Hey Johnny, love your channel. When using a star crimp, six or eight, you don't use an overshot card. The card prevents the folds from sinking into the shot and you end up with a bulged hull . The folds sink into the shot to form the crimp. Cards are only used with a roll crimp to hold the shot in. Hope this helps.

Oh Hully Night

Merry Christmas all. Just a tip...Use your load all to set wad and achieve more wad pressure. It's very important for consistent ignition. I don't understand why you're modifying factory components. More wad pressure and you would have to trim wads. I've loaded shotshells for years and have never trimmed anything. Surprised from all your reading you haven't came across the importance of consistent wad pressure and how to use that to seat you wad so your shot fits correctly.

Clicked like at 20 seconds in. SO true about pop country singers mangling songs and couldn't agree more on looking forward to 10 holiday music free months.

"...some pop country singer mangling a Christmas classic." @JRB, you've crystalized my thoughts eloquently.

I only use an overshot card on crimp loads when I use a buffer. I love your channel, keep it up!

A shot card isn't necessary on a fold crimp but it will fix a lot of issues with underfill or leaking on AA. I use a 5/8 craft punch to make cards out of primer sleeves. This size will fit inside the wad on top of the shot in a 12ga and will also work for 20ga. You have to be careful with Fiocchi hulls and overfill because they are somewhat softer than AA or Rem. You probably could have left out the cork and just put the overshot card and it would have been fine without the risk of buckling.

You should get a string of small led lights, remove the primers, drill hole glue led bulbs into different colored shells....12 gauge christmas lights

Those crimps look great to me. Wish I had pics of my first ones 35 years ago. You'd get a great laugh. They worked, took several grouse and rabbits. Good luck!

Like many others, I haven’t gone down this rabbit hole but the turkey/duck hunter in me now wants to dive in…I’ve lost count of how much money this channel has cost me. Thanks for all the content Shannon!

Don't be afraid to add cornmeal as filler to bring your load up in the hull for crimping rather than trimming. You can add it over powder, or under felt wads in shot cups.

G'day from Albany, Western Australia! I'm enjoying watching your videos and can make one solid recommendation - get yourself a reloading block. I made myself a couple from scrap wood to stand the rounds in before they're crimped. I sometimes forget to get mine out and am reminded the moment I knock over a hull and spill shot or powder everywhere. Saves much frustration.

I think your roll crimps would turn out better if you order a drill press stand for your hand drill or get yourself a cheap bench top drill press.

First, I've never seen a fold crimp shell that had an overshot wad under the crimp. the fold eliminates the need for it. Second, the Lee LoadAll should have a positive downward stop for both 3" and 2 3/4" shells, to stop from crushing the side of the shell, and regulate the length. The recipe of the load, that combines the volume of the powder, the length of the wad and the amount of compression on a cushion wad. combines to make the fold crimp work out correctly. Also, having the extra material at the bottom of the wad underneath the shot, is going to affect how the load patterns. I've never seen that done with modern components, either. I've loaded brass shells with black powder for CAS matches, using the more antiquated or traditional methods that you seem to be combining with modern hulls and wads, and it just seems odd to me. In a brass shell, you load the powder, then a card over-powder wad, and compress the powder. Then you put a cork cushion wad or wads in, to control the length of the shot column, then you place the overshot wad in, seat it, and then seal it with either waterglass (sodium silicate) or I used hot glue, because it's faster.

+1 to the opinion on christmas music. I recall, what seems like a lifetime ago, being young and over at a friend's house and he was showing me around his basement, and how his family had a pantry where they did a lot of their canning/making preserves, and his father had a dedicated area for his reloading stuff. He mostly reloaded shotgun shells, since he was an avid fowler - still is, actually, and that was about 25 years ago.

I remember when omitting a plastic wad or shot cup. The over powder wad was an important fit. They need to seal and handle the force.

Shane sometimes when I was loading I would use a piece of paper cut to fit the hull instead of an overshot card seems to make for a better crimp also I used a wood dowel rod that was the same size as the inside diameter of the wad using the press powder drop tube for seating the wads in the hull with the dowel being the correct diameter it would keep the plastic wad and felt level in the hull along with powder compressed tight evenly.

