Black powder and plastic hulls...

[flatapple]

How many loads should I expect out of a plastic hull when loaded with black powder?  I am planning on using fiber wads and a roll crimp.  Is there any special care on the plastic hull after shooting?

[Gabriel Law]

I just started loading black powder in plastic shells, so I've only fired my cases about four times.  I'm surprised how little fouling remains in the case...certainly not like a brass case.  I just knock out the primer, and load away.  At some point the cases will be cooked too much so just throw 'em away...they're free, right?

[hellgate]

If you use plastic hulls and fiber wads, beware that tapered hulls will swage the OP wad down to a smaller diameter and you might get some gas blow by. I use plastic OP wads with fiber fillers as well as plastic shot cups in the same BP load. Card wads work best in straight walled hulls for which they were designed. It is not a big deal either way but the plastic OP wads are a much better gas seal and may give 10 percent more power out of your loads. I remember smokeless powder  loading charts that said to reduce powder charge by 10 percent if using plastic wads. 3-4 loadings is about it.

[Dick Dastardly]

12ga hulls are so plentiful that there's no need to load them beyond the ability to hold a good crimp and/or have burn thru holes.  Now, 16ga is a bird of a different song.  I load those till the crimp fails, then cut 'em down on my band saw and load 'em some more.  All roll crimps of course.

Plastic hulls do succumb to the heat of black powder soon.  Paper ones can be worse.  All brass hulls last the longest but are the most hassle to load.

Enjoy the smoke!

DD-MDA

[rickk]

I pick up the hulls that no one else wants... cut the star crimp off. Load with BP and roll crimp them as a 2 -1/2" hull. I do have a couple of guns that are chambered for those.

After I shoot them once, I toss them.

[Noz]

A roll crimped plastic hull with black powder gets one use. The mouth of the shell is so burned and brittle it cannot be crimped again.
As always YMMV

[Coffinmaker]

Sure glad I don't use plastic.  Brass is funner!!  Less fun if some ham hock steps on em 

Coffinmaker

[Mean Bob Mean]

Brass hulls are too pricey but they are super fun to load and shoot.  I started using them recently and am surprised by how well they knock down targets with no shot cup to hold the load together. 

[Noz]

Speaking of roll crimps. I found the purple ribbed federal hull to roll better than any of the other hulls I tried.
I cut the legs off Winchester red wads, trimmed the length of the cup petals added about 45 grs of FFg and an oz of shot and rolled a 2 " shell. The idea being that they would be easier to handle and would shuck better out of the 2shoot guns in SASS competition.
The short shells are harder to handle, harder to load and didn't shuck worth a dam-n.
ANOTHER good idea down the drain.

[Yakima Red]

I have at times been called "the dumpster diver" of CAS. I have tubs & tubs of once fired Remington STS hulls. Enough I suspect that I will never have to procure another hull in my entire life. I also coach some trap & Skeet and the young'uns don't reload. So I get all those hulls also.

To answer the question: STS hulls about three times for me and I toss 'em. Gun clubs or any others only once.

[Cowtown]

I shot smokeless for several years, always STS or AA and saved the hulls. I now have quite the reserve of reload able shot shell hulls. I reload with either APP or 777 only once. Dispose or give away if someone wants 'em after that. I could safely get another use or two from them but don't want to cart them home again, I guess.

[Noz]

Speaking of roll crimps. I found the purple ribbed federal hull to roll better than any of the other hulls I tried.
I cut the legs off Winchester red wads, trimmed the length of the cup petals added about 45 grs of FFg and an oz of shot and rolled a 2 " shell. The idea being that they would be easier to handle and would shuck better out of the 2shoot guns in SASS competition.
The short shells are harder to handle, harder to load and didn't shuck worth a dam-n.
ANOTHER good idea down the drain.

I prefer the Nitro Gold hulls for my star crimped shells. If the outside does not show burned spots and the crimp is still tight they go back i the reload bin.

[Grapeshot]

Having a seemingly never ending hulls from the shooters at the range I work at, Shotgun Hulls are loaded with OP wads, Cushion wads, one and one-eighth oz. of shot and OS wads, star crimped and then I shoot and discard.  I also use my Steel Russian hulls now, so I was alternating plastic at one match and the metal ones the next.  You would not believe how many hulls I loaded up in the winter.

