Brass Shotshells

[Sgt. Manse Jolly]

Guys, I have been a member of the Forum for about 4 weeks now and finally need to ask a questions. I load BP in the MagTech Brass Shotshells and so far so good. But, I was wondering if a smokeless powder could be used in them too!

I like shooting BP, but sometime, a nice load with smokeless might be fun. I was just not sure if the cases would take the pressure.

Thanks for the input.

[Silver Creek Slim]

They can withstand smokeless SAAMI pressures. It might be hard finding loading data for them though. Maybe someone else has a source for smokeless loading data.

Slim

[hellgate]

Even though they can handle the pressures, I'd be careful of loading heavy charges in them as they might be harder to extract if they swell into a rough chamber or they might work harden from resizing and split sooner.

[Adirondack Jack]

I did it for a season, but gave up on it and went to 777.

Here's why.   Our BP and subs burn at the same rate regardless of chamber pressure.  Smokeless requires significant chamber pressure to burn properly.  With shotshells, that means compression of the powder.  I ran oversized fiber wads all the way down the stack, pressed em tight to about 50 lbs pressure, and got a decent burn for a few firings, resizing brass after each firing.  Then as the brass work hardened, I began to get bloopers, so the practice was abandoned.  Also, sizing the magtechs involved using a hammer, dowel and a plate with a .795 hole bored in it, and beating em in and out.  It wasn't fun.

So, BP or subs are the way to go. Shells never need resizing, loading is easy as pie, and the shells will shuck if chambers are honed and mopped now and again.

Cheers.

[Sgt. Manse Jolly]

Thanks for the information guys! I was not sure why the only loads I found were for BP and I can see why now. I will defeinelty plan to stay with BP!

[Dakota Widowmaker]

Not "exactly" true that brass hulls with BP or subs never need resizing.

If you plan on shooting the once fired hulls in a different gun, in all likelyhood, you will have to resize with the MEC resizer.

On the other hand, if you are loading black and only shoot black in one gun, then your problem is non-existant.

I would still recommend using BP as other have indicated.

Smokeless "cowboy" or "youth" loads are best, and don't try and hunt up plastic wads, as they don't really fit.

Just get some Circle fly powder and shot cards and fiber wads.

I have found that 70gr of 777 FFg, powder card, a pair of fiber wads, 7/8 oz of #8 shot, and then a shot card with hot-glue at the end works about as well as anything.

Some folks, myself included, have found that annealing the top of the brass hulls and using either a pipe reducer or a Lee loader 12g handloading kit will privide a simple and cost effective way to put a SLIGHT roll to the end of the hulls.

That makes them ALOT easier to load in model 97s and the model 87 shotguns.

[Sgt. Manse Jolly]

Dakota,

Thanks for the information! I plan to only shoot the brass shells in my TTN Double Barrel and use BP only. I have all the componenets from Circle Fly and hope to load some for a tril very soon. Work always seems to overshadow pleasure, LOL!

Black Powder is the only way to go for CAS!

[BlaiseNSaddles]

The brass hulls with 209 shotgun primers from Hammer Double say good for smokeless as well as BP.
They also will provide load data for you.