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Magtech brass shells


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You need 11 ga nitro cards and fiber wads and overshot cards. I use a square load...1oz shot dipper of 2f goex 1oz of 7.5 or 8 shot. I have the cases primed prior to my using them so they can sit for months before loading. 

step:1 prime hull

Step:2  load powder 

Step:3 insert nitro card and I have a wooden dowel that I use to seat the nitro card and compress powder.

Step:4 fiber wad and also use dowel to seat firmly

Step:5 load shot

Step6: set overshot card also good to seat with a dowel or tool of your choice.

Step 7: I like to use a hotmelt glue gun to seal the overshot card but pretty much any glue you may have handy should work.

This is how I load the brass shells...no doubt there will be other suggestions on how to do this. Find what works best for you. Youtube will likely have several videos on how to load brass shells.

Hope this helped a bit.

 

Hochbauer

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You will need shot. I got mine from @SHOOTIN FOX.

 

Wads and overshot cards. I got mine from https://www.ballisticproducts.com. You will need 11GA size for the MagTech brass IIRC. Also order their brass shotgun reloading book (about $15, again IIRC). The book has a lot of recipes in it.

 

Rule of thumb for black powder is a "square load." 1 ounce each powder and shot. Maybe start with 3/4 of a full load and work up? DO NOT use a full ounce of modern powder (this for those that did not notice the BP reference)! I bought APP FFFg BP sub so mine is a bit finer grained.

 

You will want to glue the overshot card in place. Elmers Glue, Duco Cement, Hot Glue, or go old-school with water glass. I would rather not crimp my brass. I went old-school and ordered water glass. 

 

How do you plan to load? One at a time or with a press? I have not loaded yet, have almost everything to do so by hand. I can look to see exactly what I ordered based on advice from various sources.

 

I still need to drill a bunch of holes to hold shells in a block of wood, I want a chronograph to know my velocities. I need a tumbler to clean up the shells after shooting. I do have paper for patterning the test shells.

 

 

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One last thing is the 1oz square load will knock down anything you aim at and give you plenty of smoke and fire. If you look at my profile pic that is an example of the load in action using Goex ff. The previous formula is for BLACK POWDER loading ONLY!!!

Lastly it aint rocket science.

 

Hochbauer

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1 minute ago, Sgt. Hochbauer, SASS #64409 said:

Lastly it aint rocket science.

Well, actually, it is rocket science. But only at the most basic beginner level. :lol:

 

Just blow all the fuel at once and try to get the payload to clump rather than spread out like a doughnut.

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Thanks all.  I acquired 125 brand new brass Magtech 12ga shells a few years ago from a cowboy who was retiring from the game.  Totally forgot about them after they got buried in my office.  This thread may just force me to clean that mess up and find them!  :o

 

(Well, maybe not, but I will certainly keep a look out for them in case the surface from the debris. :D

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You don't have to use fiber wads.  I use 4.3cc of BP ~60gr by weight or volume.  then the 11ga .125" nitro overpowder card, then a regular red 12ga wad (claybuster 1138-2) with 1 1/8 oz shot, then 11ga (10ga would be better) overshot card, glued in with elmers wood glue.  The nitro card provides the seal for the somewhat loose plastic wad.  Some people use less powder, some use less shot in a smaller wad, but these have worked great for 20 years.  This is in old REM-UMC hulls, but they are the same as the Magtech.  Barrels get a little plastic in them, no more than when I shoot BP with plastic wads in plastic hulls, but it cleans out super easy with any of a multitude of methods.   Have fun!

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1 hour ago, Dogmeat Dad, SASS #48563L said:

Thanks all.  I acquired 125 brand new brass Magtech 12ga shells a few years ago from a cowboy who was retiring from the game.  Totally forgot about them after they got buried in my office.  This thread may just force me to clean that mess up and find them!  :o

 

(Well, maybe not, but I will certainly keep a look out for them in case the surface from the debris. :D

I switched over to brass shells last year and really enjoy shooting them. Reloading them is part of the enjoyment but watching brass pickers just grab ahold of the brass shells is worth every minute. No problem shucking them out of any shotguns. Try them once and you will be hooked. DC

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9 hours ago, James Henry Parker SASS#76661 said:

Thanks guys I just wanted to make sure to order the right things I want all the smoke and boom . 

 

If you call Ballistic Products and tell them what you’re doing they can set you up with everything you’ll need.  Do you have a MEC loading machine?  If you do PM me you can use it to take some of the work out of loading.  Plastic hulls require a good column height to get a good crimp, in brass hulls column height is not important since you’ll be using an overshot card.  You’re load won’t fill up the hull, don’t worry about it.  

