I have just never cared enough until now I can't get shot. I freaking bought Wal Mart 100 pack the other day for a quail hunt. I have a hard time getting my Mec Jr to put a good crimp on my best upland load. This load patterns amazing in almost every gun I have (5,7, and 8 shot) and I plan on sticking with it. I just seem to get 60-70 percent of final crimps where I loose one to several pellets. I usually load 2-3 years worth at a sitting. My last boxes from 19 have a lot of pellets loose in them and in my vest pocket. I have tried adding, taking away pellets and no luck. Is there an adjustment (no I never have in almost 40 years of using these presses) on the crimp I can do? 610gr of #8, AA hulls, RP12 Wad, 29.0 Longshot, puts me just under 1300fps and patterns perfectly. I have been dripping a couple drops of wax and it seems like a waste of time if I can get this to crimp good. Any suggestions or help would be appreciated.
Shotshell Crimp Help Needed
- Thread starter Reelamin
- Start date
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I would try to lower the first crimp die down. The black one that has the eight fingers inside. I think it will taper it in further down the hull and hopefully make the top a little flatter when you are done.
How much wad pressure are you applying? Might lower it a bit if over 30-40lbs. per the scale on that station. That and the above should get a little better crimp.
Not getting any movement on the gauge as I did check that just in this last bunch. I have kind of worked the shot down in the wad to get it to settle with no luck. Understand....I have just used this thing....never really adjusted it in decades. I remember as a kid being told to watch the pressure needle move and pretty much have ignored it for decades. If it patterns good....shoot it...yes I'm guilty of that.
Adjusting crimp depth via slotted screw atop die and cam may be what is needed then - it can be tricky to get what you want. In loading thousands of skeet shells, once I got it right to start with - like you, never adjusted again. Another option would be to try a different wad to see what that does.
Another option might be to put a shot card on top of the shot before crimping. Maybe a little less crimp might do it as well.
Well amazing things happen when I pull my stubborn ignorant head out of my ARSE. My press does not have a black pre-crimp die. So I studied it and said WTH they said it would adjust. So I started taking unscrewing it and ended up taking it apart and realized nope there is no adjusting that one. I could replace the insert, but no adjusting it, and noticed the back one had a threaded rod and lock nut. Yep, started adjusting that rod like wasskeet posted (I read his post later as I already went back out to work on it. ) and stuff started to change. Yes, I screwed up a few and it does not take much adjustment to see a noticeable difference. So I adjusted and lined them up with a few notes on what I did as I went. Well what the hello do you know that thing is adjustable. So I loaded another 75 and the last 50 I had 8 I wanted to drip wax on, and of the 8 only 2-3 really needed it and the others why not. I still had some with a single pellet dead center, but tapping and banging it against the bench would not shake it loose. Hello Sally...I think I have it working. I swapped over to this load about six years ago when long shot powder came out. I tried about 10 different wads and loads to get it to work. Yes I'm shooting almost 1.5oz loads and it helps a crappy shot like me. Thanks everyone you legit helped me and now I'm on to the next 40 years of using this press with no adjustment and loading my own shot shells. Lincoln has to check that vest every time he sees it.
