New problem- load info for report cannon

[hpeach]

I've been reloading for more than 40 years, but need help for this one.
The 10gauge cannon we use for the signalling for the local yacht race needs
the hulls reloaded. I have no idea where to start with black powder load, and what kind of wadding to use.
this is my first time trying reloading without lead- help.

[ofitg]

How about 50 grains of 3F, topped off with a thick wad made from crumpled-up aluminum foil?

[Zymurgy50]

Personally I would use wadded up newspaper instead of the aluminum foil. Pyrodex or one of the other black powder substitutes should work as well.

[DIRT Farmer]

You might look at fiber wads, when fired dry they break up into a cloud of fuzz and should not have a projectle effect.

[imashooter2]

User smkummer has done it. You might want to PM him.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?54417-Win-10-gauge-signal-cannon

[smkummer]

Sure, glad to help out. Hopefully you saved your empty 10 ga. hulls. You can get by without loading tools but making the original roll crimp into a fold crimp is tricky without a crimp starter. Simply use a long nail with the pointed end ground flat to knock out the primer. Then seat a new primer using about a 1/2 in diameter wood dowel and place the primer on the table with the hull on top and tap the dowel placed inside of the hull to seat the new primer. Black power charge is simply filled to the level that will leave space for 2 over powder fiber wads and the crimp. The wads help build the pressure. You can buy the wads from ballistic products. Push the wads in with the dowel. Now for the crimp. I lucked out and got a old Lee 10 gauge Lee loader that has the crimp starter that converts the crimp to fold. You can order a tool that uses a drill or drill press that will allow you to roll crimp again but that was too much expense. The 10 gauge Lee loaders do come up for sale every now and than but I have seen them almost sell for $100 for these simple tools. And again all you really need is the 6 point crimp starter that was not included in most Lee tools. You should be able to order from mec. a 6 point 10 ga. crimp starter made for it JR. press and would work for hand use also. Your empty hulls do not need the brass resized as its going back into the cannon. Depending on what you pay for black powder, I was able to reload these for .50 each and that was about 1/4 the cost of factory blanks. I also found some data from DuPont for smokeless loads. It consisted of 60 grains of 700X powder and (7) .135 card wads. I use this data in some alcan 10 gauge brass hulls that I don't want to clean after firing. Its loud but does not have the "thunder" sound and smoke of black powder. Let us know how it goes.

[KCSO]

No NOT newspaper because of the fire danger. You can use regular fibre wads well crimped and up to 90 grains of powder, I prefer F or FFg powder and tend to use the cheapest I can find Meteor use to be good as it wasn't woth shootng in anything else.