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Flytier
PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 7:40 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Posts: 87
Location: Middle TN

Anybody out there use brass shotshells? I keep seeing them for sale and see the suggestions for cowboy action shooting, but does anyone use them for other purposes like clays, skeet or hunting? It seems like they would be usable in sxs and o/u's, but then how do you reload them? How do seal them?

Thanks,

flytier
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Wolfchief
PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 8:18 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Posts: 782
Location: Indiana

My father-in-law used a Winchester Model 12 among other weapons in the South Pacific in WWII--he was in a recon unit of the 38th Division, Indiana Nat'l Guard. He told me the paper shells would swell with the heat/humidity and they sometimes could get brass shells to use which they felt were reliable. Of course these were in 12 gauge. How they were sealed I don't know.
I do know he saw plenty combat in New Guinea and the Philippines and his favorite weapon was a .45 Thompson submachinegun.

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Tulsey
PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 3:41 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 18 Jan 2005
Posts: 56
Location: tulsa

The brass hulls are easiest to use if only used in one shotgun so you do not have to resize them. Generally they use the old fashioned cardboard wads., You had a hard card wad over the powder. softer filler wads and then a thin card wad on top of the shot that is held in place with something like waterglass aka sodium silicate. Many of the hulls use large pistol primers that have to be punched out and pounded back in. People come up with ways to make the priming process easier.,Some of the hulls use regular primers. Some are so oddball they use Berdan primers. I can't remember exactly what size wad you would use for 16 ga brass hulls, but it would be larger than normal 16 ga wads somethng between 12 and 16 like maybe a 14 ga? wad because the brass hulls have more room inside because they are thinner than a plastic hull. Properly loaded they will work just fine in a pump. Chasing after them form a autoloader would be a pain, but they should work in one ok. They seem better suited to loading blackpowder loads, but some people load smokeless. I have loaded some 20 ga brass, but not any 16. Sort of a novelty, but a lot slower than something I would want to do for skeetshooting.
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clayflingythingy
PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:02 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 311

A friend of mine who is deeply involved in oddball firearms topics has reloaded the Magtech brass shotshells. The biggest problem he reported was the cases would split at the mouth after only a couple firings. If I wanted to do things old timey I believe I would use paper shells!
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jmeili
PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:58 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 23 May 2005
Posts: 26
Location: McFarland, WI

I have reloaded the Magtech brass with blackpowder and had success. But as mentioned above they take large pistol primers and the cards and wads have to be larger because of the thin case walls. The over powder card and wad should be 11 gauge and the overshot card should be 10 gauge. I get my components from Circle Fly and if you give them a call they can fix you up right. I use finger nail polish to seal off the top of the shot card and hold it in place. Adds color too depending on what the wife happens to have!

http://www.circlefly.com/
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woodcock
PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 3:09 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 28 Oct 2005
Posts: 665
Location: Louisiana

I still load some REM/UMC-BEST 16ga. hulls when I feel the need for self-abuse.
Alcan made wads marked on the box "for brass shells" and one can find them at times. The sodium silicate is what I use to seal the over shot card although I've heard of using some of the clear plastic glues (Duco, etc). For my 16, SR4756 is bulky enough and has a wide weight range application.
I'll have to look around the shop, but I think a Brazilian company made brass that used shotgun primers---I'll try to be definite by monday.
Tulsey has given you an accurate picture although I think the wads were 15ga. (BP probably has 'em), and he is on the mark about using one gun for the cases---there is a re-sizer but the only ones I've ever seen were antiques and mighty rare. I tried to resize some with an old Lee Loader sizing ring-----never mind about the result---not pretty.
If you're really determined, drop me a pm and I'll send you an assortment of correct wads and you can 'find out for yourself'.
Robert Stack had an article called BRASS AIN'T CRASS in one of the old shotgun books, I'll try to find the reference.
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