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Member Joined: 30 Nov 2011 Posts: 1696 Location: Minnesota

Trying to set up sizemaster to load this
7/8 oz
16.0 Gr Dot
dr16
Win game load cheddite hull

After loading enough shells to adjust crimp, Something told me to check the legs by shining a bright flashlight behind the finished shell. Discovered legs quite compressed. Kept lifting rammer tube till I could see legs not compressed even before adding shot and crimping. However, still getting legs compressed now after final crimp station. Normal or am I missing something?

Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 3177 Location: NCWa

That load is pretty close to my standard sporting clays load. I haven't checked to see how compressed the wad is, but they shoot just fine.

Member Joined: 09 Jan 2013 Posts: 2168 Location: Florida

Some compression on the wad legs is normal after final crimp on any wads that have them .

Right to left , Dr16 7/8oz 2 3/4" in hull , SG16s 1 oz in 2 9/16" hull , SG16 1oz in 2 3/4" hull

Member Joined: 09 Jan 2013 Posts: 2168 Location: Florida

Also see this thread http://www.16ga.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11194

The DR16 will compress quite a bit, depending on the load. Completely normal.

Member Joined: 02 Feb 2006 Posts: 602 Location: western pa

I have used the same load for a couple of years and also noted the compression and the fact that the petals of many fired wads were still attached together. After pattern tests and many clay targets I find it is not something to be concerned with. I suspect the compression is what makes the DR16 as versatile as it is.

Member Joined: 30 Nov 2011 Posts: 1696 Location: Minnesota

Shot a few of these today and they seem noticeably "snappy". What velocity should they be with 16 gr?

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

The longer the leg section of the wad the more likely it will compress---Are you dropping a TRUE 7/8 oz or possibly a little more?Are the hulls a little short? Powder drops true?---you get the point.Don't sweat a little compression.When the mouth pops open then adress the situation.

Member Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 1338

Member Joined: 30 Nov 2011 Posts: 1696 Location: Minnesota

I've had a couple hundred of these in one box for a while now and decided to put them in individual boxes. I then found that maybe 10 had started to open the crimps to varying degrees. Do I need more centerpunch depth on the crimp? They're nice and flat now, not quite as deep as factory. Havent had the issue with the fed or RGL's I've done in the past

Joined: 09 Mar 2016 Posts: 753 Location: Mn.

You have to be careful going with too deep of a crimp, but my first thought was you may not have deep enough of a crimp.

I couldn't find the chart I was looking for but this one will do to give you an idea of just how much crimp depth affects pressure,

When Kevin at DR first came out with the 12 ga. XXL 7/8 oz. wad I had some issues with it, it was the dead of winter and often teens and 20's below zero. Part of the issue was primers and powder combination. I worked with Kevin and he tested my loads and could reproduce it. But crimp depth also has a lot to do with it also.

Kevin had me cut a notch in the jaws of my 40 year old RCBS calipers. They weren't stainless Starrlett's and not hard to do. And it was well worth it. First measure shell overall length and then measure the crimp depth by measuring with the rim in the notch, the difference is your true crimp depth.

.055 is normal depth.

Joined: 23 Nov 2015 Posts: 37 Location: S. central TN

I have seen the articles and I believe that we are crimping too lightly.

If you start checking crimp depth n factory shells it is more like .070".

I have been crimping to this depth for the last 4 or 5 years and I like it better. The crimp, especially on a MEC progressive gets locked a lot tighter when you apply the final roll/taper on the shoulder.

Everyone references the Armbrust article, but most think that just because you crimp at .070" or deeper that your load will be over SAAMI MAP. That just is not true. What Tom Armbrust was trying to bring to light was the fact that crimp depth does make a difference. The particular load that he used happened to test over SAAMI MAP when crimped a little deeper than .055", not every load will do that.