short shells 12 guage

[49FMarlin]

so I got my Cheddite hulls in, and the clear overshot cards and felt wads,

I took and loaded up a cheddite hull with 10gr of Clay Dot--(a direct replacement of Clays)
the load called for 17gn of Clays, but ive been having trouble pulling Fiocchi tall hulls out of my 52 Ithica, and 12 ga SXS (1878 Cimmeron)

other than the load drop and powder I used 19 #4 buckshot that came in 6gn less than there #4 all went good,
nothing blew up, cases pulled/ejected right out,
low kick, wad flew out pellets all hit the target tree at 30 paces, also my coyote marker by my chicken coop

so I got thinking,
went to Hodgdon and looked at the H-6 load (all they give) on #4 and Buckshot
same load in powder gives another 100psi

so Im already loading way way under recomended load, by 7gn
and switched out the #4 buckshot for 7 --00 buckshot still under original load weight,

same tree stump, more bark flew, wad flew, shotgun still in one piece,
shells slid out without the hard friction
low kick,

now to see how hard and deep it hits with some plywood, or a cotote
and maybe work up to the prescribed load of 17gn

[49FMarlin]

also I did the short shell load in the Fiocchi hulls, with a 15gn load a few days ago, kicked HARD, couldent get the shells out easily
ithaca had to cool off to rack it out, had to break/dig hard with fingers on the SXS
ill see how the Cheddites do at 15gn to compare

[longbow]

A word of warning about short hull loads. If you are using a regular full length hull recipe that calls for a cushion leg wad but shorten the hull and remove the cushion leg pressure may rise especially with fast powder. The cushion leg collapses at ignition creating a larger volume so lowers pressure. Without the cushion leg collapse there is less volume and pressure may spike.

BPI has pressure tested data for short hull loads and there are some other sources as well.

If you are using published short hull loads and getting sticky extraction then something else is going on.

Longbow

[49FMarlin]

A word of warning about short hull loads. If you are using a regular full length hull recipe that calls for a cushion leg wad but shorten the hull and remove the cushion leg pressure may rise especially with fast powder. The cushion leg collapses at ignition creating a larger volume so lowers pressure. Without the cushion leg collapse there is less volume and pressure may spike.

BPI has pressure tested data for short hull loads and there are some other sources as well.

If you are using published short hull loads and getting sticky extraction then something else is going on.

Longbow

I get stickie extraction only from the fiocchi and cheddite tall wall hulls, Not the low wall hulls (STS and Nitro)
the upper rim is belling outwards and gripping the chamber

this is with published loads,

I dont mess with changing the wads or shortening them I used as listed by BPI but lowered the powder load

[Petrol & Powder]

Because most repeating shotguns use a tubular magazine, short shells are often seen as a way to get more shells into that magazine.

Other than that consideration, there's no advantage to short shells.
There may be some attraction to using short shells to increase magazine capacity but overall, the compromises result in more negatives than positives.
Short shells is an example of something that can be done but probably doesn't gain you much.

[bikerbeans]

Other than increasing magazine capacity for a 3-gun competition I don't see much use for short shells. Getting a pump shotgun to cycle short shells can be a major challenge.

BB

[Markopolo]

other than increasing magazine capacity for a 3-gun competition i don't see much use for short shells. Getting a pump shotgun to cycle short shells can be a major challenge.

Bb

this!!

[longbow]

My reason for short hulls is my frugal nature. That and I have to order everything in (like Marko... though I don't live in quite as remote a place as he does!). Once the hull mouth starts cracking or won't crimp properly I trim them down and save them. I've made some short hull loads from these hulls but so far only shot them in my single shot so cycling isn't an issue nor is magazine capacity. I'm sure slug accuracy won't be as good as with full length hulls but for round ball loads, buckshot or birdshot loads I doubt there is a measurable difference.

I have read that Mossberg 500's will cycle short hulls well but have not tried my Slugster with them yet. It is on the "To Do" list with many other things.

I'll also add another warning about short hulls but for slugs this time. The short story is that many years ago I made up short hulls for slugs to try with my Lyman Foster slugs (a useless slug at best in my opinion). I used a published recipe but left out the trap wad with petals cut off to eliminate the cushion leg (gas seal used only), and filled the hollow cavity. IIRC hull length was 2" or 2 1/4" but short. Powder was PB and the data came from the Lyman Shotshell Reloading Handbook slug section.

In any case, I fired a few of these through my Browning BPS with buck and slug barrel and recoil was stout to say the least and brass was sticky to extract. I should have taken the hint with the sticky extraction and stopped shooting then opened the hulls and dumped the contents. I didn't.

Next time out I took my Remington single shot to give it a go. First pull of the trigger the gun blew up! The entire top of the chamber blew off and the barrel separated from the frame landing about 10' in front of me. I kept the remains until we moved up North but wish I still had them for example. My take is that the soft Foster slug obturated to fill the chamber then hit the forcing cone and became a barrel obstruction not being able to squeeze back down before pressure spiked.

The streaks of lead in the chamber started right at the case mouth and went into the barrel so it was pretty obvious that the slug did obturate and filled the chamber. With a filled slug I have to think that played a factor as well. The powder charge, slug and hull were right from the book and I couldn't have double charged because there was no room for extra powder. The differences were ~ shortened hull, no cushion leg, filled slug.

Soft Foster slugs do obturate to fill the bore in normal length hulls so that always made me wonder why Fosters are typically undersize supposedly to allow then to fit through a choke. Since they obturate they have to squeeze down if they meet a choke anyway.

Anyway, the OP is using published short hull load data so not an issue here. I just figured I should mention these issues as a warning to anyone planning to shorten hulls using full length hull data. Don't use HB slugs in short hulls and be careful about eliminating cushion legs.

Longbow

[Hamish]

https://opsolmini-clip.com/