16ga.com ~ View topic - any effective shell disassembly techniques?

Joined: 28 Jan 2007 Posts: 129 Location: hong kong

I have about 75 shells that are suspect, and i am faced with the daunting task of opening them all up for re-build.

My technique is to use an old dentist tool to get the crimp open a little and then use curved needle nose pliers to fully open the crimp.
I use the pliers to pull out the wad as well.

This works well for one or two shells, but is pretty time consuming.

Do any of you have an alternative method that you might recommend?

Member Joined: 28 Oct 2005 Posts: 665 Location: Louisiana

Are you trying to 'save' the hulls?

Joined: 28 Jan 2007 Posts: 129 Location: hong kong

Woodcock, yes ideally I would like to save and reload the hulls.

Member Joined: 28 Oct 2005 Posts: 665 Location: Louisiana

Uh oh.......ajax I can't think of any way to convienently disassemble your loads. Hang around though, there is a wealth of talent and information on this site and some enterprising member may just have your solution.,
Sorry I couldn't be of assistance. Sad

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2357 Location: West MI

Maybe send 3 of them to Tom Armbrust for testing and see if they are dangerous to shoot. If safe then either hunt them or go practice on some clays. If unsafe, sorry, I have no secret magic about easy dismanteling other than to add to the above; instead of rolling the hull around on a dowel I wiggle/twist a plastic funnel around in the mouth to get the last little bit of crimp open to easily remove the wad, and, use a very small hooked knitting/crochet needle to reach in and hook the edge of the fold crimp to pry/pull open.

I've never needed go into a 75 unit production, Hmmm....maybe hit the crimp area with some heat before starting the dismantel process to soften the plastic a little? Maybe a hair dryer or heat lamp? Then when warm roll them around between your thumb and trigger finger like field dressing a cigarette upside down over a tub to catch the shot or over individual jello shot cups (I use these when verifying a bunch of non tox loads) so you dont have to reweigh each drop. Or if your fingers aren't up to the task roll them under a piece of wood on the edge of the bench over a tub. The fold might start to open enough to dump the shot and a bonus might be that the plastic is soft enough to get a hold of the wad and pull it out. Maybe set em all up under a light so they heat while your rolling the crimps open. It might be worth a try?

To rework a bunch of way too slow 1 3/4oz 10ga Rem steel I carefully cut the fold crimp off with a knife right at the shoulder of the crimp, dump the shot, pull and trim the wad back, dump in 1 3/8oz of #3 and roll crimp. Adds a little speed so they go in the more open barrel over dekes.

Hopefully some of this info helps, Mike

Whats suspect with them? I would think you could take the shot out easy enough and fire with just the wad to empty them.

Member Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 1338

Joined: 28 Jan 2007 Posts: 129 Location: hong kong

Good input from all. These shells have a high percentage of bloopers....some so slow you can watch the lead hunt the clay....it looks like a swarm of bees chasing the clay.

My first approach was to shoot skeet with them, and I tried that on Sunday, I took the approach/attitude that I would focus on my gun mount, shooting low gun and not concern myself with score.

Even though I explained (warned) the crew I was shooting with that there would be some bloopers they had a hard time not reacting to the funny sound, or obviously off shot. It made me unconfortable because the other shooters were uncomfortable.

Mike, I sort of like your idea of weighing each shell and culling the light ones, except I don't have a scale that is sensitive enough. (I have a scale for powder weights, but it does not have the range to accept the hull weight.)

I like the ice pick idea from shootingsioux, for fun I will see how many shells per beer i can do at the "picnic table production line".

Who knows if I work slowly this could be fun, and if i work very slow I may not even recall all the work.

AjaxFjr.

Why not use the ice pick, dump the shot and then weigh the hull?
Jim

Member Joined: 06 Nov 2005 Posts: 328

As others have said. Dump the shot and shoot.

Joined: 07 Oct 2008 Posts: 74 Location: MO Ozarks

I've found a corkscrew (just one of the el cheapo ones, not some fancy thing!) is the best tool for opening the crimp. As someone else said however, it is a slow process. Simply screw the corkscrew in about 1 1/2 turns, then lift the crimp up. I'd hold the hull over a pan, as you are almost guaranteed to spill shot at one time or another.

I disassembled about 200 12 ga. hulls and salvaged all components, including the hulls. Probably took about 5 hours total.

Good luck.

Joined: 28 Jan 2007 Posts: 129 Location: hong kong

For those who enjoy the experience, it took me 2 500ml Creemores(microbrewery).

I used shootingsioux's method with a sharpened phillips screwdriver. I then rolled the shell with the handle of the screwdriver on a dowel that had been sharpened slightly to allow ease of entry.

They turned out well. Ready for reload, and I salvaged all the lead wads and powder.

going forward Note to self: measure twice crimp once.

happy reloading, unhappy un-reloading.

ajaxFjr.

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2357 Location: West MI

[quote="ajaxfjr"][color=blue]going forward Note to self[/color]: measure twice crimp once.quote]

HA HA....I like that, should be on a t-shirt available at PR or BPI for reloaders Laughing

then under it should read "its a reloader thing"