Finally set up the drill press for roll crimping

[Keith Sirmans]

Originally Posted by Stan Hillis

It's not a press, Milton. It only resizes the case heads, and you can interchange collets for any gauge. I can do from 10 ga. down to .410. I actually bought it when I used to reload for a short 10. I never had a 10 ga. press and only used hand tools like you describe, except for the Sizemaster. I picked up 3" 10 ga. duck load hulls in blinds and would resize the heads in the Sizemaster, after shortening them to 2 7/8", for use in my LC Smith 10.

It's a valuable tool for someone that picks up used hulls. All presses will resize, but not all use a collet to do it. Collet resizing is absolutely effortless.

I need to pick your brain more about that

[Milton C Starr]

Originally Posted by Stan Hillis

It's not a press, Milton. It only resizes the case heads, and you can interchange collets for any gauge. I can do from 10 ga. down to .410. I actually bought it when I used to reload for a short 10. I never had a 10 ga. press and only used hand tools like you describe, except for the Sizemaster. I picked up 3" 10 ga. duck load hulls in blinds and would resize the heads in the Sizemaster, after shortening them to 2 7/8", for use in my LC Smith 10.

It's a valuable tool for someone that picks up used hulls. All presses will resize, but not all use a collet to do it. Collet resizing is absolutely effortless.

I havnt gotten around to resizing 10 gauge hulls, I have been using new hulls.
Resizing my 8 gauge hulls is pretty easy by just using a small amount of mica on the case head.

I have a list of reloading things I want to get this year but we'll see how it goes.

[William Davis]

I use hard wood clamp jaw pads in the drill press vise. Wood jaws quick to make & give good friction. Drill hole shell head size then split the block with the bandsaw . Gap left by the saw cut gives enough movement for the jaws to grab the case with light pressure.

Was using the wood jaws as prototypes intending to make a set out of aluminum indexed with dowel pins . Work so well never made the aluminum jaws.

William

[Stan Hillis]

Keith and Milton, my bad for calling it by the wrong name. The Sizemaster is indeed a press that uses the collet type resizing, but the tool I have is called a SuperSizer. My apologies for using the wrong name and causing confusion. I just realized my error.

I think mine is still set up on the drill press table, from my last loading session with 3" .410 nickel plated shot loads. I'll take a peek in a few minutes and, if it is, I'll snap a pic and put it on here tonight. Again, sorry for the confusion I caused.

[Paul Harm]

I took two nylon blocks, tipped them 45 degrees and used a end mill to mill a " vee " in each one. They're used in a cheap drill press vice. Any size shell will work.
I have both the BPI and PRing roll crimpers in 12 and 10ga and prefer the PRing one with 4 pins. It works just fine and I don't slow down the drill press. JMHO, but I think they work better when warm, and the higher speed helps warm em quicker.
Funny, I never thought of using my Sizemaster. Da.

[Keith Sirmans]

Nice Paul! I do have some old cutting boards

[William Davis]

I went to some effort to set my PW 375 to handle and star crimp 2 7/8 10 G. Its easier to preform all the size, prime, charge, insert wad &/drop shot operations on the PW. Then switch to the roll crimper final step. Ponsness Warrens final crimp is performed off the press anyway,.

William

[Milton C Starr]

Originally Posted by Paul Harm

I took two nylon blocks, tipped them 45 degrees and used a end mill to mill a " vee " in each one. They're used in a cheap drill press vice. Any size shell will work.
I have both the BPI and PRing roll crimpers in 12 and 10ga and prefer the PRing one with 4 pins. It works just fine and I don't slow down the drill press. JMHO, but I think they work better when warm, and the higher speed helps warm em quicker.
Funny, I never thought of using my Sizemaster. Da.

For me it just feels like the 4 pin design takes more force to do the crimp.
I was preheating my roll crimpers but I havnt noticed much of a difference. Im sure the hull type probably plays a part on which method works better.
If I order some brass cases this year though I probably wont be doing much roll crimping in the future. While the initial cost is high they last forever.
I use a 1 ton arbor press for resizing my 8 gauge shells, after firing they dont change in dimensions at least non I could read on a digital caliper.

[Keith Doty]

Originally Posted by William Davis

I went to some effort to set my PW 375 to handle and star crimp 2 7/8 10 G. Its easier to preform all the size, prime, charge, insert wad &/drop shot operations on the PW. Then switch to the roll crimper final step. Ponsness Warrens final crimp is performed off the press anyway,.

William

I went a similar path, some serious effort and a bit of machining to transform a Pacific 266 to run my short 10s on. I have 3 others set up for 20, 16, and 12. Been using one since high school and wanted to stay with the same press system. After much effort and some serious profanity I "got there". I'm now getting great 6 pt. star crimps when I want them and pull the loaded hulls off before crimping to roll crimp. I ended up building what amounts to a drill guide to use with a hand drill, works great. Been a labor of love but very satisfying in the end.

[Bill Murphy]

William Davis, why can't you finish the crimp (star crimp) on the 375? I can't get a good 10 gauge crimp on mine because I think I need a starter crimp. However, don't understand the need for a roll crimp. My empties are rough cut to 2 7/8 but from then on, things get difficult.