black powder shotgun loads?

[REELFOOT REGULATOR]

Do black powder loads tend to expand the hull a little more than the average smokeless target load? My chambers have been polished, but sometimes the hull is a little sticky. I am using AA hulls
thanks Reelfoot

[Arcey]

The chambers of both of my dual exhaust scatter guns have been polished 'n the seldom refuse ta leggo of smokeless stuff.

They both start hangin' hulls after the third stage with BP.  I've taken ta bustin' 'em down after the third stage 'n swabbin' 'em out.

That's with plastic AAs and Remington STS hulls.

[Bushwack Bill]

With all but the metal, ie brass or Russian copper plated steel, shotgun hulls tend to stic in the chambers cause the hulls don't seal with BP as well as they seem to do with smokeless.  At least thats the way I've had it happen to me.

[Calamity Jane]

I shoot 35g with a WW white wad under 7/8 Oz of shot in me 20 Ga (purdy light) and them hulls just slip right out.

In my 12 Ga, I use 54g under a red wad'n' I have to fish every one of them out with my finners.

I suspect the difference lies in the shape of the chambers. I'm purdy sure my 20 Ga has a little more taper than the 12

[Paper Chaser]

Reelfoot, I use a chamber brush after every stage and it really helps.  Got the idea from Tequila.

[Texas Tall]

I've been using AA hulls 55gn FFF, Red Win wad and 1oz 7 1/2 shot for a number of years now and a bit of a scub every 2nd or 3rd stage, rarely a problem
Regards..........T.T.

[Tangle Eye]

Reelfoot - I don't have trouble with my little Russian shotgun with either BP or smokeless loads.  I did polish the chambers some a long time ago.  I also made sure the extracters worked freely, etc. As far as expanding more I can't say.  I know black is hotter cause is sometime burns pinholes in the plastic hulls. I have an idea black goes a bit faster with more of the gas pressure closer to the chamber. But then - I don't know the internal ballistic stuff too well.

I wonder - are the hulls once fired or have the been used a bunch?  Maybe that has something to do with it.  Then again, maybe its just something introduce to slow you fast shooters down. 

[Cuts Crooked]

Ok, here's the deal as I unnerstand it.....but don' git ta thinkin' I'm an xpert or nuthin like dat, OK?

First 'n foremost: Plastic hulls; they are nice! But they wuzn't designed fer BP! They came along a LOOOONNNNGGG time after that wierd smokeeless stuff was the industry standard. They wuz designed fer stuff that hits it's peak pressures much quicker, and higher, than BP! Now..I ain't sayin they won't werk wif BP, in fact they do, and in some cases they are flat out fabulous! In fact my favorite hulls fer BP loadin' are the AAs! (mostly because the cost of brass hulls is prohibitive and paper won't "shuck" outta my ancient Crescent as nicely as the AAs do...and not to mention that AAs come outta the dumpster at the local range fer free!) But still, they were designed fer smokeeless. So wat? Well, now we come to the innerestin' stuff: Heat!!!!! Guess wat? in spite of all you have read and heard about how much hotter BP is, it AIN"T! In truth BP burns cooler than smokeless! But it's burn rate is so much slower that it has more time to transfer that heat to the material surrounding it! So it SEEMS like yer powder is burning hotter but it ain't, yer gun gets hot faster because the heat is transferred to barrel better with that slower burn rate. With smokeless the heat/pressure impulse is so quick that it doesn't have a much chance to do the heat transfer thing. (sorry if that don't make sense but it's the truth! Hunt down some of the real experts on BP like The Mad Monk fer more on that) Combine the slower burn rate with lower pressure and you get something that gives fits to the pards who shoot .45 lever guns, blowback! Yup! some of that fouling is going to get back into the chamber and make things a little stickey! So the chamber brushing idea above is a very good one!

Other things that affect this particular problem are many and varied. For instance, later model guns have longer forcing cones and/or longer chambers than old ones like my Crescent, these guns do better with plastic wads, both in the amount of fouling getting back into the chambers and in patterning on the business end. With the older guns the shorter jump through the forcing cone and/or shorter chamber cut down a millishake of time during the shot/wad/powder passing through  the area, leaving less time for fouling get back into the chamber area. So I'd stick with card&cushoin wads in the real old timers, besides they seem to pattern better with the wads they were designed for back then.

Things that I have found that help: Well polished chambers is a biggy! Finding the right combination of wads that werks well in yer particular gun (that's part of the fun of BP fer me..xperimenting!), and I've found that a drop of Ballistol smeared on the hulls jist before I put em in my shell belt will make those hulls come outta there slicker than a greased eel sliding on wet teflon!

werk with YER gun a bit and find out wat does the trick fer IT! It's fun and the reward is personal satisfaction when ye find the golden solution....and better times on the line too!

[French Jack]

I used AA hulls that were once fired before I got them, then loaded them with 1 1/8 shot, powder charge dipped with same dipper as shot, a RED AA Wad, and they worked perfectly.  Used them for quite a while before I went to the Magtech Brass Cases.  Never had a problem with them.  They worked for several loadings before the crimp started splitting out.  I can say that the old hulls lasted a LOT longer-- guess they changed them so they could sell more.

[Tangle Eye]

Hey Cuts - I like the comment about a dab of Ballistol.  That stuff can cure just about anything!