Maybe I will feel better after I get this off my chest. Ballistic Products has just ticked off a good customer. For a couple of weeks I have been trying to get setup to load for the 32 gauge. Presses aren't available but a couple of resourceful people have helped me find a way around that. Hulls and wads are readily available as are overshot cards. All that is missing is a way to assemble shells. After searching high and low for a roll crimp tool I called Ballistic Products to see where their load data came from. They have three pressure tested 32 gauge loads so I was wondering how those loads were assembled. I was told that a 28 gauge crimp tool is what I needed. At their recommendation I ordered a roll crimp tool and overshot cards plus a 28 gauge wad guide fingers that I need for the .410 press I am converting. The crimp tool doesn't work. Oh, it rolls 28 gauge hulls just fine. I sacrificed a few to get the height right on the drill press and each time after I had ruined a couple of 32 gauge hulls I'd roll a couple more 28 gauge hulls just to make sure the issue wasn't something else. I had no problem with the 28 gauge hulls from the first hull I tried. I ended up wasting some good once fired 28 gauge hulls and some new primed 32 gauge hulls. I was never able to get a crimp on one 32 gauge shell. With the slightly larger crimp tool the hull wasn't being forced to roll in so some rolled inward, some rolled outward, and some just bucked. Because the pin inside the crimp tool runs at an angle (and the package recommends counter clockwise for best results) I ran the drill in both directions. That made no difference at all. Before giving up I tried starting the rollover by hand a couple of times. I did this by holding the crimp tool in my hand and inserting a hull at an angle so it only contacted the tool where the pin is. I slowly turned the hull causing the lip to fold inward slightly. When I then tried to crimp them the results were the same as with the other hulls. I believe that happened because even though I had the lip folded inward the part of the crimp tool that goes inside the hull is wide enough that it flared the hull back out before the hull contacted the top of the dome where it starts to roll the hull over.
So, am I ticked because the tool won't work? No, I'm ticked because I didn't think it would but their insistence that it would has cost me enough that I feel like I have a right to be. They gave me an authorization number and told me I can send the roll crimp tool back. That's good since it just got here a few hours ago. However, because five overshot cards have been used I am eating an $8 bag of those. On top of that I paid $8.99 shipping to get it here, will pay $5 to get the tool back to them, and as per their policy there is a 15% restocking fee ($4.50) on returned merchandise. That means when all is said and done I will have spent $28 - $29 and all I will have to show for it is a $2 wad guide fingers and a bag of overshot cards that I will never use. Not bad considering I was only calling them to find out where they got the 32 gauge roll crimp tool they used for the loads they pressure tested, or if they were loaded by someone else.
Now without any other ideas for roll crimp tools I will go with folded star crimps. That means I need a 28 gauge cam crimp punch for the final crimp station. All I have to do is turn it down to fit the smaller 32 gauge shells and put it in a .410 cam crimp assembly that has been enlarged. That is what I was going to do before the guy at BP told me the 28 gauge crimp tool is what I needed. Instead of buying only the cam crimp and the wad guide fingers and paying $4 shipping from MEC the first time I can now pay the same shipping just to get the cam crimp punch. Just more to add the $28 wad guide fingers I now own.
I have to tell you, talking about it isn't making me feel better like I had hoped it would. I have been getting my hulls, wads, and overshot cards from BP for a while for loading low pressure short 16 and 20 gauge shells. At this moment I'm mad enough I'd like to be done with them but they have what I need so they have me between a rock and a hard place. I'm frustrated.
Sorry to have to complain but I've seen this type of post before so I know I'm not the first. Please be gentle.
Skip
