Loading tool for BP Shot Shells

Rick (Buckshot) just finished modifying a Lyman Straightline Hand Tool for me. It was desinged for loading paper shot shells and I had him do some modifications that make it better suited for loading brass shotshells and BP. This tool is the Bee's Knees. I have a few photos I can attach but will have to wait for a complete description and photo series. This is one of those ideas I had that really worked out. I use only BP shells for upland game now and none of my presses were really suited for it. I had a Lee hand tool but after fireing my cases had expanded too much to fit in the tool without full-length sizing. That strains the brass unneccessarily and adds a step to the process. So, I had him ream out an existing tool to take my cases as fired in my chamber. He also made two new primer and deprimer rods for the system that fit the large pistol primers these cases use. It was excellent work, well designed and executed. I can't speak enough good about his ability on the lathe.

Here's a photo of the capper/decapper press

I used to hunt with a muzzle loader Greener double. Great fun. You DID have to be agile enough to jump to the side after firing in order to see the rabbit or bird. Later, I also got into black powder brass shells. You can actually do very good work with a black powder shotgun (to really have some fun watching muzzleloading shotguns on skeet and trap attend the National Muzzleloading Rifle Association National Matches in Friendship, IN in June - a real BLAST!!:mrgreen: (pun intended).

As omgb pointed out it doesn't take very sophisticated tools to reload brass shotshells. I even made my wads. However, today, wads of most any size you need are available for quite reasonable prices.

Dale53

I have my grandfathers tools. They consist of a dowel with a nail in it to push out the primers, another dowell to seat primers and push down the wads, a wad funnel, a powder scoop and a wad cutter made from a piece of gun barrel with a piece of shovel handle for a hand piece. Wads were cut from cardboard and old horse collar padding and the only store bought stuff were primers and powder. When he started loading paper shells he added a roll crimper to the mix. All these loads were shot in an old Zulu shotgun.

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Originally Posted by KCSO

I have my grandfathers tools. They consist of a dowel with a nail in it to push out the primers, another dowell to seat primers and push down the wads, a wad funnel, a powder scoop and a wad cutter made from a piece of gun barrel with a piece of shovel handle for a hand piece. Wads were cut from cardboard and old horse collar padding and the only store bought stuff were primers and powder. When he started loading paper shells he added a roll crimper to the mix. All these loads were shot in an old Zulu shotgun.

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KCSO,
Amazing they allowed him to bring his shotgun with him. I suppose you have his spear and nosebones too?

Surprisingly the Zulu's a converted Snider style shot gun were popular in the mid west in the early 1900's. If I remember right Grandpa and his brother saved $2.85 from their trapping proceeds and ordered the gun from Sears. By the time I got into black powder the gun was long gone, but I got the tools. I have since had my hands on a couple of these guns, but I never had any great desire to try shooting one. By the by in 1906 my 10 year old Granddad and his 12 year old brother wrote into Sears and ordered a gun and primers and powder with no problem and the US Mule dropped then off in the mail box when they came.

Carpetman
No nosebone, but our farm was an indian burial ground and we use to turn up bones, beads and necklaces when we plowed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KCSO

Surprisingly the Zulu's a converted Snider style shot gun were popular in the mid west in the early 1900's. If I remember right Grandpa and his brother saved $2.85 from their trapping proceeds and ordered the gun from Sears. By the time I got into black powder the gun was long gone, but I got the tools. I have since had my hands on a couple of these guns, but I never had any great desire to try shooting one. By the by in 1906 my 10 year old Granddad and his 12 year old brother wrote into Sears and ordered a gun and primers and powder with no problem and the US Mule dropped then off in the mail box when they came.

Carpetman
No nosebone, but our farm was an indian burial ground and we use to turn up bones, beads and necklaces when we plowed.

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KCSO,

Alas, you can't lay that one the carpetlayer..hehehe! Thought I'd get a bigger rise than that:).

I knew an old man when I was a kid....40 years ago...and he told me of he and his brother getting a brass barreled (so he said) Hamilton .22 rifle for selling Rosebud salve. They didn't have anything but shorts to shoot and he said the barrel would lead badly and so, they would stick the barrel in the hearth, melt the lead and give the barrel a sling and get the leading out! Bob was born in 1896, his brother a bit older.

................Since the thread is somewhat hi-jacked I'll add that I was reading something many moons ago about tribal firearms in Africa. Tribes still prey on each other to this day but now automatic firearms are more common. In the past they used flintlocks and percussion rifles although the flintlock was more desireable as it could be tough hunting up percussion caps in darkest Africa.

To make more effctive solid slugs the proceedure was to form the end of a stick to about the right size. Dig some clay and form bricks, then jab the stick into them. Then the bricks were dried in a fire. Lead was melted and poured into the depressions made with the stick. When the lead was cool, the bricks were broken up to release the boolits.

Accuracy wouldn't have been much, but since it was historicly face to face, a volly delivered at 10 paces would suffice anyway. Besides, if your medicine man cast a spell to make you impervious to the boolits, what did you have to fear anyway :-)

...............Buckshot

I use a Lee Loader or his load-all Jr for 12g my dad gave me for most of my BP shotshells.

Loading BP into shotshells is really no different. I use 777 instead of Pyrodex or Goex. A bit more velocity, still plenty of smoke.

Magtech brass is deprimed with the nail-in-the-end-of-a-dowel method, but, I have a 12g shell holder for my turret press I got from RCBS. They now sells these again!!!

(call service and tell them you need the shell holder for magtech brass hulls... they know ALL about these)

70-90gr (volume) of 777 FFg and 1-1/8 oz of #4 or #9 chilled lead shot. (4 for hunting, 9 for target)