Fiocchi 3" 410 Hull HELP!

I usually load Super X Win 3" 410 or Remington hulls I find at the range. Lately, things have been dry. I broke down and ordered some Fiocchi 3" 410 hulls. Funny thing. I can't find any data for IMR-4227, 2400, or IMR-4198(kinda didn't expect to). I'm wanting to load some general purpose(*mixed shot) shells. I usually use felt wads, but this time I decided to try a stump wad. I thought about using old 3" Rem(both hulls seem to be spacious) data reduced by 10% but I am not comfortable enough to experiment. Any help would be appreciated.

* The mixed shot was free.

I did notice if I skive the hulls, heat them, and crimp start them, then let them set up over night, they crimp pretty good when I load them, but if I skip any of those steps they will not crimp well at all. There is something to be said for used once fired hulls.

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I don't know about Fiocchi hulls but I am having trouble getting good crimps on both 2 1/2 and 3 inch 410 shells. I have never skived my hulls in 12 and had no need too. But I think I am going to have to order a skiver for the 410 and start warming up the mouth of the hull before crimping. Evidently the 410 is different animal when it comes to reloading them. I never had day 1 problems loading for the 12 but now I am in a learning curve situation with the 410. I now know why more people buy their 410 ammo instead of reloading it. james

Use one of the brass crimp starters from Ballistic Products for new cases. The sharp edges on this starter make much better defined creases on the case.

I went to roll crimping. Even if you can find 410 ammo around here the price is ridiculous !

I tried reloading some pretty Fiocchi 12 ga hulls that I found after a cas match and got terrible crimps. May have worked better with a role crimp. They had very thin walls, little compression and poor ignition so after trying a few I tore down the rest that I had loaded. I don’t have any trouble reloading WW AA hulls.

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Originally Posted by TNsailorman

I don't know about Fiocchi hulls but I am having trouble getting good crimps on both 2 1/2 and 3 inch 410 shells. I have never skived my hulls in 12 and had no need too. But I think I am going to have to order a skiver for the 410 and start warming up the mouth of the hull before crimping. Evidently the 410 is different animal when it comes to reloading them. I never had day 1 problems loading for the 12 but now I am in a learning curve situation with the 410. I now know why more people buy their 410 ammo instead of reloading it. james

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I use a triangular file chucked up in a hand drill. It seems to work well, and I already had it.

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watch your primer seating depth too..some of the older factory stuff were seated deeply and my old winchester single had trouble striking deep enough on half dozen rounds per box..no issue in another gun.
to be completely honest when it comes to .410 reloading I have two recipes and stick to them reguardless of the hull being used..a half oz for the 2 1/2" and a 3/4oz for 3" hulls...to be sure some of the 3" hulls are smaller so get a few shot pellets removed but otherwise the same load for all...if having trouble crimping try adding a overshot card...bit of cardboard cut out with sissors works...it will allow you to get away with a pretty bad crimp and break open guns dont care.
no help on machine advice sorry ,I still use old whackamole loader.

oh and one more thing...a few larger shot will help get your shot colume height up easily if its too low in case,we always use mixed shot sizes in wee gun as it seems to work nicely for us

I have been reloading for 53 years, the 410 is the most aggravating thing I have ever messed with. I still like tinkering around with the pesky little thing. If you are already bald headed it will help. I mostly use Ballistic Products hulls, Cheddite I think. The above mentioned brass crimp starter is a help, especially with new hulls. I heat the hulls and the crimp chamber with a hair dryer, not hot just good and warm. I punch out some cardboard over shot wads, they help keep the hull square. Try to keep the shot column consistent. Take your time and give things time to form properly. I still mess a one up occasionally. The 410 is a useful thing, mild rat shot to full bore round balls.

One thing that became immediately apparent. With 410's, there is no crush section on the wads, which means your shot column height must be spot on, to get a proper crimp, or you will have a dished crimp, or bulged cases.

I do have the Ballistic Products crimp starter. It does make initial crimping much better. Works great on 28 gauge, as well as the 410's.

I have found that 2400 powder burns too hot, and weakens the walls of the hull in the powder area. Plenty of bulged cases there, after one or two loadings. 296, H110, and 4227 tend to work better for me, for hull longevity.

I forgot about my Lyman #1 and #3 manuals. I ended up using the starting charge for a 5/8oz load for a 3" Federal shell. It actually shot pretty good. Thanks again.

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awesome you got a result that worked.

Boy do I agree! Out of all the things I reload for, rifle, pistol, shotgun, phazor, lite saber, canon, neutron bomb, Death Star, whatever! The old 67 1/2 gauge( or .410 bore if you prefer) has to be the most aggravating! I’ve spent more time fiddling around with my Mec 600 Jr in .410 bore trying to get the crimp just close enough than you can imagine! And I’m no perfectionist when it comes to shotshell crimps lol! Don’t even get me started on has soon the hulls get crispy. When I first started loading for the .410 I figured it had to be me! It couldn’t possibly be this much of a pain! But noooooo! It seems just about every one I communicate with that loads for the 410 has or has had similar issues to me! I guess it’s kind of good, at least I know I’m not going crazy. Well take that back. Anyone that knows me has figured out long ago that I might just be a bubble a two off plum lol!