Advice on powder for 12 gauge brass shells

[bigpete]

Ha ha no worries mate you might be waiting a while
Another failure this morning this time 25.5gn tb and 8 balls still fizz popped so its some other issue I guess

[bigpete]

I'm using CCI 350's already. I think I'll just stick with the RB loads

[Baronvonrort]

Another failure this morning this time 25.5gn tb and 8 balls still fizz popped so its some other issue I guess

ADI have trail boss data for .223/.243/7mm-08 yet they have nothing for shotguns, it's around 16 gr max for the 7mm-08.

I would try a different powder, still enjoying this thread an pics

[bigpete]

I believe I've worked out what the problem is with my 8 ball load. To fit the extra 2 balls in the case I've had to ditch the fibre wad I was using with my 6 ball load. I reckon that was helping the powder ignite properly by providing extra pressure. All the loads that haven't worked have been lacking the fibre wad ,while every one that does have them works fine.

[bigpete]

I would try a different powder, still enjoying this thread an pics

Yeah but wouldn't it just be the ducks nuts to find one powder that would do everything.
Trail boss works in pistol and rifle, if Pete can get this sorted he's hit the trifecta

Exactly what I'm trying to achieve

[Baronvonrort]

I would try a different powder, still enjoying this thread an pics

Yeah but wouldn't it just be the ducks nuts to find one powder that would do everything.
Trail boss works in pistol and rifle, if Pete can get this sorted he's hit the trifecta

Exactly what I'm trying to achieve

I suspect ADI have tried it, I am getting too old to reinvent the wheel so I prefer to let others do all the hard work.

The pop fizzes would s**t me to tears.

[bigpete]

Alright went out this morning with a batch of test loads both had 25.5gn Trailboss,Styrofoam over powder wad,then one had 1 half inch cushion was and 505gn size 4 shot,the other had 2 half inch cushion wads then a patched round ball.
First load pop fizzed,but cleared the barrel better than previous loads. Second load shoots great ! Think I'll just stick with loading round ball in these brass cases , or use black powder for my shot loads.

[bigpete]

The sportco 81 is a good thing, apparently if you shoot slugs out of it the multi choke will come flying off lol.
Try to find a greener martini shotgun, I love mine, and I've got a heavy rifled barrel to get fitted to it once I scratch up some spare cash.

I know where one of these is for $250 if I was to unscrew the full choke section and just shoot thru the half choke do you reckon it would be alright ?

[bigpete]

Hmmm maybe I'll go put a deposit on it save you some money

[bigpete]

OK so I did a big bunch of shooting with these Tuesday with a mate and accuracy was less than stellar especially once the barrels warmed up. I managed to recover a couple of balls and there ate definite signs of them tumbling in the barrel. I've done a bit of research and found that some people use what they call donut wads to help prevent this , so I guess I'll be making a bunch of them to try out. Experimentation is the key ! ( especially when you can't really afford a rifled shotgun ).

[bigpete]

[bigpete]

On a roll !

IMG_20160729_143823.jpg (1005.13 KiB) Viewed 5075 times

[bladeracer]

Gday I'm currently loading magtech 12 gauge brass shells...

Hey Pete, where can I get 12 gauge brass shells in Oz?

[bigpete]

Got mine thru Gregs guns in Murray bridge he got them from somewhere in Queensland

[bladeracer]

Gday I'm currently loading magtech 12 gauge brass shells...

Hey Pete, where can I get 12 gauge brass shells in Oz?

I got some at the West gate gun show in Altona. Not sure where you are in Victoria but your LGS should be able to get them in for you.

Thanks guys, I'll get him to order me some in.

[bigpete]

Currently investigating a rifled h&r too shoot these thru

[Oldbloke]

This has been an interesting thread, but Idiot question. What is the advantage of brass shells over plastic. Is it just longivity?

[bigpete]

Probably nothing really. I just like em better

[bigpete]

Big balls hanging out always look sexy

[bladeracer]

This has been an interesting thread, but Idiot question. What is the advantage of brass shells over plastic. Is it just longivity?

I think my only interest is because I can reload them with a simple set of dies rather than have to have another press just for shotshells. If anybody knows of a set of dies for shotshells that I can use in a standard press definitely let me know. Even something like a LeeLoader would be awesome for the small amount of use I might want from it. Birdshot ammo is cheap enough that I doubt it's worth reloading, but I always have shot on hand as I use it to cast bullets and it'd be simple to cast my own slugs and buck when required.