Plastic Smokeless wads leave a lot of plastic snot in the barrels of my shotguns.
 

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Grapeshot; Most of my shotguns are tightly choked. Removing the shot protector petals loosens the pattern somewhat.

I love to use plastic wads as they are much easier to get. A card over powder wad helps prevent plastic snot.

SOO! I now often use the following load-column;

Black powder per personal preferences.
O/P wad.
Plastic wad, petals removed, UPSIDE DOWN.
shot; enough to getter dun.
Over shot card
I mostly load 2.5 inch roll crimped rounds. Alternatively I employ the Hartin Crimp.

In my 1911 edition of Greener's The Gun (I'm  not at home so the name might be wrong & I'm an ol-timer.) there is reference to the "Swedish Wad", double ended, cupped at both ends and made from compression formed paper pulp. Thus I have recreated a modified Swedish wad reminicent of the Herters Chalice wad.

If you notice, I have not specified quantities of power or shot. Select your own recipe for your needs. This leaves the wad as the adjustable component that you can cut & try to get a proper crimp. I even use "range pickups", but you can usually find a wad with the right dimensions to suit.

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Beg Pardon Sire
But what is a Hartin crimp?
Respectfully submitted
Bunk of the Darby Rough Stagners

[Dick Dastardly]

Hartin crimp looks like a pie crimp that isn't fully closed but finished with a roll crimp.  You can do something like this with a pie or folded crimp that closes over an overshot card and has a roll crimp finish.  I use these to get a better seal than a standard pie crimp has on used hulls.

DD-MDA

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Here is a quote from a post of mine back in 2008;

"If you have 2 3/4" chambers, star crimps with paper, or plastic work great.  DD has one of your options, that is to get shorter wads.

If you want to try shorter, 2 1/2" cases, but not bother with roll crimp tools, etc., try  the JAM ROLL. Apparently an earlier inventor of this concept was named Hartin, and it can be called the "Hartin crimp".

-Trim cases
-load your favorite recipe.  Adjust the load to leave about 3/8" (Or a bit less) of clearance from the load to the lip of the case
-top the load with an over shot card.  No O/S wads?  For 20 ga., bash some out of a wax paper milk carton with a 5/8" punch.
-Run the loaded case through your shotshell press's crimp start and crimp stations.  I've tested this crimp on a 12 ga. MEC Grabber, and a 16 ga. MEC 600Jr."

From "16ga.com", a thread with visuals (12 Dec15, on page two)

http://www.16ga.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18347&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=hartin+crimp&start=15

The result is that the folds of the case mouth are turned in on the O/S wad, which is still visible as a star shape.  A bonus is that the plastic doesn't get heat hardened and the case can be re loaded many more times.

[rdstrain49]

Flatapple

I get one or two loads on 12 ga AA hulls.  Then I found that I get 7 or 8 loadings by using Pyrodex.  I also use a plastic wad.  Clean up takes less than 5 min. 

Now it's Swiss in rifle and pistol and Pyrodex in the shotgun.  For me, it works.

[Flatbush]

I gotta make sure I get my money's worth out of a hull and reload them till I've squeezed all the life out of them. I usually get at least 2 reloads, and sometimes 3, but don't think I've ever got 4 reloads out of a plastic hull.

If you use plastic hulls and fiber wads, beware that tapered hulls will swage the OP wad down to a smaller diameter and you might get some gas blow by. I use plastic OP wads with fiber fillers as well as plastic shot cups in the same BP load. Card wads work best in straight walled hulls for which they were designed. It is not a big deal either way but the plastic OP wads are a much better gas seal and may give 10 percent more power out of your loads. I remember smokeless powder  loading charts that said to reduce powder charge by 10 percent if using plastic wads. 3-4 loadings is about it.

How do you tell the tapered hulls from the straight hulls? I don't go for any one particular brand, I'll load anything I pick up off the range. However, I've discovered some shuck better than others, and reserve the crappy ones for when a stage ends with the shotgun and it doesn't matter if they shuck good or not because the timer has stopped.

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Personally I use straight wall (Riefenhauser)  cases then shoot them once and throw them away. Paper hulls ar good for two or three relaods.trimmed with the original crimp removed and a roll crimp to close. Look great and shoot just as good.
Range pick up shells are plentiful  and trimming is a snap.
Bunk