Loading brass shotshells?

[awp101]

Who here has done it? What kind of loading tools did you need or make to do it?

Thanks!

[Griff]

RCBS Cowboy Brass Shotshell Dies. Used a 11 ga over powder card, 11 guage felt cushion, and an 11 ga over shot card. My cases are Remington DU cases and were (most still are) Berdan primed), so I drilled a new flash hole and used large rifle primer pocket reamer. 60 grains by volume of KIK BP, and they'll knock yer socks off!

Ultimate "cool" factor!

[adirondakjack]

If'n you use BP or subs, all you need is some way to decap and prime em, and a simple wad seater.

RCBS sells a 12GA shell holder (call them, it is not in the catalog) for $20 that works fine. To decap, I use a dowel drilled down through the middle and slip fitted with a decapping pin meant for a LEE universal decapping die (like $2) Rubber bands wrapped around the ends of the pin keep it from falling out of the dowel. The dowel acts as a guide to easily get the pin in the flash hole of the shell. The shell is placed on a piece of 2X4 (usually in my lap) which has a 1/2" hole in it drilled 3/4 through to catch dead primers. Stick the decapper in the shell and give it a whack with an 8 oz. hammer.
Priming using a single stage press and the RCBS shell plate is duck soup. Beyond that, I use a simple dowel "pusher" onto which I attached a 1.5" wooden ball handle (craft shop, $1) to seat wads tight on the powder, and a Lee adjustable powder (or shot) scoop to ladle in the important stuff.

Oh, I made a shell tray by drilling holes straight through a 2X6 and gluing a 1/4" ply backer on afterward. Saves you from spilled shot or powder as shells won't fall over. Enough holes for a box of shells.

Now here's the most important part. GLUE IN overshot cards using PROBOND, TITEBOND, or other yellow carpenters glue. Forget bout waterglass unless shot falling all over is your idea of fun. it fails easily. The yellow carpenters glue is easy to use (a dollop on top the card, swish around with a Q tip, let stand, yer done) is water resistant and will not fail. It leaves almost zero residue when fired, so no need to scrape it out. A $5 bottle will last years.

[Ysabel Kid]

our very own Perry Owen has a wondrful video on this!

[perry owens]

If you are loading with black powder the above posts have it covered. Since I posted my YouTube video I have switched to using this hot melt glue gun for sealing.
It comes with three nozzles and the longest reaches down into the shell to apply the bead.
If you want the cool factor without the mess of BP it is possible to load brass shells with smokeless. The trick is to hold everything back until the pressure develops. I converted some berdan primed cases to 209 shotgun primers for a guy who wanted to try this and this is his working load:
Note: 10 gauge wads are used throughout for a tighter fit.
26 grains Vectan A1 powder
stack of 3 1/8inch nitro cards, pressed in hard
one half inch fibre wad
one 1mm card wad as a shot bed
1 1/8 oz of shot
one 1.5mm overshot card, sealed with Unibond flexible adhesive.
He reports consistent patterns with minimal fouling.
I have not tried this load and am not recommending it - merely passing on reported information.
Perry Owens

[mad mucus]

Smokeless or black powder?

[jdad]

I know it doesn't do you much good now , but I had this Ideal "Shot Shell Closer" up until about 3 months ago when I put it on Ebay. I figured it was worth $40 max and it ended closing over $250. I've seen them recently, at gun shows, in the $35-$60 range. They were designed to put the roll crimp, on paper shells, but put a dimple crimp, on brass shells.

[Shrapnel]

You can mess around with the fragile old shotgun shells, or bite the bullet once and get these machined, solid brass shells that make the whole process easy. These shells have a machined primer pocket to accommodate 209 shotgun primers. I load them on a Mec 600 Jr. press and they are easy to load.

I use a regular shot cup over a load of smokeless powder, pour in the shot and cover with a 12 gauge "over the shot" card, then finish with a squeeze of clear silicone to seal. The same can be done with Black Powder, but use 12 gauge fiber wads instead of plastic shot cups. The shot won't spill out and the shells are real easy to reload...

[Bill in Oregon]

Andrew: Go the Circle Fly Web site for loading the Mag Tech shells with BP. You'll need oversize wads for a good seal, as the Mag Techs are thin. Rocky Mountain Cartridge Company also makes both turned brass shells and a simple loading kit. I load my Mag Techs using just nails, hammer and dowels. I have been sealing with Duco Cement, but have been told the sodium silicate ("waterglass") works better and is more traditional.

[KCSO]

You don't need dies. I have an original Bridgport kit that my grandfather used and it is a primer punch a wad funnel a seating punch and some water glass in a jar. I don't use water glass I use Dapp. The box also had a wad punch in 11 gauge for the thinner brass shells. A powder scoop and you are good to go. Roll crimping the brass shells just wears them out. I have a couple brass shells that Gramps used from 1920 to 1950.

[Nath]

Gamekeeper sent me a box of 25 brass hulls the gent.

I made my own wad/card punch at work and stamp 11g cards. A stack of them on powder and then a thin cushion wad plus a card again.

I use some of the Mrs's nail varnish to glue the OS card in, seems to work.

These cases use pistol primers, rifle protrude a little!





Nath.

[Old Ironsights]

That's the next trick for my old 16ga drilling. No more Plastic, just Brass.

[Blaine]

When I was 18 or so, and shot skeet with a SxS Stevens 16, I got a Lee Loader and would load a couple boxes a week. When the crimp end of the shell wore out, I trimmed it down, use a proper fitting wad over the PowerPiston wad/cup and put a little Elmers Glue on top to hold it in. Man, they gave me grief at the skeet club, but I was shooting pretty good after awhile, and they couldn't say much. I was also making some hunting loads by putting as much #4 in the shell, the cardboard wad was clear at the end, and I'd scotch tape the wad over the shot I suspect I shot everything out of a 16 ga shell that could possibly be shot.....

[Rimfire McNutjob]

There was a good article on this in a recent Handloader. I found the difference between balloon head and solid head interesting.

[awp101]

Thanks guys! OK, now for the "rest of the story"...

While reading up on the Swede m96 I picked up last week, I found info on the Swede Rolling Blocks and a link to an outfit that sells not only the 12.7x42 (IIRC) but also the 8x56RD and shotguns at reasonable (to me at least) prices.

I got to thinking about what kind of projects they could be used for and then the idea of a 12 or 16ga rolling block suddenly seemed like something that could be a real hoot. Of course being 120+ years old, I'd only feel comfortable using BP in them and if I'm going that far, might as well use brass hulls!

Right now sanity and my wallet are checking back in and the other projects in the safe are threatening to mutiny if I bring one more project in without finishing at least one and preferably two current projects.

At least now I have some ideas and can be on the lookout for some new tools and toys for the next few shows.

[M. M. Wright]

I bought my Mag Tech shells from Cabelas several years ago. They use large pistol primers. I made a de-capper from a piece of steel that loosly clears the inside of the case and put a de-capping pin in the end of it. I put a spot face on a piece of aluminum plate and drilled a clearance hole in the middle to let the spent primer fall through. Made another short bar that is just longer than the shell and use it under an arbor press to re-prime. The rest of the loading process can be done with a wooden dowel. I called Circle-Fly and they knew which wads to send for the Mag Tech shells.

I had been using $4.00 each, shells made from solid brass bar stock but the Mag Techs I bought for less than $12 for a box of 25. Probably more now but still a cheap way to go.