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

When loading some brass 12 bore hulls last week I noticed that my wad stack and over shot cards did not seat properly. I load these with black powder and shot them today to check function. They worked fine but I think it's time to resize them. I was looking at the RCBS "Cowboy" set and would ask if anyone has experience with them. I picked up a gunsmith brass size die years ago at a gun show in the junk box at a table and it works well. Lube the hulls and tap into and out of the die. I use a rawhide hammer and a wood dowel relieved for the primer seat. How do the RCBS dies work for this task? I will partially anneal them before the next reload. These are Remington and Winchester hulls that had been used when I bought them years ago and I must have at least 40 reloads on them. I do not roll crimp so have had no mouth splits but a very few have finally showed hull splits and those are culled out and retired to the hull collection or cut down for powder and shot scoops. I hope a partial anneal will put a little spring back in them. I still have 4 25 round boxes of new Remington "Best" No.12 hulls in reserve.

I just use a Texan sizing ring and body and use a vice to insert the hull fully into the die.

Mike

or my 12 ton shop press

I have been loading RMC brass hulls since 2006 and so far have had no need to re-size the hulls. The loaded hulls drop easily into the chambers of my SxS. Is re-sizing in my future?

I shot heavy 10's and never resized them. I did paint the shells that went in the left barrel with red nail polish on the lettering on the head. Used in the same chamber I doubt if they will ever need resized.
bill

I do not know. I usually use them in one specific gun but shot them in my TOZ coach gun just to blow them off. The problem I noticed was that my cards and filler wads did not seat with much resistance and I,m thinking that the hulls are getting a bit tired and not springing back as expected so not getting the tight seal I'm used to. I have got a lot of reloads on them and never annealed them so I think I'll go for a partial anneal and see if they get some spring back into the hulls. Brass hulls, black powder and card/fiber wad stack just seem kind of right.

Your chambers must be identical, otherwise the hull will expand to the largest chamber. I shoot RMC hulls using nitro powders in SxS's. Two 20 gauge guns that have identical chambers, one 16 GA and one 12. The 16 and 12 have also have identical chambers (gauge specific). So I guess a re-sizer is not in my future.

375, I would expect you would need to anneal and resize only if the hulls became difficult to extract from the chambers. Are you buying wads or making your own? You might consider a larger diameter for your wads if there really is a sealing problem.

Note that it is repeated resizing without annealing that leads to cracks. A fireformed hull should be able to withstand a large number of loadings if it is shot in a matchin g chamber and not resized. Annealing brass "softens" it and reduces "spring." A freshly annealed hull will "spring back" a few thousandths of an inch (sufficient for easy extraction from the chamber) after first firing. If the hull is repeatedly fired in a larger chamber and/or repeatedly resized, it will work harden. If the hull is hard enough, it will spring back too much and continue to get harder until it cracks. The trick is to match hulls to a chamber while they are still relatively soft and keep them with said chamber.

DDA.

I have not resized them before this last loading and have never annealed them. Possible that they work hardened by many loadings? From this batch of 20 I had 1 hull split on the last firing. All of the others look to be just fine. I buy cards and wads and use 11 ga. for the 12 ga. brass hulls. Prior loadings they seated with resistance and gave good compression and seal. Last loading they seemed to be a bit loose. That is why I am thinking about a resize and partial anneal. (It maybe possible that these hulls are finally just used up?) They have certainly paid for themselves with many loadings and lot's of enjoyment on the course and in the field. I may just break out a new batch of hulls. I've had the new Remington's for 30+ years and it may be time to dip into them. I've loaded several old Alcan brass hulls and they are really nice. Have two boxes of them unfired in my collection and I think I'll get them out also. Paper hulls are the best for black powder but there is just something about all brass hulls and old hammer guns.

So far I have only ever used brass hulls in a single gun, and I have never resized them. Lazy as I am, I would likely opt to get different size wads and cards if I thought the hulls were getting oversized. Cheaper, too.

DDA