doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Paper Shells still made?

When I started shooting a shotgun 50+ yrs ago there were basically 3 brands available to small town folks; R/P, W/W & Federal. All were paper & federal still used a roll crimp with a "Frangible" top wad. Everyone I knew "Bad-Mouthed" the Feds, but as a young farm boy, they were cheaper, so I used a fair amount of them. I did no extensive pattern testing, but as far as I could tell the squirrel, rabbit & quail population saw no difference, mainly depended on the boy behind the gun, not the brand name on the hull. I started some reloading prior to the intro of plastic & found the Federal hull of that day to be the best of the 3 for re-loading. They were good until would no longer hold a crimp, while base wad deteriation often destroyed the other "Big Two" after a couple of loads. I learned to melt a little parafin in a double boiler & dip the mouths in & could usually get 4-5 loads from the Feds. In order to make a fold crimp I of course had to use a 6-pt starter the first time. Paper hulls had better "Memory" than do plastic so most loaders of the day did not come regularly equiped with a "Point" starter, only a cone which was sufficient for a previously fold crimped paper hull.

I can't stand it anymore! Just ordred a couple flats of Federal paper from Graf's ($$$).

Have some 12S3's around here someplace too... and I'll have to hunt up my crimp starter cone...

Thanks for the thread, guys... cost me money again.

Jonesy,
I've been loading 1oz in a full length Fed paper with a 12S3 (12S0 will work depending on powder volume)and 17.5 gr of Clays with a star crimp. This gives me 6500psi and 1150fps... in a 2 5/8" chamber.

I think you can go down to 7/8 oz with the above recipe if you go to the 12S0. Check pressure.

I also reload the Fed Paper Hull. My favorite 1 oz load is W209 Primer, 18.0 gr's Clays, Windjammer Wad @ 1180 fps and 5800 psi. This is from the Hodgdon website.

If anyone knows were I could get a thousand or two of once fired Fed Paper Hulls please let me know. dss4905@bellsouth.net

Ballistic Products has them in stock right now on their website. Not real cheap when shipping is added, so I prefer to buy new shells and enjoy the first firing myself. Graf's has new shells.

If you want empties, this is the time to find them (just after the Grand). Check your local trap club - some guys are hip deep in hulls and might sell you a thou.

NSSA world shoot starts next week and they will have them by the thousands for sale.
bill

I had trouble W209 primers being loose to the point of falling out in Federal paper hulls. I've bought them from Balistic twice and about half of them looked like they had been reloaded several times.

HojO,

Try the Cheddite primers, just a smidge bigger around and pretty close to W209 pressures, BPI has confirmed this in the past. You should be good to go within reason.

Best,
Mark

Joe,

I have yet to experience the problem with the W209 primer. I have some hulls that are on there third reload.

Bill, thanks for the info about the NSSA

Derrick