Author |
Message |
< 16ga. Ammunition & Reloading ~ What shells are best for reloading |
|
Posted:
Sat Jan 23, 2016 9:05 am
|
|
|
Member
Joined: 25 Oct 2012
Posts: 30
Location: Dutchess County, New York
|
|
I found a problem with Cheddite hulls on my MEC Sizemaster and discovered that others had the same problem before me. Both new and once fired Herter's hulls. The problem was crushed or ugly crimps and the solution is to take a Dremel sanding drum to the inside of your MEC plastic pre-crimp spindex and reduce the long internal starter ridges back to match the length of the shorter ridges. Not the star pattern itself but the ridges along the side of the spindex. Crimps are much better after doing this.
OBTW, some, if not all, Winchester 16 ga shells use Cheddite hulls too. |
_________________ NRA Endowment Life Member, Vietnam Veterans of America Life Member & American Legion PUFL |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted:
Sat Jan 23, 2016 9:42 am
|
|
|
|
Dogchaser37 wrote: |
I knew it.........there is a PURPLE Federal shell in there..........Campbell you are a closet purple freak!!!!!
|
I thought our 16 gauge group had a family meeting and determined we shouldn't bring up Mike's severe purple fettish in public.
Has that been lifted? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted:
Sat Jan 23, 2016 12:13 pm
|
|
|
Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2005
Posts: 6535
Location: massachusetts
|
|
4setters wrote: |
Ole hard-head here has been reloading 16 gauge since the mid-60s, starting with a Lee Loader and paper Federal Monarks at the kitchen table at night. My brother and I loaded and shot a case (20 boxes) at quail over semester break from college in about 1971 using this method.
Whether new or re-loaded, shells need to function in a gun. My first shotgun, a Nobel pump, would not cycle most new shells, let alone reloads--that is, until I found Mark V Winchester CF's. And with 50+ years of reloading, the various renditions of CF Winchesters leave all other hulls in the dust in my opinion. I'm still loading a number of Upland and CF Expert low base hulls purchased in the 1970s as well as lots of old Mark V's. Plastic Federal hulls came out about this time--they were poor hulls for reloading then and they (unchanged) are poor hulls now (split and swollen bases, split tubes, split crimp petals). Remingtons were somewhat better then, with thicker hulls, and are somewhat better now, but still a long way from CFs.
The current steel hulled straight walled hulls are poor in my opinion. In addition to the cracks, splits, blown petals, etc., found when firing new or newly reloaded hulls, the issue of "brass" swelling is a real problem with these hulls. Unless you have a collet type re-sizer on your reloader (or an independent collet resizer), these hulls tend to swell after firing and cause lots of extraction problems in many guns. My BPS won't shoot any of them consistently. No fun taking the barrel of your gun to extract a split/swollen hull when game birds are in the air.
Winchester CFs, with their tapered cases and actual brass (except some later shells) do not swell to any extent, the CF hulls don't split and its rare on the 8-star crimp promo Dove and Quail (or R & S) to see a split in the crimp petals. I can't ever recall having a extraction problem with CF hulls in any gun I've ever used them in in the last 50 years. On the other hand, I've had lots of problems with cheddite-type new shells, including Fiochii (especially), Rio, Nobel, Winchester, PMCs, Bismuth Cartridge, etc. I have reloaded all of these with SG wads and consider them poor excuses for reloads. Junk, in my opinion.
I've trained my bird dogs to hunt "dead" and they do a great jog of finding downed birds. Now, if I could train them to find my Winchester CF hulls in the tall grass/bushes where they land after coming out of a pump or autoloader, I would have it made! I've been known to spend about as much time looking for CF empties as looking for dead birds--don't want to leave any of them behind! Or use double barrels instead!
With a computer and sharp eyes, Winchester CF hulls can still be found. There are some on Armslist about any time you want to look, and I've seen them in gun shops and at gun shows. Dogchaser and others may prefer the new Cheddites, but give me CF's. I prefer to see shells fly from the breech when fired.
|
We hear you 4setters. Problem. They're forever gone from the market. All we have now is promo grade hulls. They certainly are junk in comparison, but we've learned to live with them. They all can be reloaded and shot fairly well if we take the time to find out how best to do it. Just how it is. It's a perfect example of adapting or being passed over by time. I'd rather stay ahead of the extinction factor myself. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted:
Sat Jan 23, 2016 2:10 pm
|
|
|
Member
Joined: 19 Nov 2013
Posts: 381
Location: NW Arkansas
|
|
16gguy, I guess if I was trying to make a point, it was that if you reload for hunting purposes, with reloads in the low hundreds per year, there is still some opportunity to enjoy the best, i.e., Winchester CFs. Not too long ago fn16 offered several flats for sale and they weren't "grabbed up" immediately. After about a week or ten days, I contacted him and he still had 2-3 flats for sale, so I bought one, even though I probably didn't need them. I'm still scratching my head as to why they weren't jumped on immediately, if not sooner.
