Creasing Shotshells During Crimping Stage

[smorris62]

Well, I finally got all my components and loaded my first 50 shells yesterday using my Lee LoadAll II. For the most part it works pretty well, once you learn a couple of tricks - the first one is to not knock over the shell that you just loaded with shot while moving it to the pre-crimp stage!!! Once I picked up all the 7.5 shot off my workbench, it went pretty smoothly.

The only issue I had was that during either the pre-crimp or the finish-crimping stage, the shell would kind of get crushed down around the base of the wad. This would cause a little crease that would stick out from the shell. A couple of them actually crushed the shell so much that the shell was no longer straight but had a little bend to them. Obviously, I opened them back up and removed the components and chucked those hulls. But most just have a slight extruding crease that you can barely feel - but feel it you can.

Anyway, any clues as to why this happens? I am using Win AA Super sport and Super Speed hulls.

As always, any advice woulde be appreciated. Thank you.

Scott

 

[NCsmitty]

Congratulations on your initial loading.

First question, are you using 2.75" cases and not 3"?
Are you using the proper wads for the cases?
I'm guessing you're using the full stroke of the loader.

Can you post a picture of a bad load with crimp showing?

NCsmitty

 

[smorris62]

NCSmitty,
yes 2.75 inches, yes full stroke (but not "slamming" down). As far as I know I am using the correct wads. They are the Claybuster WAA20 replacement wads that are called for by the "recipe".

I am at school at the moment, but will post a picture as soon as I can.

Thanks.
Scott

 

[jinxer3006]

I'm not familiar with the Loadall, but I've had a similar problem with my MEC. I had to make some adjustments to the final crimp station which were described in the manual. Again, I don't know the details of the Loadall, but it's someplace to start looking.

 

[NCsmitty]

Ok, are you loading 7/8oz or 1oz? That wad is for 7/8oz as you probably know.

I have a 20ga Loadall myself, but honestly I haven't used it in a year or so.
I use the Remington yellow cases with Rem wads with 1oz drop and get near perfect loads with it.
I'm just trying to ascertain what's going on here.
I found this tip on Lee Precision site. Click on "shotgun topics" then click on "Buckled cases in crimping shot shells"

http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/faq/index.cgi

NCsmitty

 

[smorris62]

Thanks NCSmitty and Jinxer.

Yep, 7/8 oz. Thanks for the link to the LEE site. Maybe I am being too gentle with the wad seating pressure. I'll start there. If that doesn't do it, then I'll try the Rem hulls and RXP wads.

Thanks again guys.

Scott

 

[Geneseo1911]

smorris-
My Load All does the same thing with AA hulls. The skived hulls don't usually do this, though. I'm pretty sure it's the hulls, not the loads. If the load is too tall or short, the problem appears with the crimp being convex or concave.

I appreciate the link above; vaseline is about the only lubricant I haven't tried yet. Nothing has seemed to help much yet (grease, WD-40, oil, graphite, etc.). The only thing that seems to make any difference is not applying more pressure than necessary during the final crimp. If you're gentle, you can get 90% of them to come out OK. I have fired a few dozen rounds that are wrinkled as you described, and they pop right back out. Even the visibly bent ones seem to chamber okay. That said, my pump isn't very picky.

I'm glad you posted this, as I was wondering if they were all this way, or just mine. That final crimp die seems to be a little snug.