I have a problem with my finished roll crimp. It is almost always crushed to the outside of the hull on one side. It fits the chambers of my guns okay and doesn't affect the pattern but I'd like to make it better. I use a early 1900's hand crimp and I've tried all different techniques for crimping from, using light pressure, light to heavy pressure, heavy pressure, etc. I've checked the head of the tool and it seems fine. I have a couple of these tools and they all do the same.

I've used all types of hulls from Winchester, Remington, Federal, Fiocchi, and others. Some have low wall brass and some are high wall.
Hulls are 3" cut to 2.5" and the lip shaved a bit to thin the wall so the roll forms better. I use BP then a lubed fiber wad, a shot cup, shot and over shot card.

Just not sure what I'm doing wrong.


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THE WAD IS TOO HIGH AND NOT ENOUGH SPACE FOR THE ROLL CRIMP INTO THE CASE
and paper cases work a lot better than plastic cut some off those fingers and try that again

I thought that may have been some fo the problem. However with different hulls the length of the remaining hull from top of wad to lip of hull varies and doesn't seem to make a difference. But a good suggestion. How much hull should remain over the top of the wad?

It's hard to tell from the photos but Try giving the crimp some support: I use pop corn on top of the shot(hold the butter and the salt!) and it works fine for my loads--when there is TOO MUCH space. Gil

At least a quarter of an inch above the load and wad fingers. It appears that the wad maybe interfering with the crimp. Skived hulls can also give problems roll crimping. Are you using a drill press or hand drill. I've found that an old hand cranked crimper gives me the best crimp. Some folks lightly lube the outer hull; others like to have a warm tool head. The crimp is formed due to the friction heat. It has to be Goldilocks right. Gil

I get nice crimps with old hand cranked crimpers in both 10 and 12. A very light coat of oil on the tool head helps.

Perhaps not clear in my first post. I am using an early 1900's hand crimp tool. On some hulls, especially straight walled hulls, the wad and shot cup sit deeper but I don't think I have 1/4 inch clearance from the top of the shot card to lip of hull.

Vintage RTO tools were designed for use on paper case hulls, and some of them make a better finish on paper than plastic.

Many do work satisfactorily on plastic hulls but better results are achieved with hulls which have a smooth and Round case mouth and edge. Your pictures indicate the pre-rolled case mouth to be rough and also with an outer flare and not truly round - this will tend to produce an irregular rto. With practice you acquire a "feel" for applying pressure to the shell as you crank the handle but this becomes difficult to sense if using poor condition case mouths. As pressure is applied during the roll procedure, the out of round segment of mouth edge often rolls outwards instead of inwards.

Also the finished case looks to have insufficient depth of turnover. I would go for 1/4 -9/32" free tube above the overshot card to achieve a goood, firm turnover.
Check the condition of the pins in the RTO head, also that there is no undue "wobble" of the rotating head (many of these old tools have had a lot of wear). Off-axial rotation will contribute to forming an irregular finish.
Hulls with a thin skived case mouth eg new Cheddites can make it more difficult to achieve a good and firm RTO finish most notably if there are slight variations in stack height of the load.
Invest in a good case trimmer or make one....see Creative Reloading Solutions website.

A smear of vaseline round the outside mouth wall of plastic cases or a rub with beeswax on paper case hulls will help you.

The vaseline seems like it would attract dirt and grime becoming a major problem in the crimp tool and in your pocket afterwards. Wondering if a dry silicone lube would work directly on the crimp tool?

Be sure you warm up your roll crimper, I load 25 at a time and put them in a shell block and then crimp so the crimper doesn't cool between shells. Run your roll crimper over the shell for a smidge(it's not locked in stone your get the feel) before you put pressure on to roll in your crimp. I spray a little puddle of WD-40 on the drillpress table and dip my fingertip in it and wipe it on the inside edge of the crimper maybe once every ten shells, again you'll learn when it is needed, you don't use enough to muck up the shell. Things should roll easily, no need to reef on the handle. I'm using a BP single pin roll crimper in 12 and 16ga.

The far right shell I held too long and it started to shmeer the top edge.



You can tell by my crimps how much extra I leave for the crimp, around a 1/4" above the overshot disc.

I use Ivory bar soap on mine although I am sure any bar soap would work. Just hold the bar against the crimper and give it a spin. Good for a half a dozen rounds. Lubricates well for plastic or paper hulls. Doesn't attract dirt or damage the hull or gun. WBLDon