Old Ithica Shotguns

CaygeonBill

CaygeonBill

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Afew years back I acquired an old Ithica SxS 10g Lewis grade Shotgun. It is in good to very good condition, the bore is clean and the Damascus barrels are in very good condition. I like the gun and would love to shoot it, but, it takes 2 3/4' shells and cant take modern powders. That leaves Black powder, I could re-load but hulls are impossible to get, any ideas?
 
you can use plastic 2 3/4" shells in a 2 5/8 chamber but not paper shells. The plastic is thin enough that you get minimal increase in pressure. Also at least in 12 guage guns there are a few smokeless powders that can be loaded low enough to use in a damascus barreled gun. I would not use steel shot in such a gun because the chokes would be too tight and I expect the choke would be stretched fairly quickly

cheers mooncoon
 
Loading 10 gauge BP shells or low presster smokeless i no more hassle than loading any other shotgun shell once you get set up.
Cut to length with shears or a saw

Decaap and reprime



Proper amount of powder

the components in their right order

Overshot wad and the crimper in a drill or a vintage crimping tool


DONE!
PM me and I can give you some data for loads.;)
Cat
 
mooncoon said:
you can use plastic 2 3/4" shells in a 2 5/8 chamber but not paper shells. The plastic is thin enough that you get minimal increase in pressure. Also at least in 12 guage guns there are a few smokeless powders that can be loaded low enough to use in a damascus barreled gun. I would not use steel shot in such a gun because the chokes would be too tight and I expect the choke would be stretched fairly quickly

cheers mooncoon
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yeah but a modern 10ga hull is 3 1/2" that's not going to fit in a 2 3/4" chamber but plastic hulls are easily trimmed its always advised to use the proper length shell just because it fits when crimped does not mean its safe the crimp will expand into the forcing cone and could cause some pressure spikes
 
It is probable that this gun has 2 7/8" chambers; this was a standard size for 10ga. Don't know that 10ga 2 3/4" was a standard size.
 
You can take a chamber cast with paraffin wax and measure that for shell length and trim your shells accordingly. My main point was that with plastic shells, they can be a trifle long if that is the length they come in. If your shells are a lot too long then you need to trim them. Also relative to a wax chamber cast; tie a piece of string to the wad that blocks the barrel ahead of the chamber. That way if the cast breaks while removing it, the pieces stay together

cheers mooncoon
 
antiqueguy said:
yeah but a modern 10ga hull is 3 1/2" that's not going to fit in a 2 3/4" chamber but plastic hulls are easily trimmed its always advised to use the proper length shell just because it fits when crimped does not mean its safe the crimp will expand into the forcing cone and could cause some pressure spikes
Click to expand...

If it is unsafe for a crimp to open into the forcing cone, then how do people get away with "ringing" shotshells to improvise a slug?
 
Brutus said:
It is safe to suggest that if one uses plastic shells they best trim/use a short enough shell?

And dare I even suggest the next obvious solution is a proper length all brass shell with glued in wads from the get go??

Cheers!
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yes brass in a double looks the part but plastic trimmed works just as good I find thee cheap aluminum base hulls from Winchester work well with BP because I get them for nothing when shooting trap and im not worried about burning up good hulls
 
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