[kgp912kgp]

Roll Crimping had my interest before and I still will do it on occasion. I don’t see any effect on patterns but it is neat to try.

You will have to trim your cases, thus making them unable to reload with a crimp again. You will also need over shot cards. I found a punch at a hobby/crafts store while shopping with my wife one day. I use folder paper and have used a thick plastic punched them out and placed over the shot then roll crimped with an older vintage bench mounted unit I found on Ebay.

I don’t recall the load but I’m sure it was 700x, 1oz #6 shot, Green duster wad, Win Primer.

The paper cards worked best as I would write what the round held much like the older shells my pops would buy.

You can find an attachment you can install on a drill They are sold a multiple outlets.

Hope this helps

 

[Wildgene]

BP has a lot of information available regarding roll crimping. They have a technical bulletin and tools available.

 

[pettifogger1]

If you are going to roll crimp paper hulls I would go to a gun show or look on EBay. Lots of antique roll crimpers at decent prices. I have had several. I also have a roll crimp that I use in a drill press. I use it for plastic hulls as the spinning heats the plastic and it makes better crimps on plastic hulls than the antiques. Photos below. Old roll crimper. These are in an almost infinite variety of shapes. Below that a modern drill press roll crimper.

 

[mg1polo]

Need a little help guys I have several paper hull that I'm wanting to load this winter I will be using 18 grains of red dot 12s0 wad and 1 oz. Of Lawrence
Fed or winchester primers. I have a old mec. 650 loader but my crimp is not very consistent I wanted to try a roll crimp but have never seen it done. I did some research on the site before asking for help but didn't find much help. Thanks

I wouldn't mess with roll crimping Paper hulls.
It's a royal PITA. If you were roll crimping with new hulls, it's only ok. I can help you achieve a perfect 6 point crimp in your paper hulls. First, you need to order, borrow or steal a smooth cone type crimp starter.
This is the key to getting factory looking crimps from paper hulls. Don't waste your time with hull conditioners, warming or pre heating your hulls. It's all un necessary and a complete waste of time. Call Mec, order the smooth cone crimp starter, install it and go.
It's that easy and I reload thousands every year, just as I'm suggesting to you.
Good Luck,
MG

 

[Paper hull]

I wouldn't mess with roll crimping Paper hulls.
It's a royal PITA. If you were roll crimping with new hulls, it's only ok. I can help you achieve a perfect 6 point crimp in your paper hulls. First, you need to order, borrow or steal a smooth cone type crimp starter.
This is the key to getting factory looking crimps from paper hulls. Don't waste your time with hull conditioners, warming or pre heating your hulls. It's all un necessary and a complete waste of time. Call Mec, order the smooth cone crimp starter, install it and go.
It's that easy and I reload thousands every year, just as I'm suggesting to you.
Good Luck,
MG

I wouldn't mess with roll crimping Paper hulls.
It's a royal PITA. If you were roll crimping with new hulls, it's only ok. I can help you achieve a perfect 6 point crimp in your paper hulls. First, you need to order, borrow or steal a smooth cone type crimp starter.
This is the key to getting factory looking crimps from paper hulls. Don't waste your time with hull conditioners, warming or pre heating your hulls. It's all un necessary and a complete waste of time. Call Mec, order the smooth cone crimp starter, install it and go.
It's that easy and I reload thousands every year, just as I'm suggesting to you.
Good Luck,
MG

Thanks. I will give them a call tomorrow

 

[Tom in Pittsburgh]

I roll crimp fired paper hulls (Federal, Alcan & others). It’s somewhat of a pain to set up, but - once you have the setup - it’s pretty easy.

Beware the modern roll crimp tools - they’re really best for plastic hulls. And don’t waste your money on the BP roll crimp manual - it only covers roll crimping of plastic hulls (at least the old copy I have).

Keep your eye out on eBay for a vintage roll crimper made by Bridgeport Gun Implements (BGI). Look for one that has crimping pins that can be reversed (one way, they make a rounded roll crimp, and the other way a squarish one). I’ve seen similar Ideal crimpers in old catalogs, but have never come across one for sale. You can disassemble the tool & mount the crimping head into a cheap Harbor Freight table-top drill press. I use a BP hull vise to hold my loaded shells during the roll crimping process. I also use fiber wads to get the proper wad column. And BP sells overshot cards. You can trim the hull mouths if they get really raggedy, but that doesn’t happen for me until after a few firings. Once you trim them, you need to adjust your wad column appropriately. I also use a slick hand-held BP case trimmer. I think BP’s product name has “spin” in it.

I have seen modern roll crimping heads for sale with crimping pins in them. They may work fine on paper hulls, but I have never had the need to try them.

Good luck!

 

[Turkinator]

I roll crimp some turkey loads. I use only new hulls. The antique tools work better than anything else I have used. It would be a lot of trouble for higher volumes of shells.

 

[Paper hull]

I roll crimp fired paper hulls (Federal, Alcan & others). It’s somewhat of a pain to set up, but - once you have the setup - it’s pretty easy.

Beware the modern roll crimp tools - they’re really best for plastic hulls. And don’t waste your money on the BP roll crimp manual - it only covers roll crimping of plastic hulls (at least the old copy I have).

