Loading Brass Shotgun shells

[warren5421]

I have some brass shotgun shells I am reloading, I have been using plastic hull and wads . I am using 1 oz #7 1/2 shot and intend to use the same volume of FFg black powder. I am using an 11ga over powder card, felt wads (hight to be decided) seated with 80 lb pressure, shot, and over shot card sealed with glue. Does this sound right?

[vagrantviking]

Sounds very much like the way I have been doing mine for years.
Just make sure the glue doesn't get past the overshot card and create frangible slugs on you.

[jim 44-40]

80 lbs pressure? That just don't sound right.If you hear the powder crunch when seating overpowder wad,I would think the rest of the column should be pressed down firmly ,but 80 lbs?

[la5676]

I know nothing about loading them, just helped my dad find some when he decided to dabble with them. I heard him say he loaded them using 10 ga plastic wads. He passed a year ago, found the brass hulls, but no wads of any kind, so don’t know if he really did this. Didn’t sound right, although I know 12 ga wads would have been a sloppy fit. I was more concerned with the 10 wads fitting so tight down the barrel or any kind of tighter choke. Mebee it ain’t really a concern.

[jim 44-40]

I guess you would have to use a bathroom scale if you wanted to seat @ 80 lbs.Out of curiosity I'm going to try that with 20 gauge brass shell ,will report back

[Markopolo]

I don’t use quite 70-80 lbs I do t think.. I just seat then very snug!!!! Also, did you know that 10g plastic wads fit them brass cases real snug??? Just FYI..

I will prolly get some pushback on that last statement… they do come out the other end, but I have not used BP with 10g wads, nor have I patterned them.. just played with them.

[jim 44-40]

I guess you would have to use a bathroom scale if you wanted to seat @ 80 lbs.Out of curiosity I'm going to try that with 20 brass shell ,will report back

Never mind I'm getting old moment.It was not as hard as I thought to achieve 80 lbs of force with one hand.

[beagle]

I was loading mine with smokeless. Used 11 guage wads both over powder and felt. Dropped the shot and split over powder wads for overshot. I sealed with sodium silicate (water glass) which I found at the local drug store. Loaded several times for doves and had no problems except the looks I got when I slid two of those big boys into my double on the dove fields. Cases were the military Rem-Umc 12 gauge cases. Primed with regular large rifle primers. Seated wads firmly on the powder.

Somewhere in one of the old Lyman manuals, there's a section on loading brass cases./beagle

[warren5421]

I use a MEC 600 for loading, the drop tube has numbers on it, they are pounds pressure you put on the over powder wad. They go from 50 lb to 120 lb. This is where I got I am using 80 lb.

[jim 44-40]

Got it, I did not know folks used anything but hand tools for loading brass shotshells.I am a rookie , but learning lots of good stuff on this site.

[harkom]

Plastic wads on top of BP will cause a lot of plastic residue to line the barrel, so make sure to clean the bore well afterwards.
Top wads can be sealed well in brass cases with silicon sealants - some types are more adhesive than others.
BP is easily ignited although course grained powders are generally best ignited with a strong primer. A lot of wad pressure applied to overpowder wad to compress the powder is probably not ideal and I would be wary of leaving cartridges aside for a while if loaded in this way as the powder may form a cake.

[danomano]

I use bright Pink finger nail polish to hold the cover wad in-place. I paint the whole wad, I figure keep moisture out-ish too. The polish was free from my co-workers daughter.

[warren5421]

I have plastic AA hulls loaded the same as brass that are over 2 years old that shoot every time I have tried. Had a coyote get to close just before the snow and rain. Had my Stevens hammered 12 ga with me, yote didn't see the snow and rain.

[Longknife]

I cut the collapsible cushion off of the wad cup and seat a thick fibre wad on the powder before seating the plastic cup. this keeps the plastic from melting and coating the bore...

[warren5421]

I have shot 1000's of black powder shells using AA hulls and plastic wads. I use double barreled hammer or hammerless guns so just remove the barrels, put some dish soap in a barrel, put under running water, run a bronze brush in and out twice and plastic is gone and the BP deposits also. Run a couple of lubed patches down the barrel, wipe the outside down with a lubed rag and the barrels are done. Wipe the action off and assemble and put up. Every 6 months I do take the action apart and clean to keep firing pin chanel clean.

I like to load my shells with card and felt wads but that was the way I learned in the 60's.