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warren5421
04-24-2021, 06:18 PM
I posted this in CASTING & RELOADING for SHOTGUNS not thinking. I am looking for a Loading manual that was published before the "plastic wads". Is there such a manual to start looking for. I would just like one in my collection. I need to know which one is old enough. I have found a hydraulic MEC reloader the guy said he used in his younger days. I would like to set up a display with the loader, manual, shot cards, wads and etc in my man space. The powder can and wads should be the hardest to find I would think. Could even load some black powder paper shells with 1 oz shot.

curiousgeorge
05-02-2021, 10:27 AM
Some of the older Lyman manuals, like the number 40, list loads for shotshells. Also the older Alcan "brochures" listed a lot of different loads.

Loading with card wads was totally different than plastic. A powder charge was listed for either high base or low base paper hulls with a specific shot weight, and the wad column was sort of up to you. The rule was at least one .135 card wad combined with at least one 3/8" fiber wad. Depending on whether you were fold crimping or roll crimping, the distance from the mouth of the case to the shot or to the overshot card wad was listed. From there you could change thicknesses of the wads or add additional wads to get the proper height of the wad column for the crimp to work. But, sometimes Alcan in particular would list a specific load with their hulls along with a specific wad column. The wad pressure would also be listed. Some powders like AL5, AL7, AL8, or AL120 required a certain amount of wad pressure to burn completely.

I still have a lot of old card and fiber wads that I enjoy loading in old paper hulls and roll crimping just to play around with in a couple of old single shots. Notice all the references to old in the previous sentence. Tells my age. The 30 and younger crowd mostly have never seen or even heard of a paper hull with a roll crimp and factory overshot card wad stamped with the shot size. Good conversation starter at local trap shoots.

I still have a partial can of Super M Ballistite that I haven't quite worked up the courage to use yet. Last summer during the stay at home orders I dug out a bunch of primer cups and reprimed a couple of hundred shotshell primers. Tedious work but kind of like getting free primers. Love those old Fiocci metal cans. Very neat looking.

dsh1106
05-04-2021, 06:09 PM
Here is some information from the Ideal Hand Book from 1948

https://i.imgur.com/2HqWbx1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/HwzBM0q.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/So9qWm8.jpg?1