Brass shells

[richhodg66]

I'm an experienced bullet caster and reloader for pistol and rifle but have become interested in loading slugs for deer hunting. I'm just starting on this and have the Lyman mold for standard wads and star crimp and plan to use these in a Marlin 512. I also picked up a copy of the latest Lyman shotshell manual. I've been reading the thread here on this slug and learning a lot, but must admit, I'm pretty ignorant on shotshell reloading.

In my latest Midway flyer, they have brass 12 gauge hulls for sale in both 2 3/4 and 2 1/2 inch lengths. I'm told in brass shells, one has to use an 11 gauge wad, is that correct? Could a workable slug load be built with brass shells using 11 gauge wads? I presume you'd need a card wad of some sort over the top of the slug them maybe crimp the shell mouth on top or put a bead of some kind of glue around to hold it all together. Does this sound like a plausible plan? Has anyone done something like this?

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Greetings Richhodg first of all it would be much simpler to use plastic hull as the wads etc are all the right size and can easily be roll or fold crimped. This Lyman slug mould that you have is it the 525 slug mould or foster type? The old Lyman moulds were under size moulds. Lets hope you bought Lyman 525 slug mould. For brass shell you will need bigger nitro cards as the brass shell walls are much thinner and if you use glue to close off the shell then it will not be very effective as a deep roll crimp or better yet fold crimp.
I have lately been using Fiocchi clear shells from BPI as after loading you can see through the shell and is easier to detect any problems.
Here on this forum you have a few very nice people who will jump in to help like Pete, Peter and TommysGirl.
Hope this helps.
Happy Holidays
Ajay Madan
www.PreciousVideo Memories.Com

[KCSO]

I use all brass shells for my B/P loads so I can tell them at a glance. For my round ball deer loads i am using a 700 ball over 90 grains of FFG and using 720 diameter wads cut with my own punch. I load a hard card wad a 1/2" cushion wad and then a ball centered in the brass with a thin grease patch. I then top this off with a thin o/s card and seal with Duc Seal. Accuracy is good at 50 yards and they drop the deer right where you hit them. I don't use smokless with brass shells so someone else will have to chime in there.

[peter nap]

I use all brass shells for my B/P loads so I can tell them at a glance. For my round ball deer loads i am using a 700 ball over 90 grains of FFG and using 720 diameter wads cut with my own punch. I load a hard card wad a 1/2" cushion wad and then a ball centered in the brass with a thin grease patch. I then top this off with a thin o/s card and seal with Duc Seal. Accuracy is good at 50 yards and they drop the deer right where you hit them. I don't use smokless with brass shells so someone else will have to chime in there.

I use smokeless but I also make my shells out of 50BMG brass,
The brass Hulls you are looking at are inexpensive (Relative to others) but are balloon head and really not much stronger than plastic.

If you are dead set on Brass, use RMC. There's about a 4 month wait and they cost seven bucks each, but are worth it.

Even I use brass for very heavy loads, I still use plastic for most slug loads and buck and all birdshot.

You can crimp brass but the dies are expensive and sizing dies are even more so.
My recommendation unless you have a little insanity or are going to shoot BP, is stick with conventional plastic hulls.
You won't be giving up much.

[richhodg66]

Thanks for all the replies. My experience with rifled slug barrels wasn't good. Tried them about ten years ago with a Winchester 1300 and the sabot slugs that were available. Kicked way too hard and cost way too much, so I went back to the trusty muzzle loader that was legal equipment on Fort Sill at the time.

The mold I have is the big air gun pellet looking one. I don't seem to remember it being around back then or I might not have been so quick to scrap the project. Anyway, I guess I'll have to get a real shot gun reloader. The only thing I have is a Lee Loader I've had since I was 14 or so and haven't reloaded with in 30 years. I have some Winchester AA hulls and the appropriate wads. I also have 25 cast up I bought from a guy who sells them. Now that deer season is coming to a close, I'll see if I can find the time to pursue the project.

Anybody else use a 512? I'm not real happy with the only scoping system I can find for it, if someone has ideas, I'm all ears. With the open sights and the (expensive!) WInchester slugs I have shot in it, it did 2 1/2 inch groups at 50 yards with the open sights, I'm pretty sure I can get it to do better than that. Just gotta find the right compromise of cost, recoil, accuracy and reloading work to get it there.

[peter nap]

Thanks for all the replies. My experience with rifled slug barrels wasn't good. Tried them about ten years ago with a Winchester 1300 and the sabot slugs that were available. Kicked way too hard and cost way too much, so I went back to the trusty muzzle loader that was legal equipment on Fort Sill at the time.

The mold I have is the big air gun pellet looking one. I don't seem to remember it being around back then or I might not have been so quick to scrap the project. Anyway, I guess I'll have to get a real shot gun reloader. The only thing I have is a Lee Loader I've had since I was 14 or so and haven't reloaded with in 30 years. I have some Winchester AA hulls and the appropriate wads. I also have 25 cast up I bought from a guy who sells them. Now that deer season is coming to a close, I'll see if I can find the time to pursue the project.

