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Joined: 28 Sep 2008 Posts: 168

does have any experience reloading the S&B's? I bought a case cheap but when i resize they hang up in the resize tube. also primers wont seat except by using the 3" ring from my 20 ga loader. I'm new to loading and any advice is appreciated.

Joined: 03 Apr 2008 Posts: 69 Location: Finland

I did ask directly from S&B factory, and they confirmed they make their own hulls (not very common I think?).
For reloading, hulls can´t be directly compared to cheddite/fiocchi etc. other hulls because of their special structure.
As you can see basewad has very high "walls" inside hulls.

People has reloaded them more or less succesfully in Finland for ages, but I haven´t seen any tested recipe for 16g.

I always test a new, unlisted shell to determine it's internal volume before attempting to reload any. I trim 5 cases back to exactly 2-1/2 inches OAL just below the crimp folds. I make sure the cut line is even and dead square for all test hulls. I weight the hulls empty and record the results for each. I then fill each with water so the miniscus is even with the end and weigh it again. I then subtract the empty weight from the full weight for each. The result is the weight of the water for each hull, which I then average. I then take this figure and compare it to the results from other hulls I've tested by the same process.

All modern plastic 16 ga hulls tend to fall into two groups. Each of these two groups contain shells with volumes that fall within 1 percent plus or minus of each other. The max range of difference will not exceed 2% overall. The first is the Cheddite type hulls like Fiocchi, the new Winchester polyformed hulls w/ plastic base wads, Federals, Cheddites, etc. The other is made up of shells with slightly smaller internal volumes like the Remington GL polyformed hulls w/plastic base wads, Winchester compression formed onepiece AA types, etc. The small volumetric differences between hull types within each group can be ignored for most practical applications.

Each group of shells can safely share the same basic reloading data for all moderate loads without any problems. Simply stay at or below 9200 PSI data specs. and you will be on safe ground. I also recommend not to mix different hulls within a group if you want to maintain uniform results for each batch of loads. It can be done safely, but velocities and patterning will be affected, and the results may not be what you want.

However, please note. It is important stay with the specified hull if loading from any existing safe published data that produces pressures above 9200 PSI. So if you want to work up a high pressure/high performance load, then do not randomly select a hull from within one of the two groups or you might end up going above SAAMI pressure recommendations. This is simple common sense.

My technique makes it possible to safely reload any given hull that has a known internal volume using moderate pressure data developed for any other shell with an internal volume within the 2% overall guideline. The small differences like internal shape, wall thicknesses, relative firmness of the plastic walls, etc do not affect pressures enough to produce dangerously high pressures if you stay at or below the 9200 PSI mark to begin with.

Of course, I'm referring to reloading data developed for a modern 16 gauge shotguns made of good strong steel and in good safe condition. I'd certainly not recommend this practice for pre WWII era shotguns of any type. Older guns with considerable wear and use on them require extra caution for obvious reasons.

Joined: 03 Apr 2008 Posts: 69 Location: Finland

Interesting thing is, that if you use small amount of non-bulky powder, wad is seated towards those high plastic walls, not powder. What about that? Not recommended I believe?

I have not made any experiments with these, but I will in future.

These are widely (if not most) available hulls in Finland, I bet whole europe too. Also on paper.

You can get the same wads S&B use in their loads. These are not Gualandi or Gualandi clone wads. They are the 16 gauge Z wads BPR sells. The Z series wads have a better design IMO with deeper shot cups which protect the shot column far better. The last I heard, the domestic importer/distributer of S&B ammo was planning to bring in the wads as well. I have forgotten their name and phone number off the top of my head, but its listed on the internet.

Joined: 28 Sep 2008 Posts: 168

thanks for the info. ibelieve that i will use these as hunt loads in my A-5 and only pick up the easy hulls.I'll save them until info is available.