Roll crimp without a drill press

[Full strut]

Is it possible to use a BPI roll crimper without the use of a drill press?

[SCDieselDawg]

A cordless drill should work just as good.

[deadbuck]

full strut, check your pm

[Tommythreetoes]

I've been using a hand drill with the precision reloading crimp.  It does great.  It took me a little practice, but they are acceptable.  Sounds like a press makes it even easier to make them pretty.

[Full strut]

Thanks for the replies fellas. It does make sense, what you said; if you're going to spend the money to reload to just get a cheap drill press. I will look into them. Just trying to gather info on how much it will cost me to start loading tss 20 ga shells

[Tommythreetoes]

I started this year, so I feel your pain.  If you're looking to save, then I personally would say skip it, and buy one later.  I kind of did the same thing.  Just started with TSS this year, and decided to stop the spending and not buy a press.  I'm sure that a press makes it easier and makes them look better, but a hand drill will do the job just fine too.  Here is a crimp with a hand drill.  I'm a rookie.  It will shoot.  It already did.

[Full strut]

Pm sent threetoes

[Tommythreetoes]

Pretty straight forward for me.  I know some use a lubricant on the hull before crimping.  I haven't seen the need to do that yet.  I make sure that there is 1/4" left on top of the shot card.  Then I set the hull onto a flat surface (I cut a small hole in a block so that the primer is not being pushed on while crimping.  Probably not necessary, but that's me).  I set the crimp on the hull and run my drill at about half speed for about 3-4 seconds.  I then push down (not super hard, just steady pressure) until i feel like the crimp is nice and tight on the card (usually only takes me a few seconds or so).  I check it for tightness (no shot rattling around) and to see how level the crimp is.  If it needs adjusted, then I spin the die on it a couple seconds and adjust as necessary.  Not sure if that's the "right" way to do it or not, but it has worked for me so far.  I'm a rookie loader.  Maybe some of the guys with more experience could better describe that.  Trial and error.  I first loaded a hull with bb's only, and would roll one, cut it open, cut the end level again, and try again for practice.

[Hookinembig]

Yes you can. Its pretty easy to do either way just easier to keep everything lined up with a drill press. As threetoes has demonstrated you can make some great looking crimps with a hand drill. His look better than most of mine done with the drill press. But they all still shoot the same regardless of how pretty or unpretty they are.

[Sand Man]

If a drill press is $70 for a cheap one, why not buy a use MEC Jr and crimp them?  I think I paid $40ish for my MEC then a brass Super Crown Crimper from Ballistic Products to start crimp and then reloaders for crimp and final crimp.

[deadbuck]

If a drill press is $70 for a cheap one, why not buy a use MEC Jr and crimp them?  I think I paid $40ish for my MEC then a brass Super Crown Crimper from Ballistic Products to start crimp and then reloaders for crimp and final crimp.

Most of the TSS loads do not have enough hull remaining to fold crimp. The overshot card concept is designed to let you get away with putting a little extra component in a shell vs. a fold crimp.

[Sand Man]

If a drill press is $70 for a cheap one, why not buy a use MEC Jr and crimp them?  I think I paid $40ish for my MEC then a brass Super Crown Crimper from Ballistic Products to start crimp and then reloaders for crimp and final crimp.

Most of the TSS loads do not have enough hull remaining to fold crimp. The overshot card concept is designed to let you get away with putting a little extra component in a shell vs. a fold crimp.

Interesting.  I've loaded 400-500 TSS loads and all have been fold crimped!

[gophert]

I've been roll crimping with a dewalt cordless drill for 5 years.  They all go boom!!!!!