Thought I'd ask here too. Not much response to my post in the tss section. I am considering loading brass shells for all my single shot shotguns. 410, 20 & 12 gauge. I figure if I buy tss I won't need so many shot sizes. If I can find a powder good for all three, even better. Making wads and gluing and whatever else, I can figure out. I shoot shotgun very little. I'm going to try to do more, but it will only take 5-10 shells at a time to more than meet my needs. What do you think? Is there a good source book on doing this? I like having a written source when I start something new. I still refer to my reloading manuals years later.
Unless your loading black powder there is no advantage to loading brass.
Advantages
Brass you can put in the dishwasher and remove corrosive black powder residue.
Disadvantages Lack of data for brass hulls and rifle primers Fitment of wads all plastic wads suitable for TSS will be loose Cost, you can find a lifetime supply of Free hulls at the local trap range
I guess to each his own. I shoot thousands of shotshells every year and have never even considered using brass shells. I reload all of my shotshells, but I enjoy shooting them more than reloading them.
On rare occasions someone at our range will shoot blackpowder shotshells and the novelty ofa big cloudof white smoke is funny. I've only seen those reloads using plastic shells.
Generally speaking, brass shells use wads that are one size larger, ie. a 12 ga brass shell will use 11 ga wads. Charge is not a mystery. Shotshells are labeled with drams equivalent smokeless loads, so a 3-1/4 dram equivalent means the smokeless charge is equal to 3-1/4 drams of black powder, which is a mild load.
There is a company who make lathe turned brass hulls. They take shotgun primers. They use regular loading components. The have heavier brass walls.
I sent out a message over the weekend to them, asking to price and bill me for 10 of each of three sizes. I am quite sure, if I can get them, they will work and hold value.
I've used 444 brass in my 410. Once fired and not resized fit the old h&r pretty well. Use a chamfer tool to sharpen a case and cut your own over shot wads from card stock. I used a regular win 410 wad underneath. Glue the overshot on with a dab of gorilla glue.
I've been looking at this too. Magtech makes brass shells that use large rifle primers. I have a 20 gauge Lee loader. For hunting loads and a low volume of use. Loading my own during an ammo shortage would be really practical, but there is no published smokeless data.
Generally speaking, brass shells use wads that are one size larger, ie. a 12 ga brass shell will use 11 ga wads. Charge is not a mystery. Shotshells are labeled with drams equivalent smokeless loads, so a 3-1/4 dram equivalent means the smokeless charge is equal to 3-1/4 drams of black powder, which is a mild load.
Using hot melt glue is interesting for sure! I have been loading and hunting with black powder cartridge shotguns for quite some time, and tried danged near everything for sealing the OS wad, I settled on silicone sealant. HOWEVER, my next batch, I am certainly going give the hot melt system a try, thanks for the tip! Cat
Green tube Duco Cement is cheap, easy and very effective. AND, when you shoot there is no residue in the shell mouth. Small bead on the perimeter is all it takes.
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