waxed hulls

[toot]

any one know how to apply wax, and what kind of wax to be used on paper hulls? and does it have to be applied after each firing?

[MOA]

Factory applied. Shoot paper as you find it. Plastic was the upgrade in the seventies.

[tigweldit]

Case iron and canning wax. After your case iron is up to heat, hold the shell by the base and slowly twist it onto the iron. With the hull up to temperature, touch the wax to the outside of the hull, about 1 inch down from the mouth. This is for about 2-3 seconds. The wax will suck right into the hull. Only have to do this after two to four firings or when the case mouth starts to get "soft". This is old school stuff. Before plastic. I still have my case iron that I used in the '60s.

[quack1]

A lot of times, just sliding the shell on the hot iron and twisting back and forth until you could see the wax melting was enough to stiffen up the mouth. Only needed to add wax if you couldn't see wax melting out of the mouth of the shell.
tigweldit-I still have my case iron,too. Still load up a few dove loads with paper shells every year, just to smell a fired one. Better than the old Hoppies #9 formula.

[toot]

guys what is a case iron? what does it look like? is it electric, or heated in a flame? where does one get one? I have never seen one. thanks for the info to my reply. toot.

[atr]

Case iron and canning wax. After your case iron is up to heat, hold the shell by the base and slowly twist it onto the iron. With the hull up to temperature, touch the wax to the outside of the hull, about 1 inch down from the mouth. This is for about 2-3 seconds. The wax will suck right into the hull. Only have to do this after two to four firings or when the case mouth starts to get "soft". This is old school stuff. Before plastic. I still have my case iron that I used in the '60s.

thank you for this...I too am old school!

[15meter]

Look up Ballistic Products Inc.

They used to sell case irons, I assume they still do. Kind of like an old school curling iron, but for shotgun shells.

I've never used one, my paper hulls almost always pinholed just above the brass before the mouth got too bad to reload.

This is hearsay, but I've read multiple accounts of placing hulls in a low temp oven-- it was supposed to "re-distrubute" the wax. No personal experience. No clue on temp or time or if it even works.

[Ajax111]

The Iron heats the tube and the wax left in the case will spread. This is about all you would need. Pin holes around the brass show, and then the brass tears off from the case. No matter how much wax is in them.

You can find the Irons on e-bay sometime, or you can try and find an electric hair curler in the right size.
May I ask what brand of cases are you loading?

[atr]

I'm reloading with Federal paper / maroon color / . I am also using old ALCAN paper / red /
stuff I've had around for many years.
I've found that the iron, an old Herter's tool, helps redistribute the wax as it gets hot.

[shaune509]

Toot, Take an aluminum round bar about 2-3" long, turn od to fit loose in paper shell, round off far end, bore and thread other end to fit over the nose of a common wood burner tool [~25watt]. Clamp burner tool vertical and put shell over round , allow to warm and add wax to mouth of shell only it needed. Should only take a few seconds per shell. Slight rotation when removing will help 'iron out' mouth of shell. The old units I've seen like Pacific were bench top mounted and Herters I think was mounted in a powder measure stand, but as was said above they went out of use with plastic shells in the late '60s early '70s.
Shaune509

[toot]

shaune509, thank you so much for taking the time for the great responce that you provided to me on the subject of waxing paper hulls that, I requested. I am going to make one ASAP. and yes the trouble with old paper hulls , after 2 or 3 firing's the paper where it meets the brass gets pin holes that if not checked releases hot gas in the face. I wonder if it happened back in the 50'S or is it because they are 70+ yrs. old and the paper is rotten after so many yrs?

[megasupermagnum]

I've read about them, but I'm seeing absolutely no reason to be using one with today's Federal paper hulls. Maybe in the past paper hulls would last a little longer when new, I don't know. It really depends on the load, but today's Federal paper hulls with a target style load last about 4 shots for sure, and many will go 5 shots. At that point a large number of them will have the tube separating from the base (sometimes called pinholes). A lot of the primer pockets start to get loose as well. At that point you would need to either tighten the primer pocket, or use a larger primer. At 5 shots the shell ends do look a little fuzzy, but they crimp just fine. Now if you are shooting strong hunting loads, sometimes they only reload twice.

I fail to see where a hull conditioner could ever be used to extend hull life.

[toot]

I thought that there was on a 209 size shot gun primer? didn't know there was a larger one for streached out base holes?? where can one purchase FEDERAL new paper hulls? I would want to get some. toot.

[HWooldridge]

I thought that there was on a 209 size shot gun primer? didn't know there was a larger one for streached out base holes?? where can one purchase FEDERAL new paper hulls? I would want to get some. toot.

I don't think you can purchase new Federal paper-hull empty shells but you can buy the loaded rounds.

[toot]

OK, thank you for the info.

[megasupermagnum]

209 primers vary in both diameter, and taper. American 209's are smaller than European 209's. Some are close enough to not matter. A Rio 209 is the largest I've used. They are about .004" oversized.

[Tripplebeards]

If you have a “loose primer” fitment issue this has worked for me. I have loaded up RST hulls with 209 primers. I just paint the inside of the primer pockets and/or outside of the 209 primers with the blue water proofing stuff that looks like nail polish I picked up from Cabelas. Locks them in place when dry. I’m sure nail polish form the dollar store would do the same.

[toot]

I have coated the primers after inserting them with RED GRADE LOCK TITE, no gas leakage when fired. and they push out easily after firing.

[toot]

on another gun site, I saw a posting of using a CO2, empty cartridge, heated with wax on it & inserted into a12 gauge paper hull to stiffen it up again. any one here ever done / tried this, or heard of it being done? I think it is a great idea! just when you think you have seen it all!

[15meter]

shaune509, thank you so much for taking the time for the great responce that you provided to me on the subject of waxing paper hulls that, I requested. I am going to make one ASAP. and yes the trouble with old paper hulls , after 2 or 3 firing's the paper where it meets the brass gets pin holes that if not checked releases hot gas in the face. I wonder if it happened back in the 50'S or is it because they are 70+ yrs. old and the paper is rotten after so many yrs?

I started with Federal paper hulls in 1975, they would pinhole back then after several firings. When that happened it was time for more factory ammo.

Winchester 209's back in the old days were just a tad larger. Or Remington hulls were a tad smaller--either way Remington 209 primers seemed to fit Remington hulls better. Winchester in Remington hulls required more seating effort.

And Federal was still making paper hulls, at least until recently. I read one time that there were certain sporting clays courses requiring paper and brass hulls. No plastic. Plastic didn't decompose. Not sure how they dealt with the plastic wads.

Quicky video of how they are made:

.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L7wSqbNCmUk

[toot]

AMAZING, thanks for the video. now we know rest of the story. I always wondered how that they did it, made them.?