For something to write on, I put an adhesive dot on the base of the shell and write on that. You can use a color coding system (the dots are available in a lot of colors) or write the details on the dot. Once fired, they can be peeled off and a new one put on.

All you do is remove 5/32" of hull and thereby produce the roll crimp without abusing the hull mouth to make a good looking finished product. I'm shortening my 16 gauge Remington Peters plastic hulls to 2 9/16" from 2 3/4" so I am not taking off a lot. Using the same load as when I fold crimp, the roll crimp loses just enough hull so the roll is neat. I use a Lyman Easy Shotshell Trimmer which has a collar on the mandrel that the mouth of the case goes against. The collar on the mandrel assures a consistent trim which is not based on the thickness of the base wad as the Ballistics Product case trimmer does. I have found not all paper base wads, as in some of the Peters Victor paper hull, are equal.

If you work with paper hulls, I recommend that you rewax the mouths of the cases to get a sharp cut from your hull trimmer. To help that process, I will put the rewaxed hulls in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before I trim them. If you don't rewax the mouths and the paper is soft the cut end is raggedy with resultant poor roll crimps. The Ballistics Product hull trimmer works better on paper hulls because the cut is made in a guillotine fashion rather than rolling the hull against a circular disk cutter. You roll the hull around on the nylon mandrel and use the razor blade in a chopping fashion rather than rolling the paper case against it. Same goes for the plastic case with the BP trimmer.

As to the previous finding about using the plumber's flaring tool to hold the hulls while roll crimping them, I also found that the tool is useful for holding the hull in the trimming process with the Lyman disk cutter. The occasional resharpening of the disk type cutter on the Lyman makes the job go faster, too. JF

thanks for the info john...if i can remember all this maybe i can get my crimps looking better....i do pretty good on 6 and 8 fold crimps but my roll crimps dont look to good sometimes but im getting better.... charlie

So I just cut 5/32" off my normal length and use an over shot wad like I use in realoading brass. best ch

Correct as to the 5/32" removal. I found out today that the tubing flare tool works well when there is a leg on it to clamp in the vise. The changing out of the finished hull with the next is a matter of loosening the end wing nuts, taking the finished shell out and replacing it with the next. With the overshot card installed in the loaded hull the cartridge is placed in the flare tool while it remains in the vise, tighten the thumbscrews on the ends and the electric drill can have all the pressure needed applied in a horizontal fashion. BP recommends the use of an anti-sieze grease on the crimp tool to aid in heating up the hull mouth so it folds over more better. If I could figure out how to put a photo on this forum I could show more readily how the flare tool works.

I bought one in 1966 to load 12 gauge shells for my Dad's Model 12 too! One day my Dad asked me where I was getting all those shells to shoot. He said, "You're not shooting those reloads in my Model 12 are you?" I fessed up and he asked me how they worked. We went down to the basement, loaded up 2 boxes and went up to my Grandma's farm and shot some "Blue Rock". We really had fun and I found out my Dad was a real great shot.

I roll crimped a few 10 gauge with the hand tool but mine didn't do too good of a job. I got the Precision tool that goes in the drill press and now just use the hand cranker to put the crimp on the paper shells.

I was pretty impressed! I used a top wad punched out of picture framing matting paper with a 3/4" gasket punch.

cat thats a mighty nice roll crimp..looks factory to me my roll crimps are a lot better now but i still have not got them to look as good as yours.... charlie

Like I said, I was amazed! I just pushed down until I felt the case "give" a little and that's what I got. I only had 1/16" on some of them sticking up over the top wad. On the ones with almost 1/8", they looked the same. They really cause the case to look like you just fired a factory slug load but I was able to coax them open again with a tapered bullet mould handle.

I use a single edge safty razor blade stuck in a dowel at about 15 degres to cut off the folded crimp when I'm roll crimping. Just stick the dowel in the shell and mark the end. Figger out how much to cut and make another mark that much lower. Hammer in the razor blade and you're set to go. If you find the razor can't be tapped in perpendicular, use a thin knife blade to make the cut, then tap in the razor. I can't post pictures, but I'm very proud of my roll crimps. I found trying to roll crimp the folded part of a shell just doesn't give a nice roll crimp. Just loaded up a 100 10ga black powder shells and a 100 smokeless. The BP were paper roll crimp and the plastic nitro were star crimp. When shooting BP in plastic the end of the shell melts too much for me. The paper stays nice. Paul