Shotgun Practice dummies ?

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

OK.  I give up.  Here's how I make my "Practice" dummies.  I start with Magtech All Brass hulls.  De-prime and Re-Prime.  Dump in 40Gr 2f APP and a Nitro over powder wad.  Insert a BP1044 Plastic wad with the petals cut back for a 1 Ounce load and of course, dump in 1 Ounce of shot.  Cover with couple of over shot cards.

 

Once prepared, I take the above to my next practice session.  I first practice my loading Tech-Knee-Que by loading full weight Hulls.  I then practice my shucking Tech-Knee-Que by shucking out Empty hulls.  I have found there is no difference whether the hammers are cocked or not.  Push the lever and the gun falls open all the way.  I have found though, if you want empty hulls to practice shucking, you must start your practice with cocked hammers.  Another tip > > > With an exposed hammer double, it's much easier to insure the hammers are indeed >> cocked.  Burma Shave  

[watab kid]

i like your way of doing it , i prefer live sife to practice , just need a range thats open to let me do it , ours is closed these days save the preferred customers that are shootin a bit of trap on those rare occasions they get to - not real happy with the current situation , 

[Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator]

Little update to my post on this thread. In a post I mentioned a construction of some lighter dummies and my goal to try them out versus a heavier dummy.

I have been practicing dry firing with these lite weights for several days and although so simple in construction, I am finding them to be very rewarding  in use.  I feel because they are light, I am placing more attention in the load and of course, the shuck is more "authentic"  over heavier dummies.  A couple of very minor negative thoughts on these lites would be that they are a tad shorter than a true spent hull and mine having some open end to them is allowing  me to sometimes hang dummy on extractor (filling in this opening would help that, but add additional weight..small piece of cork might be perfect).   I am impressed the way mine are actually holding up as I was not expecting long life of them...and, doubt they would last this long if being used for 97 or 87 practice.  When I receive those being sent to me by Sedalia Dave with crimped end I may find even more satisfaction in my dry fire drills with lightweight dummies.

 

[Sedalia Dave]

In an attempt to make a dummy round as light as possible I opted for a new filler. Rather than a wad and rice I used a plastic shopping bag. Poked it in with a screw driver till the case was almost full. Cut off with scissors and then finished inserting it into the case. Made for a nice crimp.  Will weigh one tomorrow and compare the weight of an empty hull.  

[Sedalia Dave]

12 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

In an attempt to make a dummy round as light as possible I opted for a new filler. Rather than a wad and rice I used a plastic shopping bag. Poked it in with a screw driver till the case was almost full. Cut off with scissors and then finished inserting it into the case. Made for a nice crimp.  Will weigh one tomorrow and compare the weight of an empty hull.  

 

Weighed the dummy round compared to a Winchester AA fired hull. The dummy hulls weight on average 27 grains more than the fired AA hull. 

 

For reference a empty Federal hull weighs about 50 grains less than a AA hull. 

 

To make my dummy rounds stand out I make them from odd colored hulls. When I can get them i like to make them from the hot pink Federal Top Gun hulls, but any unusual color will work. The idea is to make them different than the hulls most shooters use. Unfortunately right now I am out of the odd colored hulls.

 

 

[Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator]

53 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

Weighed the dummy round compared to a Winchester AA fired hull. The dummy hulls weight on average 27 grains more than the fired AA hull. 

 

For reference a empty Federal hull weighs about 50 grains less than a AA hull. 

 

To make my dummy rounds stand out I make them from odd colored hulls. When I can get them i like to make them from the hot pink Federal Top Gun hulls, but any unusual color will work. The idea is to make them different than the hulls most shooters use. Unfortunately right now I am out of the odd colored hulls.

 

 

Dern...and I really needed pink ones. 

[MTPOCKETS]

We use AA’s filled with toilet paper, crimped and fill the primer hole with silicone 

 

MT

[Irish Pat]

I finally just bought a box from Brownell.

[Buckshot Bob]

On 4/17/2020 at 11:39 PM, MTPOCKETS said:

We use AA’s filled with toilet paper, crimped and fill the primer hole with silicone 

 

MT

Toilet paper ! You might have to cut the shells open to get it back 

 

[Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator]

3 hours ago, Irish-Pat said:

I finally just bought a box from Brownell.

They are nice and good for practice in loading but IMO a very "false" shuck due to their weight.

[Buckshot Bob]

On 4/19/2020 at 12:46 PM, Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator said:

They are nice and good for practice in loading but IMO a very "false" shuck due to their weight.

The inert loaded round was the school of thought I was coming from when I initially posted this . Because up until now “to me” dummy rounds were always to check the function of the gun . Not to practice loading and unloading.

I also find it interesting that Dave weighed a few different hulls and found such a difference. For the SxS shooters I could see where a heavier hull may be beneficial.

 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

24 minutes ago, Buckshot Bob said:

The inert loaded round was the school of thought I was coming from when I initially posted this . Because up until now “to me” dummy rounds were always to check the function of the gun . Not to practice loading and unloading.

I also find it interesting that Dave weighed a few different hulls and found such a difference. For the SxS shooters I could see where a heavier hull may be beneficial.

 

 

 

The weight difference is most likely why ribbed hulls do not shuck for some people as well as the smooth hulls do. Remington STS, Remington Nitro and Winchester AAs are heavier than ribbed hulls.

 

Interestingly enough besides the weight, most ribbed hulls are slightly smaller in diameter than smooth hulls.

[Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator]

8 hours ago, Buckshot Bob said:

The inert loaded round was the school of thought I was coming from when I initially posted this . Because up until now “to me” dummy rounds were always to check the function of the gun . Not to practice loading and unloading.

I also find it interesting that Dave weighed a few different hulls and found such a difference. For the SxS shooters I could see where a heavier hull may be beneficial.

 

 

Post has materialized into, although different from your original thought, a very informative post about type and use of shotgun dummies.  I have changed my dry fire shotgun practice some with more use of light dummies to give more emphasis in shucking.  Of course a dummy with weight of loaded round is good in progressing ones load technique but the lites serve a place in practice to keep me  alert to possibilities of a hull that might be a little stubborn or show me I might be  getting a little lacking in motion of shucking.  

For me, now that I am using more lites, I feel my load is improving somewhat because I am being challenged in the load with the lighter dummy.

[Buckshot Bob]

21 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

The weight difference is most likely why ribbed hulls do not shuck for some people as well as the smooth hulls do. Remington STS, Remington Nitro and Winchester AAs are heavier than ribbed hulls.

 

Interestingly enough besides the weight, most ribbed hulls are slightly smaller in diameter than smooth hulls.

I guess if you’re making a million of them a little bit of plastic in each one adds up to big bucks .