Paper shotgun hulls

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I'm going to an auction sale for an uncle who pasted away a while back. He was an avid reloader and was my mentor who got me started in reloading. He had always told me that one day he would reload enough shells to last him the rest of his life and then he would give me the remaining powder and components he had on hand. That day never came for him and now my aunt say everything is going in the auction sale on Thursday afternoon. I'm going to stand there and buy most of what I can or make someone else pay dearly for it. I know what most stuff is worth but I know he had a bunch of 2 3/4" paper shot gun hulls and I have no idea what they are worth if anything now that steel shot is mandatory for everything but upland game birds. Can anybody give me a rough guess without knowing the exact brand that they are.
 
Honestly the old vintage paper hulls are worth just about nothing. I had 1000's of them and rather than toss them a guy took them free to make Xmas wreaths with
Many also took the old no.57 primer which has not been made for ever and the standard 209's will not fit
Who reloads paper hulls today????. Bet I could count on one hand in canada
I say this if nothing else by the lack of interest in the EE when I sold off all of my old components for them
Cheers

Just to add be careful buying any real old shotgun reloading stuff pending what it is and that even includes some of the early plastic hulls, early plastic wads like alcon etc and really check the powders to make sure they are still OK
For example many of the remington early plastic hulls had a paper base formulation. Those broke down over the years to the point of not even being safe to reload any more. I had tons of 16ga that went bad like this
I think Geo gives good advice and would walk away from all of it
 
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Wow.. if that was my family I would be inheriting the gear, not in a bidding war for it. If you don't get along I would suggest avoiding her altogether and buy used elsewhere
 
Just empty hulls but I'm sure he has a few loaded cartridges with them as well. They could be new and not once fired but it has been years since I have seen them and maybe they are not even in that great of shape anymore. I did get some powder from him a few years back but it was spoiled to the point that I would not use it even for free. It doesn't bother me to have to stand there and bid on stuff as I know my aunt will need the money in the next couple years a lot more than I will. I'm just hoping to come home with the press that I learned on and maybe a bunch of other keepsakes.
 
Like 3macs1 said, some old paper hulls use different primers (that you won't likely be able to find, except maybe at a gunshow). If they are Canuck hulls for instance, the old CIL primers made for them are quite different than modern 209 primers. Considering the connection to your uncle, I hope you can get the press and keepsakes you mention, but I wouldn't worry about the old hulls. They typically can't be reloaded many times anyway.
 
Some of us do still reload them, all my hunting loads are packed in Federal Gold Medal Paper. Something nostalgic about smoke rolling out of a paper hull while holding a grouse that fell to the load it held.
 
Maritime Storm said:
Some of us do still reload them, all my hunting loads are packed in Federal Gold Medal Paper. Something nostalgic about smoke rolling out of a paper hull while holding a grouse that fell to the load it held.
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Understand my apologies for not being clearer To me we are talking apples and oranges here but that is me :). I class yours as modern paper hulls which take standard 209 primers and designed to work well with claybuster or federal 12so plastic wads and other than installing a MEC special paper crimp starter on your machine( if one is fussy on the crimps) reload like anything else. Many reload these
I am talking the vintage paper hulls here that we reloaded 40 plus years ago the ones we added wax and put in the oven on nail board to let the wax run to the crimp with fiber wads, over shot cards etc
That is what I am betting on this old dude has
I hear you on the smoke. The best smoke IMO to this day still rolling out of any hulls is an old original paper Imperial IMO and after 50 years we have never been able to duplicate that smell
Man that is sweet and talk about bringing you back in time.
Cheers
 
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3macs1 said:
I hear you on the smoke. The best smoke IMO to this day still rolling out of any hulls is an old original paper Imperial IMO and after 50 years we have never been able to duplicate that smell
Man that is sweet and talk about bringing you back in time.
Cheers
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Agreed! A couple weeks ago I was shooting clays with a couple of friends . . . one of them had a .410 single shot and some old Imperial .410 paper shells that he bought (in a baggie at a gun show). I couldn't resist inhaling the smoke after every shot! My friends just laughed.
 
While guys thanks for your replies. The auction is over and I did not get the stuff I was hoping for. They sold all the reloading stuff in two lots. The presses sold with the powder and shotgun hulls and it would have been a fair price for the lot but I know that the powder was not stored properly for a lot of years and was not in useable condition. The guy who bought it figures he got a deal as there where at least 6 full 8 lb kegs of various powders and a few misc pounds of other different powders. I opened one can of the surplus 4831 and showed him the red dust in it but he still figured it was ok to use. The shotgun shells were all tarnished and both me and the buyer agreed that they were pretty much garbage. On the plus side I did buy the old Parker-Hale Safari 243 that he would let me shoot a bit when I came to visit at a price that I think was fair for both my aunt and me.
 
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