Shot shell disassembly for reclaiming components ideas

Folks,
I just inherited an assortment of reloaded shotshells in various gauges. The reloaded shells were thrown in along with some reloading equipment that I was interested in.
There are 12, 20, 16, 28, and 410 shotshells, totaling about a milk crate full, all of which are clearly reloads. They don't all look terrible, but some have split hulls and mangled crimps. Because I know nothing of the man who reloaded them nor his practices, I'm not going to risk shooting them.

Given the price of shot and primers lately, I don't want to just dispose of the reloads and want to salvage those components. Looking at potentially disassembling several hundred shells of various gauges, I wonder if the board may have some suggestions. I know the preferred method is to cut the hull circumferentially around the wad cushion area and then pull it apart.

Does anyone have any high volume tips?

Jason

PVC pipecutters work just fine. Watch powders are different.

I'd sure get the shot and primers.
The powder,,, ahhh, I'd dump it unless I was really, really sure what it is.
For me, the narrows it down to one of the colored 'Dot' powders.

You might try using a big, heavy, sharp knief and roll the hull on a flat surface to cut it in the middle of the wad.
The wad should pull out of whichever end it sticks in.

Sometimes there is no easy solution. The only way I can think of is the old, slow one-at-a-time method. Do you wish to salvage the hulls and primers? Then I would cut them around the circumference just below the crimp. I think Ballistic Products, Inc. may make a suitable tool for making the cut. You'd probably need some long nosed needle nosed pliers for grabbing and pulling out the wads. Lots of containers to dump the different powders and shot into to segregate them. Sounds like something for a long winter evening.

DG

BPI makes a disassembly widget for 12ga called an Unload-It, but I think you could rig up something similar that would work for the mix of gauges you have for less than the $20-ish they're asking.

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PVC pipecutters work just fine.

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I've used one as well. Cut as close to the crimp as possible and there were few cut shot. Harbor Freight worked this time.

A sharp pocket knife works fine

I've often used a small phillips screwdriver shaft to open up loaded rounds. Once you have it open you can pour the shot out. then slip the wad. Use a hull spin doctor to smooth out the crimp. Then dump powder and reload.

I know most said to cut, but even with an overshot card and a roll crimp your losing length and room.

Factory loads with their heat treated crimp that seems to "weld" the center would be problematic. But reloaded rounds should open right up.

I've used the BPI Trim Cutter to disassemble loads and cut 2 3/4" hulls to 2 1/2". I think it runs about $30.00+.

I bought a gizmo at Lowes that is for cutting PVC pipe and it is a pliers like tool, it works pretty well. I like to open my shells up right below the crimp so the wad doesn't get gooned. My original PVC cutter had too big a gap in the dead side so I had to make the cut further down the hull and most times I couldn't get all the way around and end up at the beginning in the same groove, so that sucked. This new tool does a better job,but it still isn't what I'm looking for..

I have the BPI trim tool and it isn't all that, either.

The problem is that if you are recycling rounds that have bad crimps, there really isn't anything to index the hull on so you can get a consistent cut. It's like you need a sleeve to put on the hull so the length to the cut is set off the rim of the hull instead of trying to index off the front of the hull which is usually not right and probably the reason why you are cutting the thing apart in the first place.

Maybe I'll work on this?

Randy

I made an inertia puller out of iron pipe. I had several hundred 16 factory loads that got oil dumped on them. I wanted to salvage the hulls as well as components. It was tedious but did work. I did the job over a couple days to not over load my shoulder.

Thanks for the advice guys. Turns out my father has a “Kirdo” brand shell cutter which is quite similar to some of the commercial products mentioned. It’s a die cast clamp with a length stop and a razor blade where you put the shell in against the stop, clamp down and then rotate the shell to slice around the circumference.
It’s one at a time and best done in small doses. I’m almost 50% through the 12 gauge and quit before I get blisters. I’ll have to make an adapter to cut smaller sized shells. Fortunately there are less of the small gauges.
Shot appears to all be 8’s or 7 1/2. Powder is various types of flake, and is all dumped into one bin for the 4th of July. I’ll deprime the bull bases to save the primers.
I do feel bad cutting up all these reloads. There is a mix of hulls, some factory ammo mixed into boxes, but the bottom line is I just don’t know what’s in the shells or who loaded them and I can’t think of which of my guns I’d want to put at risk by shooting an unknown. (Not to mention myself).