Johnny, Practice makes perfect and as far as your crimps go, that is what we are looking at, you will get a feel for your crimping and each one will be a winner. Marry Christmas dude - Peace, Dave

My personal opinion from loading 10’s of thousands of game, target & slug loads with fold crimps…..lose the overshot card. It’s not needed until you move to the Tungsten. The overshot card causes the bulging and excessive pressure required as you saw in this episode. The crimp folds have no place to go and this causes some of the issues you saw. It’s really up to the loader, but I’ve abandoned overshot cards except for roll crimp buckshot and game loads.

Love your videos. Your eye for details. You're noticing things I didn't

Glad to see you're diversifying into shotgun loads. I've always been curious and would love to get into it. Although, the bench is pretty full for rifle and pistol loadings. May get the wife to hook me up for my birthday or next Christmas. MC and Happy New Year.

Maybe you could try putting your little orange Target dot stickers on the top of the overshot cards? Or you know, eventually some custom JRB stickers for the top of the overshot cards. The practical thing would be some sort of payload data on the top but hey, the possibilities are endless lol.

Merry Christmas ! Don't be a Grinch, lol. Thank you for your videos, I recently sold our family businesses that we had for nearly 30 years and this is the first year I was able to enjoy the holidays. We were in the food business and now I am able to concentrate on Family and reloading. Long story short, your videos were very helpful to get me started in the reloading world. Thank you again for the work involved.

I’ve loaded a lot of shot shells, but using a roll crimp is going to be new to me. That 36 grain load will get your attention for sure! I loaded my turkey loads with 37.5 grains of Blue Dot..it will rattle your teeth! Use a modified choke, it will help. Take care and stay safe my friend! Merry Christmas to you and your family! God bless!🙏✝️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Merry Christmas Shannon! Thank you for all you do in making these videos!

I bought a 17mm hole punch for 16ga overshot cards.Punches a .672 size card.Enjoyed your video.😊

Put a overshot card ontop of the powder, this keeps the powder from migrating into the wad ares

This was a really good series. I had one of the Lee load alls 35 years ago and it would have been nice to have had this as a tutorial. Merry Christmas!

Your Mk 262 series, and this roll crimping alone, is going to get me into reloading. I've been looking at it for the longest of times. But I'm convinced now. Just need to set up a corner to dedicate, now. Thanks. Oh and Merry Christmas

It looks like you have done a very good job I'll bet they will shoot great 👍 👌

Merry Christmas Johnny and your doing a fine job loading those scatter gun loads I truly love setting down loading some 20ga hulls for rabbit and pheasant hunting one on my favorite loads is a full wad like your using and blu dot with a Remington primer in a 2-3/4 20ga win. And 4 or 5 magnum lead shot

Maybe you should load some without the shot card to add to the test and see if there’s any difference just a suggestion love video’s good information keep up the good work

About the music. Preach brother! Preach! Good video.

This has been as awesome series. I'm ready to see those patterns!

The brass base get expanded after it's shot. MEC makes a super sizer that saueezes the brass back to it's original size so it will chamber easily. MEC 811912 super sizer 12 gauge

Holly crap this was helpful. I have been struggling with my shotshell reloading.

Merry Christmas Shannon keep up the great Work i will never reload or load Shotshells but it is allways fun to watch your Videos and i learned many interesting Things on your Channel about Rifle Reloading

I think the overshot wad card is only used in the roll crimp shells , I'm sure someone will correct me on that but if you look in factory shells it's not there , fold crimping doesn't really need it .

Merry Christmas from the UK Shannon, keep up the good work mate

Thank you for this series. I hope it inspires folks to reload for shotgun. One of the benefits of the Lee press is getting a feel for the forces needed...with MEC you adjust it and from then on just bottom out the handle like a full hard stop on a metallic press. I think Lee makes you a better reloader in the long run. I dont usually use overshot cards with crimps, but when i do it's with a craft circle cutter on things like plastic report covers or other thin flexible stuff from the thrift store. In my mind the crimp goes down into the shot so i dont use anything hard.

