Started some dry runs with my Texan 20GA single stage press

[MacTech]

I've been doing a few dry runs on my new-to-me old Texan single-stage reloading press, and the results have been surprising....

there are three different brand hulls there, a Winchester WinLite, a Federal Game Load bulkpack hull, and a cheap RIO Top Target hull

Guess which is which?

I also discovered another couple things;
I can safely use the press to punch out live primers (yes, I know, safety first and be careful with live primers) from a few shells I dissected to see how they went together

The low-brass WinLite shells are dead-easy to punch out the primers from, they basically drop free from the punchout die, whereas the medium brass shells like the Federals and Rios need a touch of lube and still need to be pulled clear of the die

I'm still in the process of giving the press a good cleaning and refurbishment, but it's basically solid

Oh, and the shells in question?
Top; Winchester Winlite
Lower left; Federal bulk
Lower right; Rio

Yes, that's right, the cheapo Rio shells seem to crimp the best in this press, a nice star-shaped crimp, the Fed and Win hulls have an uglier crimp pattern, I was expecting the Fed to be the worst, and the Win to be the best, with the Rio somewhere in between

Hopefully, next week I can hit the range with some of my handloaded shells

 

[batex]

With my MEC's there are different crimp start tools for 6 fold crimps versus 8 fold crimps. The Rio's may look better because the machine is set up for 6 fold crimps. I'd bet a few pennies that if you had the 8 point crimp tool the Wins and Federals would crimp much nicer.

 

[rcmodel]

Yep!
You have 6-point crimp and 8-point crimp hulls.
You have to match the correct crimp starter in the press with the correct hull style.

And the crimp would be a heck of a lot better on all three with powder, wad, and shot in it.

whereas the medium brass shells like the Federals and Rios need a touch of lube and still need to be pulled clear of the die

Try sticking a magnet on them.
Some are brass and some are probably brass plated steel.

rc

 

[MacTech]

That was simple...

I picked up a MEC Spindex kit for the Texan, I figured since it looks almost identical, architecture-wise, and it can use MEC charge bushings, it's not too far to assume it can use other MEC parts

The Spindex basically dropped right in, the spindle that holds the crimp starter was a little narrower than the Texan, but the two included nuts and a little blue Loctite and it's all good

At first I was reluctant to replace steel parts with plastic, especially such a nicely machined part as the Texan 6 point crimper, it looks like it was machined out of bar stock, the crimp folds are nice and sharp, and it's got a ring around the base with a couple ball bearings for shell alignment, a much classier bit of work than the cheap aluminum crimp starter housing on the MEC JR, but the fact remains that the Spindex kit works, and works well, it puts out some nice crimps, not as nice as the Texan (comparing two six-fold crimps, the Texan ones are vaguely sharper and more precise), but the advantage of the quick-change crimp starters is a nice feature, change between six and eight point in seconds

I'll still keep a look out for a Texan 20GA eight point crimp starter though, as these are really machined well, and I'd feel better with a metal crimp starter anyway...

...then again, the shotgun hulls *ARE* plastic after all, and there's not a horrible amount of pressure involved in making starting crimps, so the Spindex should be just fine

Now, to get wads, powder, primers and shot next week...

oh, and yes, the federal bulk shells have a plain steel base, the Rios have a brass colored base, both of those shells have a medium height base, the Winchester hulls have a brass coated base that's half the height of the Fed and RIO hulls