Very important question for the shotshell reloaders

powdergun

powdergun

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I have an odd question:

We have recently lost a family member and his son wants to fire some ashes to help him say good bye and celebrate his memories shooting with his dad.


I do not have shotshell reloading equipment but can I just open up the crimp on some rounds, pour out the shot, and replace it with ashes ?

If anyone has done this I would greatly appreciate any advice.
 
Last edited:
powdergun said:
I have an odd question:

We have recently lost a family member and his son wants to fire some ashes to help him say good bye and celebrate his memories shooting with his dad.


I do not have shotshell reloading equipment but can I just open up the crimp on some rounds, pour out the shot, and replace it with ashes ?

If anyone has done this I would greatly appreciate any advice.
Click to expand...

Most likely you will get less than desirable results as the lead needs to be there to build pressure in the smokeless powder.
Cat
 
I actually did this with our dog's ashes. It didn't turn out as I had expected.

Problem #1 is that the powder needs the wad to stay in place to ensure complete burn and the production of gas pressure. The weight of the shot is what accomplishes that. I have a shot shell reloader and I simply made up some shells substituting ashes for shot. The result was the rounds would just go BLOOP and barely eject the wad and ashes more than 15-20 feet or so. Not the effect I had in mind.

Problem #2 is that if there is any wind or you are dumb enough to shoot into the wind, you end up with your loved one's ashes as grit in your teeth and eyes, nose etc. THAT was definitely not the effect I had in mind.

I think that even if you left half the shot in the wad to help the powder burn completely, the wad is still going to open immediately and blow fine gritty ash all over the shooter and the spectators. Honestly, not something I'd do a second time. YMMV but that was my experience with it.
 
I Dont Care About You said:
I actually did this with our dog's ashes. It didn't turn out as I had expected.

Problem #1 is that the powder needs the wad to stay in place to ensure complete burn and the production of gas pressure. The weight of the shot is what accomplishes that. I have a shot shell reloader and I simply made up some shells substituting ashes for shot. The result was the rounds would just go BLOOP and barely eject the wad and ashes more than 15-20 feet or so. Not the effect I had in mind.

Problem #2 is that if there is any wind or you are dumb enough to shoot into the wind, you end up with your loved one's ashes as grit in your teeth and eyes, nose etc. THAT was definitely not the effect I had in mind.

I think that even if you left half the shot in the wad to help the powder burn completely, the wad is still going to open immediately and blow fine gritty ash all over the shooter and the spectators. Honestly, not something I'd do a second time. YMMV but that was my experience with it.
Click to expand...

Standing down wind is never a good idea...

c1118e5457b405d6411f8e8adaa596cc.gif


If I was to do what the OP is looking to do, I would open a shotshell, remove a bit of shot, add ashes, tap to get it to settle between the shot, then add what I could for shot back on top, then hot glue to seal it up.
 
I have several smokeless loads for 12, 16, 20 gauge and that I use for loading ashes with - never did do a human being, but have done it for dog owners several times.
It is also far easier to load black powder and brass cases with the ashes.
Everything I have loaded , the owners used to kill pheasants or partridge with , BTW!:cool:
Cat
 
Suther said:
Standing down wind is never a good idea...

c1118e5457b405d6411f8e8adaa596cc.gif


If I was to do what the OP is looking to do, I would open a shotshell, remove a bit of shot, add ashes, tap to get it to settle between the shot, then add what I could for shot back on top, then hot glue to seal it up.
Click to expand...

The problem is one cannot always just shoot downwind. Sometimes that is a direction where people etc may be. IIRC we had a swirling wind. All I remember was the grit in my teeth, which wasn't super fun.

Having done it, I wouldn't do it again.
 
A friend asked me to look into this for an acquaintance of his, a couple of months ago. I didn't end up doing it, but did do some thinking and internet searches on it.

No way would I attempt it without shot. I figured the best way would be to put 7/8oz of shot in a 1-1/8oz wad, top it up with ash like a buffer, and crimp normally. In case of ash leakage, I was going to seal the crimp with waterglass.

I figured a cup of ashes would go into a box of 25 shells, and the family could bust a few clays, or something similar.
 
If I was going to do this:

Pry open the folded crimp, dump the shot. Pour in some ashes, to about half the height the original shot was at.

Pour shot back into the shell up to almost the top of the now open shell. Does not have to be all the shot, but should be at least 3/4 of it.

Place a round piece of card on top of the shot, just below the mouth of the case. Glue in place.

Make several.

Round will go bang and disperse some ashes.
 
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