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Skeet_Man

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Anyone ever come up with a good method to ensure that the pre-crimp aligns correctly with the existing folds on the AAHS 28ga?

I've read about the tip of marking the fold lines on the start crimp, and hand aligning it with the shell, which is what I've been doing for the past year, but thats a HUGE pain in the butt, and consequently means it takes me at least 50% more time to reload 28ga than anything else. I usually only have to do it on once fireds (maybe twice fireds) then after that i don't have to worry about it, but I would still like to come up with a better method.

I'm using a MEC 9000. Are any of the Hornady guys having a better luck with the Hornady crimp starter? I can adapt one to work on the MEC if necessary (which I might try anyways since i have the parts here to do it, just curious).
 
I have a ton of the old CF & HS hulls in 28 ga. and find that if you don't align either one by hand you are begging trouble. This applies to both Hornady & MEC as I have both. If you come up with a solution to the problem please let me know as like you I find it a HUGE pain in the butt!
 
fase3 said:
I have a ton of the old CF & HS hulls in 28 ga. and find that if you don't align either one by hand you are begging trouble. This applies to both Hornady & MEC as I have both. If you come up with a solution to the problem please let me know as like you I find it a HUGE pain in the butt!
Chris, In my thoughts, that issue is not that common and it really is only cosmetics. The shell will function well anyway. After the hulls get a bit of age, the precrimper seems to pick up better. Insure that your spindex is free spinning also. Any drag on the turning will increase the incidence of the problem.

BTW, did my answer to your other problem with the final crimper die location?
turn out to be correct. If not, what did you find?
 
I have yet to lay my hands on a PW that I can't tune in less than 20min, even when the op jacked it all out of Wack!!!!!!

So Please, no blaming the reloading for your own lack of experience on the machine to tune it correctly. :lol:
 
I don't seem to have the problem on my 28-ga Hornady 366...unless I don't keep the crimp starter die socket freed up and well lubricated. As long as I periodically clean and lube the rotating joint area, it works fine. I use a hypodermic needle (with blunted tip) to inject a good CLP into the socket. Lately, I have been using Boeshield T9 CLP and it works very well. Whether going to a Hornady crimp starter would help solve the problem, I can't say.
 
I had that problem with one of my 366's - inconsistent crimp. A shot BB had fallen into the cavity where the nut that holds the crimp starter. The BB sometimes prevented the pre-crimp to rotate into position and line-up with previous crimp lines. When it did the crimp was messed up. Got the BB out of there and its been perfect since.
 
I have that problem only ocasionally on my MEC Sizemaster and much more so with STS hulls than with AAHS. I go ahead and shoot them and then the problem seems to go away
 
Skeet_Man said:
I've read about the tip of marking the fold lines on the start crimp, and hand aligning it with the shell, which is what I've been doing for the past year, but thats a HUGE pain in the butt, and consequently means it takes me at least 50% more time to reload 28ga than anything else.
I've learned the best tip is to just ignore it a load the shells. I spent about a year turning hulls as well and my life got so much better when I stopped. The shells shoot just fine and I've not noticed a decline in hull life just because the crimp gets mangled.
 
DEG said:
Skeet_Man said:
I've read about the tip of marking the fold lines on the start crimp, and hand aligning it with the shell, which is what I've been doing for the past year, but thats a HUGE pain in the butt, and consequently means it takes me at least 50% more time to reload 28ga than anything else.
I've learned the best tip is to just ignore it a load the shells. I spent about a year turning hulls as well and my life got so much better when I stopped. The shells shoot just fine and I've not noticed a decline in hull life just because the crimp gets mangled.
I don't even worry about it with AA 28 hulls...I have 40 gallons of them and they reload forever. But I do align the AA 410's, but I run them until they just burn up. By hand turning to the marks on the crimp starter, I get a decent crimp even with real crispy hulls. Plus it slows me down and that is a good thing for me when loading 410.
 
