BP only supplied the paper hulls in 2.75" and I trimmed them for the proper crimp. My preference was to roll crimp their hulls.

[Eric Johanen]

Thank you. I'll order some 24's and load them in my papers with 7/8 oz. shot

[Paul Harm]

Harold, paper shells are crimped with a smooth pre-crimp die. For 12ga I have the old steel pre-crimp die for some of my Mecs.. They also sell a smooth plastic pre-crimp die for the 12ga. I've taken about five of the plastic six point starter crimps and ground the ribs out of them making em smooth. That way it doesn't matter if it's a paper shell or a plastic one with either six or eight style crimp. If you have a Mec machine with plastic dies, you could do the same for any gauge.

[edgarspencer]

Paul, this crimp is made with the sharp, plastic MEC crimp starter. I don't see a problem. Am I missing something?

[Gary Laudermilch]

I did not get good results on Federal papers using the standard crimp starter. I bought a smooth one ($7.00) and it works like a charm.

[Harold Pickens]

Thanks Paul, maybe I'll try a few more and see--or just wait til the next SXS shoot and give them to a friend. It would be cool to roll crimp, but I've never tried that.

[Paul Harm]

Edgar, those look fine - don't let me stop you from using whatever works. In my experience the Federal papers reload better with a smooth crimp starter. I'd get 2 or 3 out of 10 bad ones using the 6 point starter. Mec sells a smooth crimp starter for paper shells. Awhile back it got me to thinking about the old Lee Handloaders. Their die was smooth for any fold or roll crimps, so I says to myself, why not smooth for 6 or 8 point with plastic or paper shells ? I ground the ribs out of the plastic start crimp dies and have been using them ever since.

[Eric Johanen]

Thank you Edgar. Loaded a few shells to your data with 20.0 grains of PB ( 19,6 actual with my MEC bushing) and the HCD 24 wads. In once fired RST/Cheddite hulls with Cheddite primers the wad column was a perfect stack height. Excellent 6 point crimps. Just back from the club where I shot them downrange. Good report and light felt recoil. I'll run 50 and give them a test on the clays course next outing. I believe they will work out just fine. My last 5 pounds of PB will be dedicated to this load.