Keep your eye out on eBay for a vintage roll crimper made by Bridgeport Gun Implements (BGI). Look for one that has crimping pins that can be reversed (one way, they make a rounded roll crimp, and the other way a squarish one). I’ve seen similar Ideal crimpers in old catalogs, but have never come across one for sale. You can disassemble the tool & mount the crimping head into a cheap Harbor Freight table-top drill press. I use a BP hull vise to hold my loaded shells during the roll crimping process. I also use fiber wads to get the proper wad column. And BP sells overshot cards. You can trim the hull mouths if they get really raggedy, but that doesn’t happen for me until after a few firings. Once you trim them, you need to adjust your wad column appropriately. I also use a slick hand-held BP case trimmer. I think BP’s product name has “spin” in it.

I have seen modern roll crimping heads for sale with crimping pins in them. They may work fine on paper hulls, but I have never had the need to try them.

Good luck!

Thanks Tom

 

[Inkballer27]

I took MG,s advice today and drove the 1 1/2 hours to Gamaliel shooting supply to pick up
A smooth crimp start. Here is what my crimps look like now. Thanks guys for the help and info

 

[mg1polo]

I took MG,s advice today and drove the 1 1/2 hours to Gamaliel shooting supply to pick up
A smooth crimp start. Here is what my crimps look like now. Thanks guys for the help and info
View attachment 1735497

With the right tools, it's so easy.
Those look just like FACTORY to me!
Great Job,
MG

 

[Abolt243]

That smooth cone starter will work with plastic 8 point crimps too. May need to adjust it down a thread or so to get enough plastic to close the crimp in the final station, but it works fine!

 

[acorange]

Beware the modern roll crimp tools - they’re really best for plastic hulls.

BS !! I have been doing a lot of roll crimping recently with Fed. Papers in 2" and the BP tools do a great job. It is very easy to roll crimp paper shells on a small drill press or any batt. hand drill.

 

[Tom in Pittsburgh]

Apologies if I put bad info out there, although I did add that “I have seen modern roll crimping heads for sale with crimping pins in them. They may work fine on paper hulls, but I have never had the need to try them.”

BP sells 2 different 12-ga roll crimping tools, their “original” and a higher- priced “ExactaRoll Double-Pin.” Which one are you using, acorange? I’ll have to try that one. Any images available of your crimped shells? Thanks.

 

[acorange]

My 12 gauge roll crimp mandrel is actually a Lyman with 6 pins in it. My 410 mandrel is a BP with only 1 pin but I have rolled paper crimps with it. My 20 gauge mandrel is also a Lyman but have never used it. The only reason I have been roll crimping is to be able to use up some once fired Fed. papers that had part of the crimp blown off. Short 12 ga. roll crimped hulls are kind of getting popular as "tactical" shotguns can have a bigger magazine capacity with them but IMO they do not feed thru a pump action as well as a 2 3/4" hull. The Kel-Tec shotgun can hold 25 2" or shorter shells. I was out of 12ga. card wads and made my own with WW primer cartons.
IMO the old MEC 400 crimps paper shells as well as anything ever made.

 

[Turkinator]

The Lyman roll crimping tools are as good as it gets! I have the Lyman tools in 12, 16, 20, 28, and 410

My 12 gauge roll crimp mandrel is actually a Lyman with 6 pins in it. My 410 mandrel is a BP with only 1 pin but I have rolled paper crimps with it. My 20 gauge mandrel is also a Lyman but have never used it. The only reason I have been roll crimping is to be able to use up some once fired Fed. papers that had part of the crimp blown off. Short 12 ga. roll crimped hulls are kind of getting popular as "tactical" shotguns can have a bigger magazine capacity with them but IMO they do not feed thru a pump action as well as a 2 3/4" hull. The Kel-Tec shotgun can hold 25 2" or shorter shells. I was out of 12ga. card wads and made my own with WW primer cartons.
IMO the old MEC 400 crimps paper shells as well as anything ever made. View attachment 1736274 View attachment 1736275

 

[badbaddog58]

I took MG,s advice today and drove the 1 1/2 hours to Gamaliel shooting supply to pick up
A smooth crimp start. Here is what my crimps look like now. Thanks guys for the help and info
View attachment 1735497

You should be real happy with shells that look like that

 

[paul Harm]

For future reference, it's easy to remove the ribs on the plastic crimp starters with a Dremel tool, making the starter smooth. And yes they will work with 6 or 8 point crimps as well as paper hulls. Precision Reloading has a 2 rib roll crimper cheaper than BPIs regular one pin model, let along their " special " two pin model. I have both the old hand RCers and the new drill press models and if you're going to do very many the drill press ones win hands down. I find plastic shells RC easier than papers because if it isn't fresh paper material, it will want to separate and then the crimp doesn't look so good. It's one time and throw them away because the hull has to be straightened back out so a wad can be inserted. They do look nice thou, and are fun to show off and shoot with old SxSs.

 

[flashmax]

For future reference, it's easy to remove the ribs on the plastic crimp starters with a Dremel tool, making the starter smooth. And yes they will work with 6 or 8 point crimps as well as paper hulls. Precision Reloading has a 2 rib roll crimper cheaper than BPIs regular one pin model, let along their " special " two pin model. I have both the old hand RCers and the new drill press models and if you're going to do very many the drill press ones win hands down. I find plastic shells RC easier than papers because if it isn't fresh paper material, it will want to separate and then the crimp doesn't look so good. It's one time and throw them away because the hull has to be straightened back out so a wad can be inserted. They do look nice thou, and are fun to show off and shoot with old SxSs.

That’s why the case conditioner and the-wax tool. Get more loads from paper hulls.

 

[paul Harm]

"That’s why the case conditioner and the-wax tool. Get more loads from paper hulls. "- never thought of that for roll crimping.