OK, here are my pics.
If you look at my modded 909 pics and compare them to the stock OP pics you can see that my jaws now close more tightly before the cutters touch. I can now crimp anything just fine. I did test crimps when first performing the mod by using the super cheap red 22 gauge harbor freight insulated connectors (with 24 gauge wire in them for an extra test) and they all crimped tightly and held the wire just fine. Anyone that has a set of the harbor freight crimps knows they are some of the thinnest and flimsiest crimp connectors you can possibly buy, so if a crimper works with them it will also work with any other brand's thicker crimp barrels. The last picture with the cream colored background is a repost of one of the OP's stock crimper pics so you can see the difference in how far mine now close compared to stock. As you can see it didn't take much, but the difference is noticeable when comparing the gap visually.
As long as you only grind back the flat anvil side of the cutters it is pretty easy to make it so that no light gets between the cutting surfaces when finished even though you are only doing it by hand. You can also do this mod with a fine tooth flat file instead of a Dremel with a fine abrasive wheel, but it will take longer. You can see by looking at the last two pictures of my crimpers that the beveled edge on only one side of the cutter end is bright steel instead of dark from the forging and stock dip coating like the top edge. The bright side with the flat anvil cutting edge is the only side I did any grinding work on.
Another mod that I also did to the 909 cutters (that you can see in my pictures) is a pin to prevent the handles from opening up too far. Stock, the bottom handle would drop away from the palm of my hand further than I could reach with my fingers to close it back up (when crimping one-handed), so I used a drill press and drilled a hole in a spot that allowed the handles to open up as much as necessary for the largest diameter crimp the crimper itself could handle. Then I just pounded a finishing nail into the hole I drilled and cut off both ends. It took about 10 minutes total to make the stop pin mod. That mod was one of the best mods I have ever done to a hand tool from a "bang for the buck" perspective. It greatly increased the user friendliness of the tool.
I know you and another member (that has since been banned) were very fond of them. I have a pair of Ideal 420 pliers that are awesome, so I have faith in their products.
I tossed the crimpers.