If you reload to bust clay, and shoot thousands or tens of thousands of rounds per year, then CFs are probably out of the question. I doubt if a person could cobble together that many purchases to satisfy the need--and it would be a miracle if a large stash of CFs every surfaced. However, as I recall, fn16 had 5-6 flats for sale--not a bad start! And even if you did, they would wear out pretty quick with high-volume shooting, so one would be looking for another gold mine. Stick with Cheddites, Rems, Federals, etc. for this need. Or buy cheap factory loads.
What few clay pounders I know generally shoot cheap factory loads anyway. Years ago, shotshell reloading was a good way to save money--now one can buy low velocity shells cheaper than he can reload them in most cases. $50 a bag lead puts the whammy on reloading in a hurry--thank goodness I'm sitting on lead that cost about $15 in the day!
However, when I drive 1-3 days to hunt Chinese chickens, chukar, gray pats, ruffed grouse, etc., you can bet I'll have Winchester CFs in the magazine and vest. No powder migration, no split "brass", no chambering or extraction problems, no bad crimps (with Dove and Quail 8-star), no sweat.
If I didn't have a big stash of CFs, I'd probably quit reloading. |
_________________ 16 gauges:
1954 Win M12 IC
1952 Ithaca M37 Mod
1955 Browning Auto-5 Mod
1940 Ithaca NID M/F
1959 Beretta Silver Hawk
Ranger 103-II M/F
Browning A-5 Sweet 16
Browning Citori Invector
Rem 870 Remchoke |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted:
Sat Jan 23, 2016 2:22 pm
|
|
|
Member
Joined: 16 Nov 2006
Posts: 1338
|
|
|
Last edited by mike campbell on Fri Jul 26, 2019 2:40 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted:
Sat Jan 23, 2016 3:43 pm
|
|
|
Member
Joined: 08 Aug 2011
Posts: 1946
Location: Central CT
|
|
I think, THINK, that you are one messed (being nice here) up cowboy, Mr. Campbell.......not that it's a bad thing!!!!!
......and who are you kidding there is an open seat for you........you must have been the photographer!! |
_________________ Mark |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted:
Sat Jan 23, 2016 3:46 pm
|
|
|
Member
Joined: 08 Aug 2011
Posts: 1946
Location: Central CT
|
|
There must have been some alcohol involved at that party. |
_________________ Mark |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted:
Sun Jan 24, 2016 1:08 pm
|
|
|
Member
Joined: 25 Oct 2012
Posts: 30
Location: Dutchess County, New York
|
|
Hijacking a hijacked thread , I think the best hulls to reload are free ones given to you by friends.
Cheapest 16 gauge loaded shells are the Herter's brand from Cabela's when they have a sale on and also offer free shipping. They use purple Cheddite hulls. Cheddite seems to supply most other brands in 16 gauge, except for Remington. I think all but Remington are straight walled hulls and load more or less like Cheddite hulls.
All my $0.02 and results may vary. |
_________________ NRA Endowment Life Member, Vietnam Veterans of America Life Member & American Legion PUFL |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted:
Fri Jan 29, 2016 11:43 am
|
|
|
Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2005
Posts: 6535
Location: massachusetts
|
|
mike campbell wrote: |
Dave Erickson wrote: |
Dogchaser37 wrote: |
I knew it.........there is a PURPLE Federal shell in there..........Campbell you are a closet purple freak!!!!!
|
I thought our 16 gauge group had a family meeting and determined we shouldn't bring up Mike's severe purple fettish in public.
Has that been lifted?
|
Ya know.... I used to feel welcome at the table. Now I learn you're holding meetings behind my back.
|
Geez!! Somebody's forgetting their Emily Post here. Always remember--pinkies out girls, pinkies out. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted:
Mon Feb 08, 2016 9:48 am
|
|
|
Joined: 07 Apr 2007
Posts: 1624
Location: northwewst Wyoming
|
|
Mark wrote, "I think, THINK, that you are one messed (being nice here) up cowboy, Mr. Campbell.......not that it's a bad thing!!!!! "
Easy there Mark, my world is surrounded by cowboys and none of them dress like those … what ever they are. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted:
Mon Feb 08, 2016 11:55 pm
|
|
|
Member
Joined: 08 Aug 2011
Posts: 1946
Location: Central CT
|
|
jschultz, who knows what goes on in Mr. Campbell's mind. |
_________________ Mark |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
All times are GMT - 7 Hours |
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|