QUIGLEY SHOOTING ASSOCIATION NEWS
LOADING THE BLACKPOWDER SHOTSHELL Part 2 by Ken Hall
In the previous chapter on this subject, I hopefully whetted your appetite enough to encourage you to try handloading the black powder shotshell yourselves. Traditionally, shotshell cartridges were made of paper or card tube, with a brass base containing a thick base wad with a hole for the large shotgun primer. This design has hardly changed except the outer tube is now made of plastic and the brass base has been replaced with a brass plated ferrous metal to keep production costs down. This means that reloading tools designed in the 19th century to reload the paper shotshell will work just as well in the 21st century with today’s cases.
Let’s look at the way I reload the 12 gauge black powder shotshell but first, as usual, I want to say that what has proven to be safe in my own turn of the century hammer gun may not prove to be so in other vintage guns so, if you intend to use the load in anything other than a modern nitro proofed gun, please have it checked by a competent gunsmith to determine its’ serviceability.
I tend to use once-fired cases for reloading; this means that if the case has been fired in a different gun than the shell is intended for, then the brass base
will need to be resized to standard dimensions in order to freely enter the chamber. Simple hand tools exist for this purpose but I cheat and use the resizing die with my Lee ‘Load-All’ machine as it is much quicker to use. (If new bought cases are preferred then this process is not necessary).
Next, the spent primer needs to be removed, I use an antique de-priming and re-priming tool for this purpose but it could be simply knocked out with a nail punch. As I sometimes use reclaimed (salvaged) cases which are of different overall lengths, I then take the unprimed case and trim it to the required length using another vintage tool which was illustrated in the last instalment. If you don’t have this tool then this process can be completed later using a simple home made tool. The new primer is then seated using the previously mentioned re-priming tool; once again this can also be achieved simply by placing the primer on a flat surface and pressing the case over it using a suitably sized dowel inside the case.
Section of a vintage Eley Grand Prix cartridge Home made trimming gauge
Next comes the powder, I prefer Swiss No 4 1½ ffg but other brands of fg or ffg grade are suitable. When it comes to measuring the powder and shot, I use a vintage hand tool called a powder/shot dipper. These are very common and always appearing at trade fairs and internet auctions. The tools have an adjustable
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