16 gauge 2 1/2” reloading issue

[Mike of the Mountain]

Chris, those brass crimp starters are the bomb!!

[Keith Doty]

Have had the "smashed" problem a couple of times with different hulls. Found that backing off on the crimp start did more for the issue than anything else I tried.

[Mike of the Mountain]

When you reload enough you get the feel for too much resistance on that downstroke of the press. That lets you know when to back off on the pressure.

[Dan Di Stefano]

Only 5 months into reloading strictly 16ga 2.5” shells and a bit north of 1000 now I have had this problem many times. I fix it by adjusting the final crimp pressure. I also have had to readjust slightly between batches. I feel it was a matter of how many reloads the shells have had and certainly between RST and Herters as well as between 8 and 7.5 shot.

Let’s just say I keep a good eye on the wear abouts of my allan key.

[edgarspencer]

The base height in the purple Herters hull is higher than the hulls used by RST. It will raise your stack height.