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View Full Version : Alcan metal shells. New buy. Any good?



Kev18
05-25-2019, 02:28 PM
I went to a gun show and picked these up. 20$ with a 10$ un capper for shotgun shells.
Anyone have any experience with these? The date says 1962 in the reloading paper.
New unprimed like it says. The guy had another box of them.

Kev18
06-01-2019, 05:46 PM
https://i.imgur.com/Q2NgaT6.jpg

GONRA
06-01-2019, 06:01 PM
GONRA's 82 year olde memory (?) sez thee are Zinc Metal cases.
You could save the boxfull for a Collector Item (BEST IDEA!!!) or reload and report back here.

skeettx
06-01-2019, 06:45 PM
Yes, and they work well for black powder loadings, do not crimp them
Use an over shot wad and elmer's glue

Mike

P.S. Dipper set at 1 1/8, use for both F or FF Black and Shot, Win AA Red Wad.

Markopolo
06-01-2019, 07:00 PM
Skeettx??? A win aa wad will not fit in these at all. Way too lose fit.. they require 11g components. There are no plastic 11g wads. I did mess around with 10g wads as they fit just right, but don’t pass through a choke very well.

I use them all the time... they are great... just don’t try to aneal them like you would brass... you won’t be happy... just ask me how I know.. you really dont need to anneal them as they are much softer and don’t seem to get work hardened like brass. ... and if you ever wanna get rid of them, just pm me.. the bases are steel and resize fairly nicely.. I use a cowboy die set from RCBS to work mine. it does put a slight crimp on mine and you can adjust how much crimp you want.. I just put a slight edge to reinforce the overshot card being glued in. . just need 11g fiber wads and overshot cards and have fun with them... if you need some info on how to load them for BP or whatever, feel free to PM me.

Hope that helps..

Marko

Hogtamer
06-01-2019, 07:48 PM
graf and sons has the 11 ga components...
https://www.grafs.com/catalog/product/productId/11076

Markopolo
06-01-2019, 07:58 PM
Actually, best place to find the original wads for them are on eBay. Look for original Alcan big yellow boxes. The 11g wads are stamped “11 Gage” or can also be stamped “special size for all metal shells” in red ink. They are the Felton wax ring wads, and work wonderfully in the shells traditionally loaded.

242824

They come up all the time on eBay.

skeettx
06-01-2019, 08:25 PM
I said Black powder, it will not migrate, and will bump up the Win AA Red wad to work just fine :)

Also if you will read the box, it says to use the PGS plastic wads, and they are the same diameter
as the Win AA Red.

But your way is effective also, I have LOTS of the old felt, cardboard, and other wads and they work.

Markopolo
06-01-2019, 08:37 PM
So they did work for you??? Well, that is really cool to know.. I been messing around with plastic in those dang things for a long time. I had some of those silly pgs wads after searching forever to find them, and they didn’t seal worth a darn. If those win aa worked, then I gotta try those... thanks for the tip!!!! So the f or ff are big enough to keep the powder where it belongs. I figured I had tried about everything over the years. Apparently not.

Very nice

Marko

Markopolo
06-01-2019, 09:01 PM
You mean these naughty things...

242835
242850

Maybe I need to revisit using them as well with a larger granulation powder... I have always used between 82 and 90g of fff in my shells I wouldn’t have thought to try FF or F. Now you got me thinking...

Kev18
06-01-2019, 09:02 PM
These will most likely be used in my 1887 shotgun. I use magtech brass shells for now but these seem to feed really nice. If you guys want to see load data il post a pic. The guy said he had another box. The enxt gun show is june 9th, next sunday.

Kev18
06-01-2019, 09:09 PM
https://i.imgur.com/HRyndoC.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/zPYtlnS.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/07DI45M.jpg

missionary5155
06-08-2019, 10:25 AM
Good morning
Learn something new every day ! Grew up in SW Michigan and never heard or seen such a varmit. I would have thought with all the duck and goose hunters I knew someone would have been using these.
Mike in Peru

dsh1106
06-08-2019, 10:49 AM
I have 1 of those cases, I've been looking for a couple more. These work well in my old SxS using BP.

Scott