doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com WW Featherweight 12 ga shells

I have a flat of these, so believing all the stories that 2 3/4" low pressure shells can safely be fired in a 2 1/2 modern British 12 bore, I took my Billy Evans to a sporting shoot last Sunday,, fired two of these shells, nice, no recoil, but I had really great difficulty opening the gun. No firing pin drag marks.
Today, I got out some Flatwater 2 1/4" handloads based on Federal Gold Medal paper hulls and the Evans opened fine after shooting them.
Anyone have an idea why my gun was almost impossible to open using Win AA featherlights? They will not cycle my 1100.
mike

I have this same problem with my Fox. I have yet to experiment, but have been told it is the soft Winchester primers. It has been recommended I use Remington shells or primers. I bought a case but haven't done the shooting. It seems a common malady with some guns.

sounds like very high pressure, causing the case to expand to the point that it is jamming in the chamber? try shooting the shells in a similar gun with 2 3/4" chambers and see if you experience the same problem.

also, rst makes very nice 2 1/2" shells. you might wish to give them a try.

Mikey, I'm sticking with the Federal Gold paper load you shared with me at Flatwater. Those are the most comfortable shells I've ever fired in any gun.

Glad you like them, David, Old Buddy, sweet shells to shoot indeed.
Did you ever get to pattern them? I found out when I was 14, loading Eley 2 1/2" Grand Prix cases with Greenbat powder vol for vol as black powder, that low velocity shells produce the best patterns with No 7 shot. I'll try Feather weights in my Lanber O/U tomorrow. I suspect the case head might be expanding and causing the problem. Despite all the hoopla I will never shoot 2 3/4 shells in my 2 1/2 guns.
Mike

Mike

Mike, I'd be very skeptical that hull length is the problem, having fired thousands of 2 3/4" hulls in 2 1/2" guns. Some of the Brit shells marked 67 or 67.5 mm are in fact as long as American 2 3/4" hulls (talking fired length). Those Featherweights are supposed to be very low pressure, and they're certainly low recoil and low velocity. Maybe thickness of the brass head?

If you make Flatwater next year, remind me in advance and I'll bring some low pressure Federal 12's in 2 3/4" hulls that they made up for Midway. It'd be interesting to let some of the guys try them in different guns with short chambers and see if there are any issues similar to what you had. I shot those Feds in my 2 1/2" A&N pair without any problems, but have since parted with those guns and currently don't own a short-chambered 12ga.

Mike, try them in a different gun. I was given some of the Winchester Featherweights to try and used them in light English guns without a problem. Greenbat Powder. that brings back memories. I never knew it had been exported. Was it the pale purple powder by Greenwood & Batley? Only problem I had once with opening problems was with some French FOB stuff that has soft primers which allowed the firing pin to pierce through making it difficult to open. Lagopus.....

Lagopus, that Greenbat powder was loaded in England.
I immigrated to Canada in 1976. Yes, it was the purple powder with big granules, Greenwood and Batley,looked like laundry detergent. They made 303 ammunition by the million for the UK Government. GB on the headstamp
I will try these FWs in a Belgian SLNE I have and report back.I hope to make Flatwater next yeat Larry, and I'll try some of these Midway shells, Larry.
I'll also load up some light loads in 2 3/4" Federal Gold Medal paper hulls and try those. The Evans is of 1927 vintage so I'll try it and report back.
Mikey

Just as a thought, I tried my fired Winchester lights in my gun again to see what would happen.

I tried the Remington primers too.

I think that you will find the heads on the featherlites are washed steel, Knock out the primer and see if a magnet still picks up the hull. This will cause some sticking in many guns.

The Rem 1100 will not cycle the Featherlites, that is expected.
The pressure on the featherlites is still a bit higher than the SPECIAL Federal handloads.

Another possibility is the entire primer set back a bit causing the action to tighten up, A way to check this is ENSURE you fire both shells, then drop a cleaning rod down the barrels to impact the inside head of the EMPTY hulls and reset the primer against the action face. Does the gun now open easily?

Mike