Fed Shotshells - Big Hole in Crimp - Lee

Airspeed-Alive

Airspeed-Alive

Member
Rating - 100%
5   0   0
Location
Crossfield, Alberta
Well I finally got all my supplies for reloading 2 3/4" shells (for clays) with my Lee Load All II.

I can't seem to get a nice 'flat and tight' crimp. They are all on a 25-30 degree downward angle with a hole of 1/8" to 3/16" in the middle - allowing the shot to come out slowly.

Here's what I'm using:
Federal Top Gun Hulls (8 point crimp)
Claybuster WT12-WAA12 Wads (Orange)
IMR 700-X (set for Dram 3 - 1220 FPS)
1 oz 7 1/2 lead shot
Cheddite Primers

I know I'm not pressing hard, if anything I'm not pressing hard enough. The only thing I can figure is that my wads arent long enough. I really don't want to be forced into having to use more than 1 oz of shot (which might not even help).

I had a Winchester Super X hull laying around that I tried as well. It came out even worse. The hole was almost 1/4" in diameter.

Any suggestions? Not sure where to go from here. Thanks in advance!
 
Yeah, adjust crimp down so it sits on the top of the wad/shot.

Truthfully, I've never had much use for the Lee Load-all. Is it still mostly plastic?
MEC seems like the the way to go.
 
I can't seem to adjust the final crimp at all. Looks like Im out of luck. I might try a different wad and see what happens (this may take a month).

The Load All is about 50% plastic. I am impressed though. It seems quite durable. Time will tell though...
 
Is the load you are using an exact recipe out of a book, with no changes, you can't just lower the shot on a load because you have to get the hull filled with x amount of components to get it to crimp. That load data includes the exact hull, different hulls can have much different internal volumes.

Assuming you are doing that, check your wad pressure, if your squishing your wad in with too much pressure you may be making too much room by crushing the wad.
 
Put a small piece of paper, 1/2" X 1/2" or so, flat on top of the shot in the wad when moving the case over to the crimp station. It doesn't weigh anything, and will not affect the pressure.
My Load All does the same thing, but for what it cost, I can live with it.
Regards, DaveF.
 
DaveF said:
Put a small piece of paper, 1/2" X 1/2" or so, flat on top of the shot in the wad when moving the case over to the crimp station. It doesn't weigh anything, and will not affect the pressure.
My Load All does the same thing, but for what it cost, I can live with it.
Regards, DaveF.
Click to expand...

That seems to do the trick! Surprisingly, the hole in the middle of the crimp is like factory now.

Thanks for all the help guys. Problem resolved in less than an hour without having to buy anything different. :D
 
The only thing that is good about the hole in the center is it makes good slug crimps and it is very easy to spot a slug in the loaded rounds. For shot, I have had to do what DaveF suggested.

Cactus
 
The Topgun hulls are iffy to use. any moisture will be absorbed and will kill the powder and or primer. The WAA12 wads are designed for 1 1/8 oz shot. You can use them but you should either use an over shot card to keep the shot from falling out or a fiber wad under the shot to bring the shot up to level.
 
Others have given good advice, I would switch hulls or wads, switch to a wad that is a better fit, while still using recommended data from reliable source. I don't know where you got that data from but that wad or generic copy is USUALLY recommended for 1 1/8 oz., which means you come up short my friend(story of my life). If memory serves me right, i used to use Fed. 12S3 for 1 1/8oz. in Fed.plastic hulls, and Fed 12S0 for the 1 oz. in those cases...IMHO
 
Winchester wt-12 wads are also designed for a tapered base wad hull and the fed top gun have a wound paper base and a straight inside taper ! when discharged the obturation cup (end) of the wad has to seal the bore for a good gas seal and being tapered the winchester wads need to flare out alot . Also the leg section is a bit shorter than a federal wad thats what is causing your crimping problem ! You'd be best off to find a claybuster replacement wad or stay with factory federal . You will likely only get a couple of loadings with those hulls at best as the paper starts to deteriorate fairly fast !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom