WestKentucky
Member
I’m about to embark on loading 16ga shells. I have loaded 20 ga just a bit on a ponsness warren press but this is going to be a whole new animal. I need to start from scratch.
From what I know about my gun and my experience with handgun and rifle I am thinking that I may be better off starting with the brass hulls from Magtech. My reasoning for this is that I know I am going to be shooting low pressure shells that are 2-9/16” measured from he breachface to the forcing cone. The forcing cone is short and steep so it is certainly an old school barrel. Rumor is that these old barrels don’t perform well with modern shot wads and such, but that is fine because I would rather shoot with overshot cards and a traditional type shotshell construction. I’m thinking that a cork or card on top of the stack would likely be easiest to crimp in place with a light roll crimp just to hold the card. I could then seal with a quick dip in parafin wax.
My other option is cheddite hulls and a more modern shell construction. To do this I would be shooting a much shorter shell which may eliminate a need to use filler material, but would require me to buy hulls, cut them to length, and buy a roll crimping tool because I can’t find a tool to fold crimp a shell that short.
So, as a low volume (100 shells a year) reloader, which direction would you go? I’m leaning heavily towards brass hulls as I can make the crimping tool myself and at the expense of a couple of the brass hulls I could make card cutters to get my overshot cards and cardboard or cork wads for underneath.
I will likely load with pyrodex or triple 7 as black powder substitutes seem appropriate for my gun. I like the idea of trailboss but have not heard good things about using it in shotshell loading.
Buying factory short shells isn’t an option for me. Not because they aren’t available, that’s just too easy. I like challenges and this gives me an excuse to build a reloading setup from scratch.
From what I know about my gun and my experience with handgun and rifle I am thinking that I may be better off starting with the brass hulls from Magtech. My reasoning for this is that I know I am going to be shooting low pressure shells that are 2-9/16” measured from he breachface to the forcing cone. The forcing cone is short and steep so it is certainly an old school barrel. Rumor is that these old barrels don’t perform well with modern shot wads and such, but that is fine because I would rather shoot with overshot cards and a traditional type shotshell construction. I’m thinking that a cork or card on top of the stack would likely be easiest to crimp in place with a light roll crimp just to hold the card. I could then seal with a quick dip in parafin wax.
My other option is cheddite hulls and a more modern shell construction. To do this I would be shooting a much shorter shell which may eliminate a need to use filler material, but would require me to buy hulls, cut them to length, and buy a roll crimping tool because I can’t find a tool to fold crimp a shell that short.
So, as a low volume (100 shells a year) reloader, which direction would you go? I’m leaning heavily towards brass hulls as I can make the crimping tool myself and at the expense of a couple of the brass hulls I could make card cutters to get my overshot cards and cardboard or cork wads for underneath.
I will likely load with pyrodex or triple 7 as black powder substitutes seem appropriate for my gun. I like the idea of trailboss but have not heard good things about using it in shotshell loading.
Buying factory short shells isn’t an option for me. Not because they aren’t available, that’s just too easy. I like challenges and this gives me an excuse to build a reloading setup from scratch.