12 gauge rounds sprout like daisies in the spring

BadAsMo

BadAsMo

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I started loading for 12 gauge trap shooting with a Pacific reloading press with no issues, then a deal came up on a Posness Warren press so I bought it and sold my Pacific. Thats when the trouble started.

I loaded shells quickly with this new press and they looked good coming out of the press, but after a while they were like flowers in the spring with the crimp gradually openning up on some of them. I thought it might have something to do with the Posness Warren press so I sold it off, then bought a hydralic Mec thinking the problem would go away but it didnt. The guys from the trap range stopped by and we all spent time adjusting things but we never corrected it.

Have any of you guys had such a problem before and how did you correct for it?

Should I just dial back the shot charge even though the weight is correct for the wads?
 
More info is needed ! How many reloads on your hulls? are you using the correct wad column for your hull? Is your shot charge correct for the shot cup !
I also load on a P/W 800 Silver st press and they come off the backside looking as good or better than new !
 
blaser.306 said:
More info is needed ! How many reloads on your hulls? are you using the correct wad column for your hull? Is your shot charge correct for the shot cup !
I also load on a P/W 800 Silver st press and they come off the backside looking as good or better than new !
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I also load 12 ga. I had this same problem. As stated, more info needed. As stated, are all of you components matched. I changed hulls years ago and had everything opening up on me for a bit, until I figured out that the inside volume was different. Cut back slightly on my powder and shot weights, things have worked fine ever since.
So, check your shot cup, make sure it is for 1oz powder, 1oz shot, or whatever ou are tring to load. Match it up and your flowers will stay closed.
 
Make sure your wad is fully seating. If it is, make sure you have the right wad for the load. I mistakingly loaded up 12 shells that did a similar thing as yours, and when checked, had about 1 1/8oz of lead in a 1oz wad. Had to cut them all open.
 
If the shells are opening up you're trying to stuff to much stuff in. The wad is collapsing when you crimp, but over time the force from the compressed wad forces the crimp to open up. BTW even if your load is from a powder manufacturers web sight it doesn't mean it loads well. It just means it lasted long enough to get it in the pressure gun. What is your EXACT load? Hull? Primer? Powder type and weight? (please tell me you check the weights on a scale not go by the charts) Wad? Shot charge? Actually weighed?

One last thing. If you are using Winchester HS hulls, problems have been reported just like this. The recipes printed were for the old CF hulls and work the same pressure wise in the HS hulls, but the HS hulls have a smaller internal volume
 
Thanks for the sanity check guys.

The hulls I'm using are the Federal ones with the high brass - not quite as high as the brass on hunting loads but higher than the cheap trap loads. The wads are claybusters, I cant recall the number, but they are the ones I found in the manual for these Federal hulls.

I guess it just makes sense that I'm simply trying to stuff too much volume into the hull.

Yes I weighed the shot and powder charge on real good digital scale so the volume is definitley correct according to the loading manual.

Looks like I just need to throw the manual on the floor and dial the load back until the cases stay crimped, even if it means I only get 1 ounce into a 1-1/8 ounce wad.

Thanks for the sanity check guys.

It really sucks trying to pour the loose shot back into the case for the last few half empty rounds with the gun hinged over my arm while standing on the firing point at the trap range. Then point the loaded gun straight into the air so the shot does not roll out until I call for the bird.
 
If you are loading 1-1/8 on a MEC, buy a 1 oz bar and load away. Your crimp problem should go away and you'll be surprised how well they hit targets and how much your recoil is reduced.

Sacrifice one of those hulls to the hacksaw and look at its cross section. Pick up one of the top gun hulls, section it and compare them. Is it possible your hull has a different shaped base wad?
 
buckbrush said:
Selling a P&W to buy a MEC is a giant step backwards I.M.E.
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no argument there buddy - but there was more to the story. The P&W is some serious machinery - but when things go wrong, they go really wrong.

Because the hulls are pressed into a tall sleeve, the crimp cannot embody the side walls and much more than occasionally the shell would get squashed like a mushroom and had to be cut off to remove it. This was a real pain in the butt and ultimately was the reason I got rid of it. They have actually addressed this problem on some newer models by shortening the sleeves & lengthening the crimping sleeve and that allows the crimper to hold the side walls from collapsing.

If you buy a PW press make sure it has the short bushing sleeves not the long ones.

Having had all these presses by now, all things considered, my favorite is the Hornady - wich is just a new Pacific like the one I started with - I do regret selling it. It had a low dud ratio and was easy to unwind a mistake.
 
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