doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 10 gauge brass shotshells

One thing that should be pointed out as well, is that you need to know what your bore diameter is. Many antique Parker 10 guns (along with some others) have bore diameters of anywhere between .790-.810. This important to know, especially if you plan to load card wads. The Track hulls have an internal diameter to accept 9 gauge card wads, which is correct for 10 ga. guns that have a bore larger than the modern .775 standard.

As pointed out the RMC hulls are designed to accept modern components (i.e. smaller diameter wads). One is neither right or wrong, it just depends on what you plan to load in your particular gun. Shooting plastic wads in a oversize bore will work ok. However, if you want to load 9 gauge card wads (.815 diameter) in a RMC hull (.775 diameter), it would be very difficult. Decide on what kind of loads you want to shoot in your particular gun, then pick your hulls to match.

When I use to load 12ga brass I always used 11ga wads. But I had a problem. BP was ok, but when trying to load nitro I always got bloopers. At the time I was using IMR PB and went to 30grs and still got bloopers - so I quit. So Jim, what kind of powder , and what are you doing with the OS card ? My understanding about shotgun shell reloading is that the resistance of the crimp is necessary for the shotgun shell to build any sufficient pressure. I tried gluing it in. No luck - so I sold all my brass shells to one of those cowboy shooters. Sure would like to find a nitro powder that works with brass shells. Paul

Many of the earlier brass shotshells used primers which were not hot enough to sufficiently light powders other than Black, Bulk Smokeless Shotshell, or the fast smokeless powders such as Red Dot etc. If using cases taking large pistol primers the use of magnum primers should expand the use of some slower powders. Those taking the regular 209 shotshell size primers should properly ignite most any smokeless as long as proper wads are used with a snug fit to the case & the top wad securely sealed.
My first experience with brass shells was with the old Fiocchi hulls imported by Alcan Inc & using 645B Berdan primers. I loaded these with a smokeless flake powder called Nike which gave good results, but they would not properly ignite slower powders for a heavier load. The only downside I ever found to this was the chore of decapping those pesky Berdan primers.

Thanks everyone for all the info. I'm checking out the options you have given me. I plan to be shooting my L.C. Smith soon.

I enjoy shooting mine with ALCAN all brass hulls.
I use single F and a MEC 10 gauge wad for duck hunting

Paul Harm wrote, "My understanding about shotgun shell reloading is that the resistance of the crimp is necessary for the shotgun shell to build any sufficient pressure." Paul PM sent.
I have never had a blooper with RMC hulls and when loading C&F wads it is a good idea to apply 40 lbs. of wad pressure. RMC hulls use either 1-piece plastic wads or C&F wads and 209 primers. I use oversized (1 gauge) OSC cards to contain the shot and run a light line of glue where the wad meets the hull. Also a clean hull mouth assists in OSC containment.

A quick note on wad sizes. On the card & felt/fiber wads a normal wad for the gauge will actually measure about a gauge size larger. thus a wad sold as a 12 gauge if you measure it carefully will be found to have a diameter of about 11 gauge. The Oversize 11 gauge wads normall used in thin wall brass shotshells will have an actual measurement of near 10 gauge size.
I do not believe this to have been the case a century ago as I have seen old loading instructions which stated to load a gauge oversize for presumably paper hulls & two sizes over for brass.
In reality the instructions were for smokeless vs black, but I believe they were intended for the use of paper cases for the smokeless & brass cases for the black.

I have not measured C&F wads, but instead have relied on what was printed on the package. That said, regardless of gauge all wads that I have used fit snug when pushed into an RMC hull. Because they fit snug and require a significant amount of force to seat, I assume that they are a little over gauge size or RMC hulls are a little undersized.

Jim;
In so far as I know all wads are currently marked for the gauge shells they are intended to be used in. n the ones which I have actually measured the run around .020" larger than nominal gauge size.
I don't believe this would have any affect on using modern components. Only pointed it out in case someone tried to relate it to some very old loading instructions from the past.
Loading instructions in a 1913 LAC catalog for instance call for loading wads two sizes larger with black powder. I can really only assume this was meant for use in brass cases. Using present components it would be extremely difficult to insert a 10 gauge wad into even a thin wall 12ga brass shell. We would instead use one of 1 size larger or an 11 gauge wad.
Likewise these instruction call for 1 gauge oversize when loading smokeless powder. Again I "Assume" this to be with paper cases. If one tried to load a modern 11 gauge wad into a paper case the likely result would be a severely mangled case, it would simply be too big.

The brass cases I use to use were Magtechs - the walls were very thin so the bigger wads could be used. I also have always used a Mec 600jr to load with when doing BP for brass or paper/plastic cases. The wad guide also helped loading bigger wads. I have some Ducks Unlimited Remington brass hulls, believe they're Magtechs - but they have a semi roll crimp to keep the OSC in place.