Not getting good crimps 12 GA Reloading

[canon714]

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First Picture-One with too deep crimp is a new unskivied hull. The other one is a once fired hull that was not skivied either.

Second picture. The three orange ones are new unskivied. The blue ones are rio once fired, I assume the factory skivied them

Just loading birdshot for trap. 1 0z loads. would like to load buck in the future

I am not getting good crimps reloading 12 GA shells using the lee load all II.

I was thinking about trying to upgrade to the Mec Jr press.. Will this make the difference ?

[beetle]

the mec JR could possibly have better crimps since it has more leverage. But the load all 2 is capable of making good crimps as well. A good crimp is dependent on a variety of factors but most important is stack height. if you have the wrong stack height even the best press will end up with a lousy crimp.

what problems are you seeing and what kind of load are you trying to make?

[bigbossman]

The MEC will make it easier, and in general give you a more uniform crimp..... but the Lee Load-All can do good crimps as well. If you're not getting a good crimp, something needs to be adjusted, either in the stack height or on the press. That is true for both the Lee and the MEC.

Pics would help, as well as a description of what hulls/components your load consists of.

[tabascoz28]

2 tips, there's a position that works best for 6 or 8pt crimps. Look to match up the peaks and valleys. I marked mine with white out. Second, you can trim a bit off the tube from the last station. It is the limiting factor of some hulls. I use pretty much only Remington and the green ones are a bit short.

[PoorRichRichard]

I am not getting good crimps reloading 12 GA shells using the lee load all II.

I was thinking about trying to upgrade to the Mec Jr press.. Will this make the difference ?

World of difference using a Mec vs. a Load All.

Mec is to Lee, as Melania is to Moochelle...

[PoorRichRichard]

2 tips, there's a position that works best for 6 or 8pt crimps. Look to match up the peaks and valleys. I marked mine with white out. Second, you can trim a bit off the tube from the last station. It is the limiting factor of some hulls. I use pretty much only Remington and the green ones are a bit short.

The old style Winchester AA hulls are great too, if you can find them...

[canon714]

Thanks I will have to take some pictures tonight and attached them. I did file a tad off the last station. But maybe not enough ?

[bigbossman]

Thanks I will have to take some pictures tonight and attached them. I did file a tad off the last station. But maybe not enough ?

Yeah, when you say the crimps aren't good, we would like to see or have described what is wrong with them in order to offer suggestions. Not closing all the way? Caved in? ????

In any case, the MEC would definitely be an upgrade.

[beetle]

World of difference using a Mec vs. a Load All.

Mec is to Lee, as Melania is to Moochelle...

lol, what does that make a Spolar?

[SandDiegoDuner]

Are you loading new hulls or reloading? I would skip the MEC 600jr and buy a Sizemaster. I have a Sizemaster and RCBS The Grand and out of the two, the Sizemaster is definitely easier to keep track of and more forgiving.

[bumpo628]

Older hulls are harder to get good crimps, so you could try once-fired hulls. In addition, you may need to just pull down with more (or less) force on the last station of the Lee Load All 2.

[canon714]

Are you loading new hulls or reloading? I would skip the MEC 600jr and buy a Sizemaster. I have a Sizemaster and RCBS The Grand and out of the two, the Sizemaster is definitely easier to keep track of and more forgiving.

Sizemaster is more than I want to spend.

[beetle]

I didn't know you were loading new hulls -- in this case a "real" press is better than the lee load all 2. the load all is fine if you are reloading once-fired hulls, because the plastic already has a "memory" that it will mostly follow. For new hulls, the load all may not have enough force to properly crimp. In addition it's difficult to tell how much pressure to apply vs a real press that you can get consistent final crimp pressure.

What components are you using? from the pictures it looks like either rio or cheddite hulls. note these are spacious hulls and require the right choice of components.

[canon714]

I didn't know you were loading new hulls -- in this case a "real" press is better than the lee load all 2. the load all is fine if you are reloading once-fired hulls, because the plastic already has a "memory" that it will mostly follow. For new hulls, the load all may not have enough force to properly crimp. In addition it's difficult to tell how much pressure to apply vs a real press that you can get consistent final crimp pressure.

What components are you using? from the pictures it looks like either rio or cheddite hulls. note these are spacious hulls and require the right choice of components.

Rio hulls. The blue ones are once fired. The orange ones were primed hulls 3 1/2 inch that I cut down and did not skivy.

Load data is

Winchester WST 22.5 Gr
Rio Hull and either Rio Primer or Fiocchi
WAD Claybuster CB2100-12 (12SO replacement)
1 0z shot

For some of them I used green dot 21 Gr

Load data from Hodgdon site

And.. thank you all for your help

[beetle]

the swirls in the crimp typically mean you have too much "pre-crimp" set up. try experimenting with putting different shims underneath the shell to decrease the amount of pre-crimp being applied.

the shells do not look too dished, so stack height might be OK -- although my instinct is to say they are a little on the short side. The CB2100 is a little on the short side for Rio/Cheddite. The 6100 is a better choice. You can see the height difference in this pic. The 6100 is the Green one.