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<  16ga. Ammunition & Reloading  ~  crushed cases while crimping.
16gaugeguy
PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 10:00 am  Reply with quote
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Fred L wrote the following:

I never had any basewad trouble, but I sure buckled the side walls on a lot of cases on the federals. Finally gave up on them and went to Win. and Rem. hulls. Federal is agood factory round but I just pitch 'em once fired.

Answer: Try the following Fred or anyone who has had trouble with collapsing cases. First make certain you have enough room above the shot to properly crimp the shell. 1/4-5/16 inch is usually sufficient. Do this by adjusting wad pressure or finding a wad that gives the proper shot column height if the one you are using just won't adjust.

Next, start by involving enough of the case mouth into the crimp by adjusting the crimp starter up or down as needed. most new presses have a screw adjustable stem. Older ones might need different thickness washers added or deleted on top of the crimp starter. This is an often overlooked step in crimping. too much case mouth will give a tight swirl at the crimp center. Too little will cause a hole. Experimenting a bit will guide you in.

Now, if you have a progressive press, set your crimp depth to just close the crimp and NOT taper the case. A tiny bit of outward flare is fine. Be certain the crimp recess is both flat and about .050-.060" deep--just a tiny tad under 1/16 inch. If your case mouth won't stay closed with this much recess, a bit more might help if your shot column height is not excessive. However, do not recess past 1/16". Don't adjust the crimp depth a second time until after the next step though.

Use the finish die on your progressive press to taper the case a bit and set the crimp. By doing these steps, you are forming your crimp in three steps. This will mork with 99% of all cases if everything else is properly done.

If you have a single stage press, simply form, set, and taper each case crimp a bit at a time with multiple and increasing applications of pressure while also rotating the case between strokes. Adjust the crimp form/taper die at the fifth station a bit at a time until the case crimps perfectly with a nice flat recess and taper. You will soon learn how to do this by feel. The resistance you feel on the press handle will guide you. Trying to adjust the crimp die in one shot or form a crimp with one steady pull will often crush certain types of cases. Federals are certainly one of them. go slow and easy at first. it will become simple in no time at all.
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H.H. Hipshot
PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 10:36 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 17 Sep 2005
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I recently started getting crushed cases with my MEC 700 and 12 Ga WinAA's. As far as I can tell, nothing had changed, as I had been loading the same formula for years.

Anyway, I backed off the final crimper die a tad and I'm back to normal.

No idea why it started happening.

HHH

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hoashooter
PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 6:41 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 08 Nov 2005
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The length of the hull has been SLIGHTLY changed ala WW-HS style-they will soon have three lengths to deal with- Twisted Evil
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Birdswatter
PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2006 7:55 pm  Reply with quote
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An old-timer told me that temperature can be a factor in this. I was getting a bunch of crushed hulls while reloading in colder weather in the garage. Not sure if there is anything to that claim, just passing it on.
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texasbilly
PostPosted: Thu May 25, 2006 4:10 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 03 Jan 2006
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One other possible reason for the sudden increase in crushed cases is that wads sometimes slide out of the case while the drop tube is being removed. This means that the shot column has raised to a point that the crimping station crushes the case because the case (acts like it) is overfull. Oftimes the reloader doesn't notice that the wad has slid up, and runs the case though the crimping station.
What causes this? 1) A change in wad or manufacturer. 2) Temperature and humidity. 3) The wrong wad for the case and drop tube. 4) all of the above.

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