doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Brass shotgun shell reloading

My first post on this BB talked about brass shot shells and this post will speak to my opinions on same. I have been using Hammer Double and RMC brass 16 Ga. shot shell hunting loads in modern shotguns for almost a year. As some of you know Hammer Double, the producer/modifier of Mag Tech brass hulls is no longer in business. During very cold weather both hull types have a common problem and that is the glued in over- shot cards can and will fall, out sending the shot down the barrel. I use Ducco Cement and it may not be very flexible in cold Temps. Are there any glue experts out there?
I think that I have fixed the problem by roughing the inside of the hull near the top with 150 grt. sand paper, which appears to secure the overshot card in place. My last few outing the cards have stayed in place with temps ranging from 20 to just below freezing.
Hammer Double brass has one fault and that is the base wad can fall out and lodge in the barrel. I noticed the base wad had fallen out and was in the bottom of my shell box. The fix is to place the Hammer Double shell in a “V” block and dimple the case in four equally spaced places just above the inner wad.
A problem with the RMC brass hulls is that they are difficult to reloaded on a press. Instead, hand tools such as the Lee Loader work very good.
Most of the hunting loads that I have patterned are from data that Tom Armbruster supplied for Hammer Double and two loads that Tom gave me for RMC loads via the telephone. The data are for 1 and 1 1/8 oz loads using Unique, Herco, IMR 4756 and IMR’s Trail Boss. All patterned good and with the IMR 4756 and IMR Trail Boss patterning beautiful. I have also tried a variety of loads using one piece wads in the RMC hulls with good success.
While the loading of brass hulls requires a little more time and attention to detail than loading paper or plastic hull, I enjoy the process and often in the evening I load those shells that I shot that day.

Thanks, Jim. Your observatios are appreciated by me.

What fibrewads do you use,are you making them self whith a holepipe or can you bye it.

Best reg. Lennart

King Brown,
You are welcome sir.

drever,
Thanks to a friend, I have recently acquired a lifetime supply of Alcan waxed fiber wads. I also have several thousand Circle Fly waxed fiber wads and cannot tell the difference on the pattern board. MY nitro cards and overshot cards are purchased from Circle Fly. I have recently switched from copper plated shot to nickel plated shot because I have been unable to find copper plated shot that was anything more than a wash. An extravagance? Maybe, but how many hunting loads can you shoot in a season and I like the patterns.

I load Mag-Tech 16ga brass shells also, but havn't experienced the troubles that you mention. For glue on the overshot card I use a GE silicon adhesive and the OS card stays in place. Of course I don't experience the temperature ranges that you do, and that may be why I've had no problem with the glue holding.

I'm a little confused about what you are calling a base wad. The cushion wad on top of the over powder card?

Woodsrunner38,
Thanks, I’ll try the GE silicon adhesive and see if it is more stable in cold weather. As I understand it, Mag Tech uses a large pistol primer for igniting the powder and has no inner base wad. The folks at Hammer Double have drilled out the primer pocket to accept a 209 size primer and in the process have inserted a plastic inner base wad.

My Mag Tech shells take a #300 pistol primer. When I bought these I had to use a reamer bit and very lightly ream the sharp edges off the primer holes. I did this very easily and lightly by hand and it wasn't difficult. I use 14ga over powder cards and cushion wads and 13ga over shot cards, all Circle Fly. This works pretty well for me, but in all honesty I can get better, more consistant patterns using Ballistic Products gas seals and plastic shot cups out of my 16ga flintlock fowling pieces.

Woodsrunner38 wrote "This works pretty well for me, but in all honesty I can get better, more consistant patterns using Ballistic Products gas seals and plastic shot cups out of my 16ga flintlock fowling pieces."

Does BPI have gas seals and shot cups that fit Mag Tech brass shells?

I went through the dislodged overshot wad problem for years. I now use a hot glue gun to seal them. Have never had one come loose. Bill

The Ballistic Products catalog doesn't list any for brass shells. I'll call them tomorrow and see if there's a chance of locating these.

BP's new ITX shot looks very interesting. Pretty pricy, too! Probably too new to have any reports on performance, but with duck season open, perhaps someone has tried it and will make comments.