[bigpete]

Mate I don't even used a set of dies, just a press to seat the bullet. It's even easier making shot loads,you just need glue to hold the over shot card in place and its done ! I'll post a series of photos on how I load these soon

[bigpete]

Oh and RCBS sells cowboy action dies that will fit in a Lee press with the quick change set up , but they're pretty expensive

[bladeracer]

Mate I don't even used a set of dies, just a press to seat the bullet. It's even easier making shot loads,you just need glue to hold the over shot card in place and its done ! I'll post a series of photos on how I load these soon

Yep, the same as people reloaded them for decades in the bush, dead easy

[bladeracer]

Oh and RCBS sells cowboy action dies that will fit in a Lee press with the quick change set up , but they're pretty expensive

Yes, those are the only dies I've found so far, but they only work with brass hulls (according to RCBS at least). I'd go with these if I can source the brass hulls. With no resizing and shotgun chamber pressures I'm guessing they'd last forever.

[bigpete]

I personally wouldn't even bother getting any even for loading the brass shells. The only thing I'd find handy would be the shell holder for seating primers but its not entirely necessary. As for loading slugs into target shells,I just cut the crimp off,dump the bird shot, pull the wad and cut the petals off,reseat the was with my homemade slug on top,then dribble hot candle wax on top of that to hold it in. Crude but it works. Making wax slugs works pretty well too but I've never shot any animals with them.

[bladeracer]

I personally wouldn't even bother getting any even for loading the brass shells. The only thing I'd find handy would be the shell holder for seating primers but its not entirely necessary. As for loading slugs into target shells,I just cut the crimp off,dump the bird shot, pull the wad and cut the petals off,reseat the was with my homemade slug on top,then dribble hot candle wax on top of that to hold it in. Crude but it works. Making wax slugs works pretty well too but I've never shot any animals with them.

Yep, I'll get some shells first and then decide whether I need or want the dies.

[bigpete]

But that's out of my gun with no chokes and built like a brick s**t house. Other options would be to dump the powder and take say 10% away and reload with the rest or use field loads with a heavier charge of shot than your slug. My homemade slug weighs in at 510gn whereas a 28 gram target load weighs ~437gn so I actually loaded them using 22gn Trailboss instead of the original powder and they were very mild to shoot. The wax slugs are even easier to get right and shoot surprisingly accurate. We were shooting at targets out past 200m with them out of my old IAC and once we got the drop nutted out we were hitting a target 18" high by about 6" wide pretty regularly.

[bladeracer]

But that's out of my gun with no chokes and built like a brick s**t house. Other options would be to dump the powder and take say 10% away and reload with the rest or use field loads with a heavier charge of shot than your slug. My homemade slug weighs in at 510gn whereas a 28 gram target load weighs ~437gn so I actually loaded them using 22gn Trailboss instead of the original powder and they were very mild to shoot. The wax slugs are even easier to get right and shoot surprisingly accurate. We were shooting at targets out past 200m with them out of my old IAC and once we got the drop nutted out we were hitting a target 18" high by about 6" wide pretty regularly.

I love Trailboss too
I also want to try firing shot out of my .45 calibre muzzle loading rifle.
I'm expecting it to be pretty much like a .410 shotgun.

[bigpete]

I'd expect so. I've made shot shells for my 44 mag using old 303 brass and Trailboss and they are very effective out to 15m with size 8 shot on pigeons but beyond that the rifling spreads the pattern too much. I've even shot a crow with them ! But the only rabbit I shot got down its hole after being shot in the head at 10m so its safe to say they're really only good up to pigeon size critters.

[bladeracer]

I'd expect so. I've made shot shells for my 44 mag using old 303 brass and Trailboss and they are very effective out to 15m with size 8 shot on pigeons but beyond that the rifling spreads the pattern too much. I've even shot a crow with them ! But the only rabbit I shot got down its hole after being shot in the head at 10m so its safe to say they're really only good up to pigeon size critters.

These will just be for fun. I have a good selection of rifles for when I want to kill something cleanly. I shot thousands of birds with the shotgun when I was a kid and one-shot kills were not common. Nowadays, with a shotgun I won't use anything smaller than buckshot for hunting.