paper hulls

[John Farrell, Charter Member #33]

When I roll crimp plastic hulls I keep a hot household iron near to my cast iron roll crimper. I touch the mouth of the hull against the hot iron for a count of 3 and then into the roll crimper. The plastic mouth heats just enough to give a neat roll crimp. Try it.

When I retired I quit ironing military pleats into my T-shirts and boxer shorts, and I still use the same iron.

[D Todd Hendrey]

Hello, everyone may I ask on the soft shells what pressures are you looking for, below 8000psi? what is everyones psi sweet spot?

Todd

[Paul Harm]

The ones used in a drill press work nice if you go slow on the down stroke - at least for the first couple till the tool warms up a bit. Johns idea pre-heats the crimper. I do paper and plastic and both come out nice. For pressure, I shoot for 7000psi - but don't think 8000 would be too high. I talked to a fellow at Clay Busters the other day explaining what I did when loading Federal 2 1/2 paper shells with a fold or roll crimp. About 16grs of 700X and a CB-3118-12A wad and 7/8oz of shot. The 3118 wad has a shorter cushion so it fits the 2 1/2" shell and my data was a low pressure load when using a 2 3/4" shell and a CB-4100 wad. He wouldn't come out and say ok [ cover his ass because he didn't have any test data ] but did say he wouldn't be afraid to do it and shoot them. He also said " you SHOULD be ok". So, I use them or paper wads and don't worry. Paul

[B. Dudley]

I found the tool that mounts in the drill press allows for more compressed crimps since you can apply consistent downward pressure while crimping. They work great for paper or plastic. The amount of material sticking up makes a difference as well. I just found that the hand tools want to more told the paper over vs actually rolling it over on itself nicely.

[D Todd Hendrey]

Paul or Brian, Is a roll crimp better for low pressure loads? Paul what do you think of trying the load data in the federal pastic hull ( top gun?). I have a mec600 (star crimp)that I can setup for 2.5 hulls. good or bad Idea?

Todd

[Paul Harm]

Roll crimps usually have a lower pressure if you don't go over board with a real deep crimp. There is a large range of load data for all shells [ Federal ] - I'm not sure of which one you're talking about. If it's a low pressure load to start with, then it's probably good to use. The Mec short kit would be ok - you just have to make sure there's enough room after the shot is added to still get a good crimp. Look and measure the shells you're loading now to get an idea of what you'll need.

[D Todd Hendrey]

Thank you, Paul! I am moving now but i will be trying your roll crimp the first chance I get.

Thanks again

Todd