I will be doing this for 12 and 20 gauge using the same CBC shells. Hardest item to find is correct overshot cards. Tempted to look into a pair of punches, one for 12 and one for 20. Thanks for sharing the step by step.
Get a scrap piece of wood. Something like a foot or so of 2x4. Get a piece of strap iron (1 in W x 2 in L approx.). Inlet the steel into the surface of the wood until flush or nearly so, and glue in place. Use a wood bit as large or a bit larger than your cases, and bore into the wood about 3/8 in. Bore all the way through with a 1/4 or 3/8 in bit. Glue a flat washer into the hole to just below the surface. Now you have a self centering deprime station and a firm flat for repriming. Now, let me say - I really like brass shotshells. They do have some considerations. Internal capacity is greater than same guage plastic. So you can't just use normal plastic wads. Wad sizes for each guage run one size larger than plastic. 12 guage hulls use 11 guage wads, etc. Or as described, punch out your own to fit. Lead shot doesn't require sleeving, but steel shot does (if you want your barrel to last). Strips of Mylar or teflon, cut to fit in the case, works. Since internal capacity is greater, speeds will usually be a bit slower. As described, firm seating of the nitro card is mandatory. Otherwise, slow fire, hang fire, squibs, or FTF's can occur. The important part is keeping the charge in front of the primer. Some have reported good results from building up the web a bit with a non combustible material to ensure good charge placement. This also means that converting the cases to 209 primers is a bad idea unless you plan to use ONLY black powder/substitutes. As described roll crimp is often not necessary. Glue the overshot cards in and this works well. Another usable glue is Duco model cement. If roll crimping is desired or needed, annealing techniques will also be needed to ensure good life from the hulls.
I have also learned not to use lubed cushion wads. They work fine if fired within a short time of loading (certainly would work within a few hours), but if let sit for much longer the lubricant, an oil, soaks through the nitro card and affects the powder causing bloopers and hangfires. Oddly enough, the oil did not affect the primer. So, don't use lubed cushion wads. Standard, unlubed wads are cheaper and less hassle.
I had six (all!) missfires using an over-lubricated .32 S&W long "nightstand" revolver. You have to get rid of an excess of oil because more than humidity that is the number one enemy of the powder. I thought a factory made cartridge would be well sealed, but not, imagine the lubricant inside a shotgun hull.
As long as you don't crimp the mouth of the case... that tends to kill them rather quickly. I fully expect the 25 cases I have to last most of my lifetime if not longer. Also - I have found that Duco Cement works better than Elmer's glue in the 16 gauge. Elmer's glue works fine in .410 and 28 gauge shells but in the 16 gauge it starts to peel away from the brass and lets the overshot card fall out.
I reload .444 Marlin shells for my 410. Because 410 loaded shells are crazy expensive, and also because the hulls are impossible to find, and if you do find empty hulls, they want almost $1.50 per shell!!!
Thanks for your comment. The hulls never wear out, so the reloader doesn't have to worry about sourcing plastic hulls. This is especially a concern for those who attempt to be self-reliant, such as myself. I would also assume brass hulls are stronger than plastic, although I'm not sure that's really all that relevant as I haven't seen many failures of plastic shotshells not related to age. These also use standard large pistol primers so you don't have to worry about stocking another primer for shotguns.
@@SladeMcCuiston This is exactly the type of reloading I plan to do also with brass hulls. Do you see any advantages of converting the hulls to except a 209 shotgun primer? Instead of using glue, I think I will use beeswax or parafin wax to seal the overshot card. I think the new hulls need roughed up on the inside so the glue has something to grip. Previously shot hulls would not need that step.
Have ever tried to find 16 ga. shells in the store. It is easier to find a pink unicorn elephant with lime green polka dots. I found that out after I bought my Browning 16 ga.
Do you need to resize the brass hulls after shooting? If so, how do you do it? I want to start using brass shells in my M1881 Forager shotgun, which is what it was designed for. Thanks!
I have not found the need to resize these hulls after shooting, even after multiple reloads. Maybe after some really hot loads or something, but I haven't had issues.
If you use the shells always with the same shotgun the hulls are nothing but adapted specifically to it, although could not fit inside the chamber of a different shotgun (another 16 gauge).
There is no data for brass shot shells with smokeless powder because you should be using black powder or a black powder substitute like pyrodex . There is a loading manual for 12ga thru 410 brass shells sold by ballistic products...called loading with brass shotshells. Yes... they even have 16ga data. You will get much better results using black powder or a substitute. You are not getting the right pressures with smokeless powder.. hence the squib load you mentioned. You are asking for trouble in the form of a split cases if you keep using smokeless powder....Be warned
I also got some of those and noticed there is no paper wad surrounding the primer like the spiral paper wad in regular shells, or the plastic casing that fills up the bottom in tapered shells, just the brass as seen on the exterior. Shouldn't there be something in the base?
Recoil is still fairly light but more stout than the 14.5 grains of Alliant Promo. Trail Boss fills 1/4 or less of the case. DO NOT compress the Trail Boss. Bad things happen. I could safely fit more powder in there but the fiber wadding started blowing patterns into donuts. Found around 20 grains to be the sweet spot. 18.5 grains is what I settled on.
Slade McCuiston , awesome thanks for reply. I'm actually loading for a German drilling. a combination shotgun rifle and I currently am loading the obsolete rifle caliber of 9.3x72r with trailboss and being able to load the 16 gauge with trailboss too sounds great. thanks again!
Bloody dangerous way of loading!! Hammering on BP over a live primer with a neat fitting piston. Also, that's a very weak load at 14.5gr BP, when the standard load, under an ounce of shot, is 75gr ( 2 3/4 drams )
I've ordered a machine to seat these primers now. Also, I DO NOT use 14.5 grains of Black Powder. I load 14.5 grains of Alliant Promo (smokeless). Be very careful reloading.
Sorry. My bad. I had searched for loading 16g BP loads and clicked on your vid, not realising my mistake. I'm glad you have a way of keeping the live primer from making contact. Safe shootin'. :)
You should never pound your wads or powder or anything. First off it crushes it, your loading a muzzleloader except in a brass case. Hearing someone hammer there load down is extremely cringe and unnecessary, push until it is hard and seated that’s all that is necessary.