I guess I haven't been forced into aligning the hulls to get a decent crimp on my Grabber. (which i"m using until I can find a 28 gs 366 that I can afford!) One thing that really helped the overall loading of the AA HS hulls was switching to a Federal 28S1 wad. I was loading the Fed premium's and thought I'd try their wad in the AA and they work better than the red Cb WAA28HS or the Win WAA HS.
The precrimp on the Grabber spins more freely than the one on my 12 ga 366 so I cant see any improvement there - the shells come looking good and seem to shoot just fine.
 
Skeetman- if you want to try another 9000g, I'd be happy to trade you mine for your PW.

I've not had a problem with this on any of my 28ga MECs (a 600jr, a sizemaster, and a 9000g). Have you replaced the crimp starter? Maybe the piece itself is bad?
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
The PW is lone gone. Its not a bad part, its been discussed on here several times in the past about the trouble w/ the AAHS once fireds with very little "memory" in the crimp.

CW- Just ordered a bag of the Red Dusters and the Federal 28S1s to try. I've been less than excited about the claybuster wads, and the AAHS factory wads work better, but are still just "OK", and are incredibly expensive...
 
Skeet_Man said:
Anyone ever come up with a good method to ensure that the pre-crimp aligns correctly with the existing folds on the AAHS 28ga?

I've read about the tip of marking the fold lines on the start crimp, and hand aligning it with the shell, which is what I've been doing for the past year, but thats a HUGE pain in the butt, and consequently means it takes me at least 50% more time to reload 28ga than anything else. I usually only have to do it on once fireds (maybe twice fireds) then after that i don't have to worry about it, but I would still like to come up with a better method.

I'm using a MEC 9000. Are any of the Hornady guys having a better luck with the Hornady crimp starter? I can adapt one to work on the MEC if necessary (which I might try anyways since i have the parts here to do it, just curious).
Skeet_Man, I don't know if my experience will help you (but, posting it here is surely intended to do so!); however; I too was pulling my hair out with inconsistent (at best) crimps on 28ga straight-walled hulls. After an interminable period of pulling my own hair out, I spent countless other hours closely watching what was going on, with each downstroke at that station, on my MEC Jr (I have no firsthand experience with any other presses). Eventually, really close inspection of the interior of the spindex crimp starter and, more specifically, the three raised ridges (the actual "starters") within it, led me to try an experiement. I used a Dremel tool to remove the end of each raised ridge from the opening of the crimp starter , about 3/16" up and then slightly taper the remaining 1/16-1/8." Not exactly precise work at this point but, again, there was hair everywhere in the shop :? Despite the relatively low cost of the part in question, it was with no mean amount of trepidation that I returned the now modified crimp starer to it's post. Imagine my surprise when not only my pre-crimps but, most gloriously of all, my final crimps started rolling off consistent and without any more "mangling"!!! I was / am so pleased (this was all well over a year ago) it took me a while for my head to clear enough to try the same experiment with some of my infamously short-reloading-lived Rem STS 28ga hulls. Not near as much perfection here as with the straight-walled hulls but, enough improvement with Rem STS 28ga hulls which had been reloaded 4 and 5 times that I am a believer. I do not load anything other than 12ga and 28ga and I have never had to fiddle with the pre-crimps on anything other the 28ga. I now have several spindex pre-crimps at hand, with varying amounts (or none) of the 3 ridges "backed off" as described earlier and my pre-crimp problems are largely behind me. Intersting note: I have not (yet, anyway :shock: ) had any problems with pre-crimps on any of my Win HS 28 hulls. But, of course, I separate them according to length ('short' vs 'long') as Curly has described in other related threads. Best o' success!
 
That is very interesting. I have some idea of what you did with dremel, but I am not entirely clear on it. How about posting a photo or two of you modified crimp starter? A picture would help alot.
 
casonet, why yes, I am more than 'willing' (and, thank gosh for the samaritan who finally posted step-by-step instructions on posting photos, I no longer have any 'ability' excuse). Now, alls I need do is find the time, time, time . . . sigh . . . I have been jawing about photo'ing the numerous surplus firearms I need to sell so, yes, as soon as I am home for more than a break between shifts at work . . . (I shouldn't grump. Too many friends and family members barely hanging onto their jobs, these days. forgive me)
 
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