doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Are 24ga shells readily abvailable in the US

Have a friend with a splendid little Italian? 24 ga SXS hammer gun. He's thinking about having it sleeved to 28 ga so he can reload, but I suggested we try and find a source of 24 ga first. Can't think of a better place to ask than this forum. I ran the Search function for 24 gauge but came up dry. And then if it isn't readily available, is the sleeving feasible and wouldn't it be pretty expensive(all things being relative). Thanks much

No.
Not feasible and very expensive.

I would consider reloading 24 ga brass shells from MagTech. The feedback I got was as long as the chambers are pristine brass shells work great and Magtech isn't real expensive. From what I have seen reloading these is pretty easy. I wish they made
2-7/8" 10ga for my 1901

Fiocchi makes them. You can pick them up through Midwayusa.
http://www.midwayusa.com/browse/BrowsePr...g=653***9217***

Pete

Ballistic Products also sell them

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/products.asp?dept=206

I want a 24 gauge but if and when I get one I will load my own. New primed hulls and Gualandi wads are readily available and BP has load data (albeit very limited) using them.

Skip

I have been using all brass hulls for three years and have loaded a variety of published recipes from the data found in Lyman’s 5th addition Shotshell Handbook and those given to me by Tom Armbruster. Most patterned okay, and I selected those that printed the best and continued in search of excellence. In the end my pattern board displayed beautifully symmetric, evenly dispersed patterns at the velocities I wanted and best of all, the birds drop in a puff of feathers.

Rocky Mountain Cartridge (RMC) is the only mfg. that I’m aware of that makes all brass shotgun shells that use a 209 primer. You can load one piece shot wads or cards and fiber in an RMC hull. RMC will make all brass shotshells to the dimensions of your chamber, regardless of gauge. Mag Tech makes a thinner walled all brass shotgun hull that utilizes LARGE PISTOL PRIMERS. Double Hammer, NO LONGER IN BUSINESS, modified Mag Tech brass to accommodate a 209 primer and added a base wad. I have 25 each of 28 and 16 gauge RMC brass hulls.

The hulls are expensive, RMC gets around $50 for 10 hulls, but will probably last the average hunter a lifetime and can be handed down to your heirs along with the shotgun. Dave, the owner of RMC told me that one of his Cowboy Action customers has loaded his hulls over 3000 times.

Unlike plastic or paper hulls, brass hull expand to the shape and dimensions of the shotgun chamber that they are first fired from, causing a possible fit problem for different shotguns or for that matter different sized chambers in the same gun. Dave can make a re-sizer that will bring the fired hull back to original dimensions. The all brass hulls fit well in either barrel of my 28 gauge two barrel set Parker Reproduction and in either chamber of my 16 gauge AYA.
RMC 3430 Big Horn Ave., Cody WY 307-587-9693

Graf & Son also has 24 ga ammo, once in awhile has a sale on it.

It is easy to convert a MEC 600 to load 24 gauge. I would be more than happy to tell you what you need to do. When I needed to convert a press to load 32 gauge shells Tom Armbrust gave me some advise based on his experience converting 10 gauge MECs to load 8 gauge shells. He can even give you the name of someone that can modify the parts if you can't do it yourself or if you don't have someone locally that can do it for you. If your friend wants to he can pump out 24 gauge shells just as fast and easily as 28 gauge shells.

Skip

If the brass option is chosen and he does resize, remember brass "grows" and will eventually need trimmed