doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Resizeing brass shotshells?

Hmm. interesting.
I have my own brass shot shell resize problem.
I got some Magtech brass to shoot BP loads in my James double.
Now these unfired empties just drop right into the chambers of my other guns but are very tight in the chambers of the James.
I think the James must have small diam,minimum chambers & doubt that a sizing die would bring down the size of new brass.
Does any company even make a full length resizing die for 12 gauge brass ?
Or do I need to spin something up myself in the lathe ?
Or hone the chambers ? Don't really like to as plastic shells are a good fit in it now.
O.M

Rocky Mountain Cartridge in Worland WY will make you a re-sizing di, google them.
RMC will also lathe turn brass hulls to the chamber dimensions of your James.

From first hand experience, RMC hulls MAY need to be re-sized if used in more then one gun. I've picked some up used that have needed to be re-sized. I would definitely recommend chamber checking a brass hull to make sure it fits BEFORE loading them.

Chantry wrote,"From first hand experience, RMC hulls MAY need to be re-sized if used in more then one gun."

You are right, regardless of mfg. brass will expand to the largest chamber.

I do like paper hulls when volume shooting but the brass hulls are really neat for a hunt where a box of shells is good for the day. Cleaning 50 or more brass hulls is a bit like work! I resized and annealed those hulls and they loaded nicely. I'll see if I get some spring back into them on the next firing. 50 papers are on the bench now and just need shot added and a roll crimp to be ready for boxing. The new primed 2.75 Cheddite papers are really good and cut down to 2.5 nicely. I ordered a good amount of both red and orange hulls to color code for shot size. Do not know how long these will be in the supply. Federal papers are great too but work best with a fold crimp. Wish Cheddite would make 16 ga. papers available to reloaders. The last few brass hulls that split were from base to mouth half to three quarter inch about mid body. These hulls have had a whole lot of use and gave good service before giving out so I'm not disappointed.

Eric 375 Wrote, "Cleaning 50 or more brass hulls is a bit like work!"

My hull cleaning process may be more than most want to do. I put all of my fired hulls in a tumbler and let them shine up over night. After the hulls are out of the tumbler it takes me less than 5 minutes to deprive and cleanup the mouths of 50 brass hulls. I de-prime and inspect hulls then chuck up a bronze brush in my drill press and run the brush in and out a few times. The hulls are now ready for primers, powder, wads and shot.

Are you dry or wet tumbling? I don't see dry tumbling as working with black powder. I decap and wet tumble my rifle and handgun brass after a soap and water cleaning and they come out looking new. Without doing this the heavy black powder slurry makes it hard to shine up the brass. I do not do it all the time, just when the brass is starting to look a little dull. Have not had enough of the brass shotgun hulls to bother with yet but that may change in the future. Using the SS pins and detergent with a little lemmi shine really gets the inside and primer pockets looking good. Until I decide it's time for a tumble I just use hot soap and water with a bottle brush for the inside and 4 O steel wool on the outside. Brass may not sparkle but it is clean.

Well, when I am duck hunting with my 10 gauge and brass hulls, I have a container with soapy water nearby and I toss the fired empties into this solution.

On the way home the container gets a tight sealing lid, saves the smell in the auto and sloshes the hulls around for a good cleaning.

Then final clean, then reloading, and again and again.



Mike

A box of those Alcan 10's ready to go is picture perfect. My Alcan hulls are 12 ga. I think the Alcan brass hulls are the best. Heavy wall and seem to last forever. Did you drill the primer pocket for American 209's? I have thought about using the proper size drill bit and a pin vise to use our American primers. I usually keep them dry and can wait a day or two to clean them at my leisure. May have to get in the habit of putting them into a wet jug and start the cleaning early. If those turned hulls were not so expensive I'd purchase some for my 10 ga. Just finished roll crimping 50 7.5 red papers and think I'll load another 50 with 8.5 in orange papers for some black powder clays fun.

Alcan imported some brass shotshells with primer pockets to fit the old size Remington primers which were slightly smaller than the 209. They also imported shells for a 6.45 Berdan primer. These can be drilled with a slightly undersized bit, given a bit of C'sink around the exterior of the primer pocked & a 209 sized primer pushed in. The body of the 209 is a bit smaller than the Berdan pocket but by using the undersize drill it will form a seal when the 209 is pressed in. These directions were given in an old Lyman reloaders handbook.
PS;
Shotshell loaders which use a simple sizing ring will generally have a smaller diameter ring than should be used to size a brass hull all the way down. My personal believe is that if a brass hulle needs sizing in order to chamber a tapered due should be made up & the hull sized just enough to chamber freely. Too much sizing will as stated above work harden the brass & shorten the life of the hull.