I wouldn't mess with felt spacers, I go the buffer route ! And I think the felt under the shot will adversely affect your patterns !!

The overshot card under the star crimp is to help ensure a good crimp, and to ensure that small shot (such as your #9) doesn't leak out. Not absolutely necessary, but frequently desirable.

Great series. Merry Christmas

Can you buy a press stand for your hand held drill, that would make the roll crimps come out better. Might be more money than just buying a cheap drill press. Maybe a 3d printed press adapter? Doesn't need to be real strong for just roll crimp work.

Merry Christmas! You should definitely get a Lyman 525 mold and cast some slugs and make up a slug load! I've just been repurposing 1 1/8 oz field loads and using a 1 oz pin for my slug to leave some room for safety. I find the monarch shells from academy have a slightly longer shell so they give me a better roll crimp after I cut the inside star crimp out. It leaves the roll bead inside but I crimp it enough to compress the slug so it doesn't rattle around.

For trimming wads, you could 3D print a plug that slides in the wad cup and make a groove in the printed plug at the length you want. Now, when you want to trim the wad, you place the printed plug in the wad and trace around the groove you made in the 3D printed plug. You could even do something similar with trimming the hulls, except I would just make the 3D printed plug the exact length and trim the hull flush with the plug. I would use the tracing groove in the printed plug for the wads though since they are split into sections. It will be easier to trim with the support above and below the cut line to keep them from just folding over when you're trimming them.

Those are freaking expensive rounds if you count the time it takes to make em 💸💰💵 ✌🏼😎👍🏼

Merry Christmas Shannon, I am looking forward to the shooting and then the .410 development.

For my 12 ga fold crimp loads, I use a 20 ga overshot card, as it fits inside the plastic wad & lets the crimp lay flat. PS ... enjoy your reloading videos .... Merry Christmas.

Nice!! Merry Christmas!!

Merry Xmas to you and yours too!

You should use a harbor freight mini chop saw like you do with the 300 black out brass for cutting wads. Make design a jig for depth and a cylinder that goes inside wads while cutting to keep wads shape. Then when you find the depth you like you can redesign and add markings on jig for depth gauge. Then you can mass produce the wads length to want you want. Then you can sell the design or give out on thingaverse. Merry Christmas.

I never use OS cards. The call for them typically to help make nicer crimps. I just get my stack height correct. I also do not roll crimp. I load lots of target/upland loads in 410, 28, 20, & 12. I also load a lot of steel and some bismuth in the 10 gauge. Steel is VERY unforgiving!

I have loaded tens of thousands of crimped shotgun cartridges and never used an overshot card. Also most if not all crimped factory loads don't use overshot cards.

Merry Christmas Brother!

I've heard of people heating up the plastic at the end so it moulds easier to ether type of crimp.

great watch, ive been thinking about self loading 28ga they cost a fortune right now, would be interesting to see how differently they pattern if any.

Merry Christmas Johnny!!!

A child is born . . . Merry Christmas !!!

Well I think you officially talked me out of loading shotshells or at minimum putting it on hold for a while... I was thinking I was gonna be able to buy a shotshell press similar to my dillon 550 or 650 and just go to cranking out stuff like 2.75"-3" buckshot, stuff for waterfowl, and turkeys maybe some stuff for squirrels and rabbits but it looks like that's not possible with all the felt and cutting the wads. Still a great video as always keepem coming brother!!!

Never blame the press , it's all about the column height . It really doesn't take much pressure to make a fold crimp .

Merry Christmas my man.

Merry Christmas. An yes thank goodness that the Christmas music will go away for a hot minute

Merry Christmas Shannon. Same here. No christmas songs for a while :)

To paraphrase Kodak Black: Crimpin' Ain't Easy

No overshot card with the fold crimp! The petals need someplace to go!

Merry Christmas to you

I concur with the Christmas music.

Merry Christmas! I look forward to seeing the chrono and patterning results from test-firing these. Given the precision you're using with lengths, an overshot card is unnecessary IMO when applying a folded crimp (I certainly never need or use them when reloading trap loads). If you want one for extra "security", then account for the thickness of the card in your calculations.

Merry Christmas from cold windy southeastern ohio

Too cool 👍👍

Merry Christmas johnny!

