doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Low pressure 10 ga.

to answer, a MEC single stage short kit is just a lift for the shells in a few stations, its nice to have but you could use a block of wood or some quarters taped together under the shell to achieve the same result.
The hard part is you need to first find 3 1/2" 10 gauge hulls, and then trim them to 2 7/8". I use a cut off wheel on a small table top drill press and slide the hulls under and across to trim to length.
For hunting loads, I roll crimp on the same drill press. For target loads I fold crimp on the MEC.
Again the issue is components, Remington SP10 wads are out of production for the last several years, maybe they will come back. For target loads, I need to put a 16 gauge felt load inside the plastic wad, but I have plenty of those.
The powders I have been using SR7625, PB and 4756 are all gone, and DGJ is gone too, so no more Sherman Bell articles with data.

Lawrence - Idle curiosity: why do you roll crimp hunting loads rather than fold crimping them on the MEC?

Laurence

the silly answer is that is what Sherman Bell's data published in Double Gun Journal said to do. The more intelligent answer is with a roll crimp, you both have more room in the hull for components (Bismuth shot) and also lower pressure than a star or fold crimp.
None of my short 10's are light weight or particularly fragile but all of them except my Super 10 are over 100 years old.

Understood. Do you have a low pressure target load using any of today's powders that you are willing to share? I have just started using 19.3 gr of High Gun/TiteGroup with 1 1/8 oz of lead, adapted from a 12 ga load, but haven't had it tested yet.

I love everyrhing about Super 10s except what you folks are finding for shells these days. It has kept me from playing now for many years.

I bought a used 10g MEC Steelmaster from the LGS and fitted a homemade short kit using 1/2” plywood and a few washers. Works like a champ. I have one 10 with tight chambers and the resizing collet allows me to adjust resizing. My load is the tried and true 19 grs of RD in hull of choice with a payload of 11/8 oz. Black powder loading on the MEC is easy, with a dipper used to dispense powder. From a friend I bought a short kit for my PW 375. I could never get it to crimp very well, which is why I use the MEC exclusively. Plus on the PW the resizing function is not adjustable. Short 10s are a hoot. I recently picked up a Parker 10 on a #2 frame. It’s probably a pound lighter than the usual Parker 10 on the standard #3 frame. Can’t wait to try it on doves.

One of the best all time short 10 loads is 19.5 grains of red dot a SP10 or BP 1044 wad and 1 1/8 oz of shot. It's about 6700 p.s.i and kills game and clays with authority. It's also easy on your shoulder.

Good luck finding red dot today.

I have 20 pounds of it. A lot of people have it in their powder stores.