[RecoilRob]

Just picked up an odd little shotgun that shoots the 2 1/2" mini-shells. Wondering what is involved in reloading them? Anybody have any experience? Thanks.

[greatgoogamooga]

What gauge is it?

If it were me, and I _had_ to reload, I'd start by checking with the shell manufaturer for any onfo I could get: are they reloadable hulls? what kind of wad, primer, powder, charge, etc.

You might also want to call/e-mail the folks at Ballistic Products (http://www.ballisticproducts.com/) for materials and possible data. They deal with oddball sizes too.

If it is a standard gauge, you should be able to set up a MEC reloader for the shorter height. If you have trouble, MEC is very good at this and can walk you through making the adjustments. Some of the older shells from WAAAAY back came in shorter sizes. I have data for 16 gauge in shorties that used a roll crimp, rather than a fold crimp.


Goog

[RecoilRob]

I erred in my first post. The shells are 12 ga. and 2" OAL loaded. Factory ammo I have onhand is roll crimped with a card over the shot. And, unfortunately, the manufacturer has been out of business for many years. There is some ammo floating around but it will be getting expensive and even more scarce than it is now.

Was playing around in the loading room last night and cut down a 2 3/4" shell to 2 1/4" and think I can modify an old Lee LoadAll II to load them. Will need to cut the final crimper station for the shorter shell and make a spacer for the powder/wad/shot station and crimp starter but it seems pretty easy to do.

The wad will probably end up being a Remington that can hold 1 1/2 oz and has the shortest cushion section of all the wads I have looked at. It will need to be shortened to match the available case length but, again, this shouldn't be a problem.

So!! Things are looking up for making some cheap ammo for the odd little shotgun.

[greatgoogamooga]

You can get roll crimpers and the overshot cards from BP. If you can trim it down to 2 1/4" that leaves you just the right amount of excess material to roll crimp. Data is going to be scarce. I don't know how you are going to get 1 1/2 oz of shot into a 2" hull. I'm thinking 1 oz might be the max.

Goog

[RyanM]

Maybe you could use and reload Aguila mini-shells? They're 1.5" when loaded, though, so a little short. http://www.aguilaammo.com/minishells.htm

[Third_Rail]

Where'd you get the Mag7? I've been looking for one.

[RecoilRob]

I found the gun at the last gunshow in Pittsburgh. I think the dealer said he had another one back at the shop. His # 724-794-1321

Am trying to get some of the Aguila Mini's to try. Should work but, yes, they are a bit short.

And, the wads can hold up to 1 1/2oz in a standard shell. Cutting it down to fit in the 2" will certainly reduce the capacity. Time will tell how much shot we will actually be able to cram in the little guy.

Looked into a roll crimper and that IS a possibility but with drawbacks. Needing overshot card is the biggest one. The chamber is plenty deep enough to handle a folded crimp with the max shell length that will fit in the magazines so that is the approach we will try first.

From reading, the Mag-7 shells were loaded to standard 12ga pressures so powder weights should be easy to match to the shot charges. Of course, we will start low and work up to the proper velocities.

I'm thinking of a 6 OOBuck load to start. Might actually be able to cram 9 in but that will have to wait for a bit until the wads arrive.

[RecoilRob]

Well, I got a case of the Aguila Mini-shells today and they are aptly named! Tiny little things are only 1 5/16" long and will NOT function through the Mag-7. Drat.....

Now I need to get a new Coach type shottie to burn up the little guys. But, it WOULD be neat if someone could build a scaled down Mag-7 type gun to use the Mini's. Kind of hard to find a purpose for it other than something unusual to show up at the range with.

[Kamicosmos]

I think S&B also has a mini-shell in 12 ga. I'm not sure of OAL though...

Good luck on your search for reloading components! I don't reload for shotgun, so I have no advice for you. sorry. :(

[RecoilRob]

We have ammo!

I resized/deprimed/primed on my trusty old Lee LoadAll II. Trimmed with a Ballistics Products 'Trim Doctor' to 2 1/16". Loaded with 20 grains of Unique under a Remington RP12 wad trimmed .200. 400 grains of #7 1/2 shot (between 7/8 and one ounce) with a BP .030 overshot card and the final roll crimp also by a BP roll crimping tool.

In case anyone is interested in roll crimping ammo with one of these...a suggestion. Per the supplied instructions, the crimper works with a combination of heat and pressure. The heat is supplied by friction and the pressure by you on your drill press. (They say you can use a hand drill...and I tried that. Just say NO to hand drills with this tool)

Well, several cases into the crimping attempts it became evident that the tool works better as it gets warm. It took 6 cases in rapid succession to get the tool hot enough to make the first decent crimp.

Before I attempted any more crimping, I hit the spinning tool with a propane torch for 30 seconds to get it 'too hot to touch' and the cases afterwards crimped effortlessly in about a second per. Nice tool once you get to know how to use it.

When I bought the shotgun, I knew the ammo was somewhere between scarce and unavailable....but figured that I could build my own. Thanks to Ballistic Products Inc. this has proven to be true.

Now, when the cold weather lets up I will try these on Sporting Clays at the local range. Should be fun!