Anybody else use a 512? I'm not real happy with the only scoping system I can find for it, if someone has ideas, I'm all ears. With the open sights and the (expensive!) WInchester slugs I have shot in it, it did 2 1/2 inch groups at 50 yards with the open sights, I'm pretty sure I can get it to do better than that. Just gotta find the right compromise of cost, recoil, accuracy and reloading work to get it there.

Rich, you don't need a shotgun reloader for slugs. A scale is good and you should have it already. A roll crimper is almost essential. a vise to hold the shell.

I made one out of a harbor Freight wood clamp.

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa57/peternap/b3.jpg

You can almost thumb prime shotgun cases but a dowel rod helps.

[peter nap]

Look at this thread Rich:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=67781

Pete has done a phenomenal job testing those slugs and come up with outstanding groups.

[richhodg66]

Yeah, I read through that thread. His results look great. I was kind of hoping when I started this venture that I'd be able to easily throw a load together from a recipe in a book, but it looks like there may be more development involved, I'll start reading though it and asking questions. Looks like I need to get some Blue Dot as well.

[cajun shooter]

You can load them by hand and use the roll crimper in a drill press if you have one. The Mag Tech brass hulls that you are talking about are really meant for cowboy shooting and not the best to load a good slug load. They can be loaded this way without a doubt but you have better choices to look at. The reason for the larger inside the hull wads is because the brass hull is straight sided and not tapered as most plastic hulls are.

[TrapperD]

I'm an experienced bullet caster and reloader for pistol and rifle but have become interested in loading slugs for deer hunting. I'm just starting on this and have the Lyman mold for standard wads and star crimp and plan to use these in a Marlin 512. I also picked up a copy of the latest Lyman shotshell manual. I've been reading the thread here on this slug and learning a lot, but must admit, I'm pretty ignorant on shotshell reloading.

In my latest Midway flyer, they have brass 12 gauge hulls for sale in both 2 3/4 and 2 1/2 inch lengths. I'm told in brass shells, one has to use an 11 gauge wad, is that correct? Could a workable slug load be built with brass shells using 11 gauge wads? I presume you'd need a card wad of some sort over the top of the slug them maybe crimp the shell mouth on top or put a bead of some kind of glue around to hold it all together. Does this sound like a plausible plan? Has anyone done something like this?

I am considering a similar endeavor as you are. I too, am an experienced rifle and handgun reloader as well as a boolit caster. I have not worked out the details yet, but would like to use full-bore slugs loaded in the brass shotgun shells. Rather than a crimp, I would hope to size the shell to hold the slug firmly, or use a wad to do so. My intent would be to load the round so as to have some of the slug protruding. These rounds would only be used in a single shot rifled barrel. If possible, I would like to have the slug make contact with the rifling when it is chambered. This may not be possible, I will have to look at the measurements of the space involved. If we can eliminate the "slap" of the slug through that over-sized space before the rifling is encountered, I would anticipate that greater accuracy could be attained.

[Nix]

I've seen and even sold brass hulls before but just out curiosity, what are the advantages to them aside from the 'cool factor'? Never used them and always wondered if I was missing out.

[joec]

I load the Magtech 2 1/2 brass shells using the following wads:
CFFIBER-11 Circle Fly 1/2" Fiber Shotgun Wad - 11 GA
CFNITRO-11 Circle Fly .135 Nitro Shotgun Wad - 11 GA
CFOS-10 Circle Fly .025 Over Shot Shotgun Wad - 10 GA

Now I load the brass exclusively with black powder. I have used all kinds of things to decap and recap the brass, pack the powder etc. I've since settled on the RCBS Cowboy dies but don't crimp them but glue the overshot wad in with either Elmer's/Bordon's glue, silicone calking, water glass etc.

55352 55353

[DrBill33]

I have found that a 1/8 over powder wad, then a plastic wad-cup! works well. Over shot card and WATERGLASS as the sealant. Has been good with Red Dot, Universal, and Pyrodex.

[KCSO]

My gosh can you still get water glass? Where? I haven't seen any since we quit selling eggs to the co-op in the 60's.

[I'll Make Mine]

My gosh can you still get water glass? Where? I haven't seen any since we quit selling eggs to the co-op in the 60's.

Chemical supply houses still carry it (as "sodium silicate solution"); you might even be able to get it at a larger pharmacy (they carry the oddest stuff in "USP" grade). Water glass is used industrially to make molds for casting (Ferrari casts their engine blocks in sodium silicate hardened sand); it hardens instantly when treated with carbon dioxide.

The big problem with buying water glass is trying to get it and use it before it hardens; I've never handled a bottle of the stuff (back when it came in chemistry sets and was sold over the counter in all drug stores) that wasn't completely solid inside the container...