10 gauge brass shells vs plastic

tokguy

tokguy

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Damn rain, I'm repairing guns like mad.
My Antique 10 gauge S x S is back on line , but now I need to fab up some shells.
Is there any advantage to brass shotgun shells as opposed to plastic? I have to trim the 3 1/2" down to 2 7/8" and get a roll crimper somewhere for the plastic shells. Shot and BP isn't a problem, and I don't expect wadding to be insurmountable but if brass gives me an advantage I'll take it.
BTW, I don't expect to be shooting it much... a dozen rounds in brass is probably sufficient.
But a gun with no shells is an expensive club, so I need to get a few rounds for it.
 
My vote would be for plastic shells. with shortened shells, I use a thin overshot card plus a partial crimp from a conventional loading die. With brass I have used an overshot card plus some Lepages white glue to keep it in. Plastic shells are thin enough that I don't think you need to shorten them. Paper shells however are much thicker and potentially will increase pressures by obstructing the forcing cone. They also swell up in the rain and don't necessarily load into the gun

cheers mooncoon
 
With that advise I think I'll hold out for some brass. Laminate bbls and high press don't mix well.
As I'd said I don't plan on shooting it incredible amounts; but again a gun without shells is a club.
Thanks for the replies, I'll post a pic or two of it later today.
Post's without pic's suck, right?
 
Brutus said:
when you seat wads in your all brass shell do you use 9 gauge or 10 gauge wads in your 10 gauge brass hull?
!
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It seems to me that I whack the 10 guage cushion wads a bit with a mallet which increases their diameter. I rarely use brass shells because they are a nuisance to use compared to plastic.

Also in reply to the OP, a 2 3/4" plastic shell in a 2 5/8 chamber, I feel is safe to shoot because the plastic is fairly thin compared to paper shells. I don't feel they increase pressures dangerously if at all with black powder loads. I definitely shoot 2 3/4 inch plastic shells in my english hammer guns

cheers mooncoon
 
Hi Mooncoon,
I have a nice old English 12 gauge Damascus SXS and almost sold it until I started reading about the use of plastic, paper and brass shells for black powder shooting. The chambers on my gun are very long, about 4" before they start to taper into the barrel so I believe any 2.75" plastic shell should work well in it without shortening the plastic. I have a large number of once-fired hulls from past years of waterfowl hunting so have a great selection of shells to choose from. 'Just wondering where do you buy the wads or do you make them? and from what material(s). What BP do you use? I hope to do a bit of upland bird hunting this fall so likely won't load more than 20-30 shells at a time each season. Thanks.....k

mooncoon said:
It seems to me that I whack the 10 guage cushion wads a bit with a mallet which increases their diameter. I rarely use brass shells because they are a nuisance to use compared to plastic.

Also in reply to the OP, a 2 3/4" plastic shell in a 2 5/8 chamber, I feel is safe to shoot because the plastic is fairly thin compared to paper shells. I don't feel they increase pressures dangerously if at all with black powder loads. I definitely shoot 2 3/4 inch plastic shells in my english hammer guns

cheers mooncoon
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westkraut said:
'Just wondering where do you buy the wads or do you make them? and from what material(s). What BP do you use? I hope to do a bit of upland bird hunting this fall so likely won't load more than 20-30 shells at a time each season.
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I use muzzle loading cushion wads that I buy from a local person that sell black powder related things. What I have not been doing and think that I should, is to use a card wad over the cushion wad because I think some of the pellets get imbedded in the cushion wad and bugger up the pattern. Also when reloading field shells, they started out with a little melted spot in the center and after shooting that leaves a small hole so that if you are shooting with light shot (7 1/2 for trap or skeet), an over shot card keeps shot from trickling out the hole.
Hill Folk muzzle loading I think is in Saskatchewan and probably carries muzzle loading shotgun wads

cheers mooncoon
 
all I got to say nothing like a 10ga SxS and brass hulls but the thing is only people making them right now is rocky mountain cartridge and track of the wolf unless you can find some old ones at gun shows. for BP plastic is not always the way to go it tends to melt and for the 2 7/8" chambers it will have to be trimmed a lot if you can find paper hulls for 10ga they hold up better to BP then plastic

brass hulls are thinner so you most likely going to need some over size card wads 9ga nitro cards and fiber wads should work well and maybe a 9ga or 8ga over shot card idk what the track of the wolf brass is like for thickness but I do know that RMC brass is thick enough to use 10ga wads the old Remington and Winchester 10ga is thin enough that a 9ga wad fits tightly
 
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antiqueguy said:
for BP plastic is not always the way to go it tends to melt and for the 2 7/8" chambers it will have to be trimmed a lot if you can find paper hulls for 10ga they hold up better to BP then plastic
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In my experience, the paper shells perforated by the third loading and firing. While the plastic shells show scorching near the mouth, I have never had a problem with them leaving melted plastic in the chamber. Paper shells also swell up in the rain and not only not fit the chamber but be difficult to remove because you try to get them in just that little bit more. Then hunt around for a sapling to use as a ramrod and poke them out

cheers mooncoon
 
mooncoon said:
In my experience, the paper shells perforated by the third loading and firing. While the plastic shells show scorching near the mouth, I have never had a problem with them leaving melted plastic in the chamber. Paper shells also swell up in the rain and not only not fit the chamber but be difficult to remove because you try to get them in just that little bit more. Then hunt around for a sapling to use as a ramrod and poke them out

cheers mooncoon
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ive had the cheap Winchester plastic hulls melt though with BP on the first reload idk if the 10ga hulls are any thicker never really played with paper hulls but the guys who load bp shells really like them and brass hull
 
Paper hulls will last 3 - 5 shots, plastic will last quite a bit longer and brass will last almost forever. There was mention in posts above about 2 5/8" and 2 3/4" chambers: I thought all the old standard 10 ga guns were 2 7/8" chambers before the 3 1/2" came along with smokeless or at least semi-smokeless powder.
 
I prefer brass for my BP loads, they're easy to load, and they last forever. I've got some 16ga brass shells that i'm sure I must have loaded 50 times by now and other then occasionally scraping the crud out of the primer pockets there's no issue.

You get great comments when you pull them out at the skeet field too.
 
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