Used cotton balls once to take up extra space. Total experiment but it worked. Takes up space and compressed easily... haven't done it again

Try 28 gauge, 1/4" thick cork in bottom of 12 gauge wads that have concave bottoms. Levels shot out for better patterns, adjusts shot column height, and protects wad base from shot puncture during ignition.

I'll be curious to see how they pattern. Do you have some big cardboard to check your patterns on each? Back in the day, we never used over shot cards... they've come into vogue with roll crimps. I think you need to tackle buckshot loads next. Modern loads use media to fill the spaces between pellets... should be a real challenge.

Merry Christmas from indiana!!

Great job on this series, Shannon- don’t put too much time on getting perfect crimps, they don’t do anything to performance. The crimp only needs to keep the shot from spilling out, and nothing else. Also, I don’t think the overshot card is needed for your fold crimps, if you don’t have the correct stack height, you would probably be better off just getting a different wad.

What if you didn't use the undershot spacers?? Do you have to use them I wanna get into reloading shotshells also

I got a 69 caliber round ball mold and made them for 12ga they work well.

Christmas night here Shannon. 8°F here tonight. Loads look OK. Lot other guys in here are giving out some good info. Might run over ask some guys on the GA shooting connection live on Friday about shotgun loading @cw dose good bit. Also Hit up discord lot guys their load shotgun

Man..... hope you dont blow your face off, from what i have seen in my manuals, blue dot runs between 29.5 to 36.0 pending what hull and wad are being used. I think i would have started with a lower powder charge and shot it across the chronograph before going to that high of a charge, looking for any hint of pressure signs along the way. Signs like primer flow around the firing pin or on some shotguns, the brass will flow into the extractor slot on the bolt face, with cheddite hulls you are probably going to be on the edge of being over pressured, so be careful and keep your hands and fingers away from the barrel when shooting these , and yet to keep the slide action from opening up too soon so the pressure doesn't burst the sidewall of the hull out. You are dealing with a magnum load, so be careful and wear safety glasses, ear protection and watch out for barrel bulge while shooting these loads. MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and your family members.

Have a merry my dude.

Why not use a filler mixed with the shot to fine adjust height? Federal uses small plastic beads in their flight control wads, and black powder shot shooters use course meal and find that it improves their pattern.

I avoid the worst of the “Christmas” music by avoiding retail areas. I love Christmas music, just not the latest pop mangling of Christmas classics. A recent long drive was a perfect time to listen to Handel’s Messiah in its full length.

Merry Christmas!

Here's my two cents worth on why so many people use an overshot card. Of the 500 I did on the MEC Sizemaster, after about 30 minutes, the crimp started unfolding. I had to resettle the shot and re crimp. Maybe I shouldn't try reloading with a 6 or 8 point crimp and just do a roll?

Would be cool to see some brass shot shell reloading

Merry Crimp-Mas

Is the felt cushion neccessary that is inside the cup below the shots/pellets(?)... if so, what would happen if the felt cushion wasn't there when fired?

Merry Christmas! 🎄 😂😂

Why is this guy obsessing about adding fiber wads inside the plastic wad and under the shot? Put in the powder, install the plastic wad, pour in the shot, if the wad is too tall just trim it, then drop your bingo chip on the top of the shot and roll crimp it and if the total length of the hull is a little shore, SO WHAT? If he's fold crimping, then cut the excess off the top of the hull, like he just did earlier in the video because the fold crimping tool will reach down to a slightly shorter hull.

So ..I am a little confused here because the point of a 3" vs a 2 3/4" is payload delivery. What is the point of building the same shell in both? P.S love your channel, keep up the great work

Mate.... I really do hope it doesn't take that long to crimp..... That is a lot of downtime.....

Merry Christmas!!!!

👍⛄🎄

😀😁🤔😄👍‼️

Please make video about Gaep crimp finisher BN 2

I’ve loaded a lot of shotgun shells and never have used a over shot card

How does your loaded length compare to a factory your chambers like great job be blessed. Peace

Not to be a Dick but it sounds like you need a reloading class on shot shells Chief! I know I need it.