It’s hot and humid here today so my gunroom in the basement is the most comfortable place to be.
I kept going back to the 12 gauge pile and doing a box at a time.
16 1/2 pounds of salvaged shot later, that pile is done. Except I still need to deprime the bases.
As a bonus I looked at the couple boxes of 16 gauge and am confident they are both factory ammo. I even cut one apart to look at the components and it reinforced my belief. That was a bonus.

I use a band saw, just zip off the rolled part of the crimp, center then pops out. Takes seconds!

I have used 3/4 pvc pipe cut to length and a razor knife to remove the crimp.
swamp

A corkscrew works pretty well.

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Originally Posted by lesharris

PVC pipecutters work just fine. Watch powders are different.

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It's what I use. I have had to rotary tumble some reclaimed shot cuz' it was clumped together. A little graphite gets it to feeding correctly from the loader.

I've used the table saw on a batch of old paper hulls.

I drilled 4 through holes the diameter of a 12 gauge hull but smaller than the rim in a block of wood that was as wide as the hull and thick enough that a saw cut that would cut the hull would not cut the block in two.

4 hulls inserted in the block, block placed against the fence with head of the hull against the fence to hold them in.

I used two push sticks to feed the block through the table saw, one to keep the block against the fence, one to push forward though the blade.

And both push sticks to keep me from being nicknamed "stumpy".

Ended up with two pieces, shot end and powder end. By setting the fence to cut through the cork and cardboard wad everything was contained and I could pop out the wads with a nut pick easily to salvage the shot and dump the powder.

Some of the primers were salvaged, some were left in the vintage brass bases.

Those went in the polisher then were used to make a clock face. 12 gauge were used for the 12, 3, 6 and 9. I did the same with some ancient 410 hulls. Those got used at all the remaining 8 positions. I used a piece of rough sawn white oak that was 12+ inches wide.

dont sweat the shot sizes..mixed shot works fine... good to hear you are reusing the shot....primers,not so much...but be CAREFUL when you pop them out and PLEASE wear safety glasses and earmuffs.... make sure there is no powder anywhere around.
easy to run a stanley knife,sharp pocket knife around the front of the rim of the crimp...the crimp in one bit comes out of the way and easy to tip out the shot.if you not reusing the shell itself,the options are endless.

Caution on reusing the primers. All 209 primers are not the same.

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Originally Posted by Half Dog

Caution on reusing the primers. All 209 primers are not the same.

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I've recycled well over a 1000 rifle, pistol and shotgun primers over the years. Had probably 3 rifle primers go off. I've still got all my fingers and both my eyes so I guess I've got the safety thing worked out.

Recycled primers typically get used for fire forming cases or light loads in cast boolit cartridges. 4.4 grains of Clays in a 45-70 under a Lyman 457122 kind of loads.

Shotgun is light skeet practice loads, 3/4 oz. twelve and twenty gauge loads. Strongest magnum 209 primer is unlikely to cause much problem in pussycat loads.

OK I stumbled onto something today at Lowes that works so good I have to tell everyone about it.

It is a PVC Pipe Cutter called the "Snake Bite." it is located in the PVC Pipe Aisle at Lowes.
Attachment 303752

The advantage this thing has is that the razor blade is fully supported and the opposite side from it is solid so the shell is completely supported during the cut so it can't wander off willy nilly and not meet up on the next revolution. First one I've seen like this as most cutters have a Slot opposite the blade, that won't support he hull, that is only stuck in the tool far enough to cut the top off
Attachment 303753

I did this shell that had a botched crimp. It cut the top off perfectly about 1/8" for the end of the shell. Everything in the shell was salvaged except the .05 hull that had already been loaded 5-6 times.
Attachment 303754Attachment 303755Attachment 303756Attachment 303757

Here's the bag it came in and for $12 you can't go wrong. Attachment 303759

Hope this helps some of you Shell Salvagers out there.

Sorry the Pics are sideways, they came off my phone and I had to work to get them into my computer.

Randy

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Originally Posted by Hogtamer

A sharp pocket knife works fine

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That's what I used when I bought a duffle bag full of reloads from the flea market that had gotten wet. I pretty much just saved the shot and wads, but I got 30+ pounds of shot for 20 bucks.

I wish someone would make a kinetic puller for shotshells. People sometimes give me boxes of shells and IDK if they're reloads or factory. It's hard to tell since they are old. I ere on the side of safety, and pull the shot.

Sent from my SM-A515U using Tapatalk

That's a cool tool Randy. I need to get one. I usually dismantle them in my lathe using an Exacto knife in the tool holder. An old stainless steel mixing bowl under it catches the cut end and the shot and I pull the wad with a dental pick. I trim hulls down like this and it is very accurate. Tedious but worth it most times. Thanks, Squid Boy