Making 45acp shotshells (My Way)

[SSGOldfart]

thank you for the write up Grumpa! I am going to give this a try.

Same here I guess the over shot wad would also work in my 44spl.in place of the shot capsules Speer sells.

[dsbock]

For my over powder cards, I outside chamfered a deprimed .40 S&W casing until it had a sharp edge. Chucked it up in my drill press and used it to cut disks from a sheet of waxed card stock.

I found that marking a 1/2" grid on the card stock made it much easier to cut clean disks. I also learned that you don't want to cut until the casing is full. It's a challenge to get the disks out without ruining them.

Moving ever forward.

David

[dsbock]

First batch ready for testing.

5.5 grains of Bullseye under 120 grains of #8 shot. Hopefully the weather will cooperate over the next few days.

More reports as events warrant.

David

[dsbock]

Second batch ready for testing. These are cylinder length for my S&W Model 1917. Standard .45 ACP casing for scale.


5.5 grains of Bullseye under 190 grains of #8 shot. Weather looks good for testing tomorrow.

More reports as events warrant.

David

[GunFun]

thanks for keeping this going.

[dsbock]

Got to the range today. Results were mixed.

Pros:
All rounds fired
Some of the rounds ejected from the 1911
Patterns were good at 10-15 feet.
I spent time at the range

Cons:
The .30-06 rims are slightly too large to fit all 6 into a moon clip. 5 seems to be max
Not all the rounds ejected from the 1911
I either need a better crimp process or a better over shot wad (I'm thinking both)
Not enough time was spent at the range

More load development is needed. The two targets below were from the longer shells fired out of the S&W 1917.

David

[BUCKEYE BANDIT]

dsbok, For your overshoot card try a 35 cal. gas check (cup down).That solved my 80% cycle issue in my 1911 Gov. .Also had my best luck with W231 . added to reply, had much better luck with converted 7.62 blank hulls.

[wonderwolf]

dsbock did you have any issues with ejection out of the 1917 with the longer shells?

[dsbock]

dsbock did you have any issues with ejection out of the 1917 with the longer shells?

Wonderwolf,

Nope, none at all. While I could only get five shells to load in the moon clips, they ejected as smoothly as usual. Single loaded cases just required a slight push from the front if the rim had sunk in too far.

As soon as I recover from some surgery I'll be working on an improved version using aluminum over shot wads.

From everything I've read/heard W231 is the optimal powder. Unfortunately, I can't find any locally. Bullseye seems to work fine so far.

David

[RU shooter]

I decided to try my hand at making a few of these last night . Forming them was pretty easy I had some old 300 savage cases in my scrap bucket so I used them , didn't have the 40 die but looking at different cartridge dia I figured my 32 spl seater die would give me a suitable "neck" od dia. Have about 10 formed now just need to trim to proper length and load . That brings me to my question . I understand that you need to use an over powder wad , now do you seat that right down on top of the powder charge and fill the rest of the case up with shot ? Or just to the bottom of the necked portion of the case? If I'm only using say 3-5 grs of bullseye seems like there would be a lot of air space if I only but the OPW at the base of the neck ? And if I do seat directly on the powder what do you use as a wad because the necked portion is small dia so it would need to expand to seal off the area in the body of the case ? Someone set me straight please .

Thanks , Tim

[flyingmonkey35]

I decided to try my hand at making a few of these last night . Forming them was pretty easy I had some old 300 savage cases in my scrap bucket so I used them , didn't have the 40 die but looking at different cartridge dia I figured my 32 spl seater die would give me a suitable "neck" od dia. Have about 10 formed now just need to trim to proper length and load . That brings me to my question . I understand that you need to use an over powder wad , now do you seat that right down on top of the powder charge and fill the rest of the case up with shot ? Or just to the bottom of the necked portion of the case? If I'm only using say 3-5 grs of bullseye seems like there would be a lot of air space if I only but the OPW at the base of the neck ? And if I do seat directly on the powder what do you use as a wad because the necked portion is small dia so it would need to expand to seal off the area in the body of the case ? Someone set me straight please .

Thanks , Tim

Two wads one over the powder.
Then fill with shot.
Second over the shot and crimped in place to hold the shot in place.

[GRUMPA]

I believe at the beginning I made my own wad using a 44mag case which I hammered on a piece of cardboard for that. And yes the diameter of the case is smaller but all I used was the eraser end of the pencil to shove it down and packing all the way to the powder. A person can also use the right sized drill bit, just use the part you chuck onto and not the part that does the cutting.

Once the wad I made is now over the powder, I filled with shot.

[Johnny_V]

Tim,

If you use a plastic .410 shotshell wad, cut to 3/4", you can fill with shot after charging, then form the neck. I use this method for my shotshells with a .37 caliber gas check, then do crimp the check to seal the shell.

[RU shooter]

Thanks that clears things up for me much better . Wad directly on powder fill remainer with shot cap with another card or gc , crimp done Thank you .

[Johnny_V]

If you look a few posts back, I put a video on YouTube on how I make 45 shotshells. Not the definitive way, just my way...

[jmorris]

I too used cut down .410 wads.



For the over shot, I punched out circles from a shotshell.

[Johnny_V]

If you form the neck after inserting the wad, you won't need to use the wad guide.

[flyingmonkey35]

I too used cut down .410 wads.



For the over shot, I punched out circles from a shotshell.

That's a great idea

[RU shooter]

Finally got some loaded up to try out . Used 3 grs of W231 and filled the case up with 7.5 shot as it was all I had . Used a 35 cal gc for the over shot wad ,roll crimped with a rn 45 seater plug . Worked great !!! They fed from the mag with no issues at all . Patterned real well at 10 ft easily minute of reptile . With the small of powder charge of course the shell didn't eject but that's ok I can just rack the slide and pocket that case to reload. Another benefit is the fired case required no sizing and just dropped right back in to the chamber . So I'd call my first attempt a success . Thank again all for the help .

[w5pv]

I use 45C to make my shot shells.I use a 410 plastic shot wad cut down to about a 1/16 below the top of the shell insert this over 6 grains of titegroup and fill the wad up to the top with # 10 shot and insert a inverted plain base gas check over the shot and put a slight roll crimp on it.I have killed birds,snakes and lizards out to 20 feet.When I walk I carry my 45C and a few loads that come in handy for snakes and other vermin