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10 hours ago, Sgt. Hochbauer, SASS #64409 said:

You need 11 ga nitro cards and fiber wads and overshot cards. I use a square load...1oz shot dipper of 2f goex 1oz of 7.5 or 8 shot. I have the cases primed prior to my using them so they can sit for months before loading. 

step:1 prime hull

Step:2  load powder 

Step:3 insert nitro card and I have a wooden dowel that I use to seat the nitro card and compress powder.

Step:4 fiber wad and also use dowel to seat firmly

Step:5 load shot

Step6: set overshot card also good to seat with a dowel or tool of your choice.

Step 7: I like to use a hotmelt glue gun to seal the overshot card but pretty much any glue you may have handy should work.

This is how I load the brass shells...no doubt there will be other suggestions on how to do this. Find what works best for you. Youtube will likely have several videos on how to load brass shells.

Hope this helped a bit.

 

Hochbauer

 

I load mine similarly but I use 2 fiber wads (½ in each) then an overshot card over the wads, top it all off with another overshot card.  Also I use a MEC to prime, stuff the hulls and add the shot.

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1 hour ago, Tequila Shooter said:

 

I load mine similarly but I use 2 fiber wads (½ in each) then an overshot card over the wads, top it all off with another overshot card.  Also I use a MEC to prime, stuff the hulls and add the shot.

We will have to talk at the Ides.  I use an old MEC Sizemaster to load my plastic AA hulls.  What kind of seating pressure are you running when seating the fiber wads?  I seem to recall we are about 60 on the slide scale with the red plastic Claybuster wads, but to be honest, it has been running without issues for probably 15 years now, so I hardly look at it anymore.

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1 hour ago, Dogmeat Dad, SASS #48563L said:

We will have to talk at the Ides.  I use an old MEC Sizemaster to load my plastic AA hulls.  What kind of seating pressure are you running when seating the fiber wads?  I seem to recall we are about 60 on the slide scale with the red plastic Claybuster wads, but to be honest, it has been running without issues for probably 15 years now, so I hardly look at it anymore.

 

Talking at the Ides is a must.  As for pressure it’s pull until you can’t pull no-more.  BP likes to be under pressure.

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I switched to these for two reasons.

 

1.  They fit in older shotguns with shorter chambers.

2.  You don't have to pester the brass pickers to collect them like you do with plastic shells at a lot of places.

 

After doing so, I found it's a lot of fun at the range to see the reactions of others to them.

 

And, for what it's worth, you can load smokeless in them.

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22 minutes ago, Tequila Shooter said:

 

Talking at the Ides is a must.  As for pressure it’s pull until you can’t pull no-more.  BP likes to be under pressure.

 

I try not to crush the plastic wads too much as they don't spring back if deformed too much, and "60" works quite well in our mix.  I was just curious about the ability of the fiber wads to "un-crush" after the wad is seated.  Biggest reason I haven't played with the brass shells has been the time needed to experiment with them, and I am hopeful that my personal time-crunch will finally begin to ease up late this year.  I will have to set a goal for shooting the brass shells at the 2022 Darkness Falls/Dark Day matches!

 

As noted in my post in the Ides thread, my plans have changed a bit.  Although we will be at the Ides, I had to delay my trip south until Tuesday.  I will be heading straight down to Tavares instead of my planned journey further south on Sat/Sun.  Life happens, but I won't miss the Ides!

 

See you there!

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Howdy Shotgunners,

 

I don't shoot BP anymore and I don't load shotshells, but I found this thread interesting. Am I missing something. I haven't seen any mention of cleaning/washing fired brass shotshell. My limited understanding of BP cartridges is that they need to have the fouling washed out after shooting. I have considered going to brass shotshells for my 87. Am I right?

 

Rev. Chase

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5 minutes ago, Reverend P. Babcock Chase said:

Howdy Shotgunners,

 

I don't shoot BP anymore and I don't load shotshells, but I found this thread interesting. Am I missing something. I haven't seen any mention of cleaning/washing fired brass shotshell. My limited understanding of BP cartridges is that they need to have the fouling washed out after shooting. I have considered going to brass shotshells for my 87. Am I right?

 

Rev. Chase

From asking this question myself...

 

Put a gallon jug 1/2 full of 50-50 mix of vinegar and water on your shooting cart, drop the spent shells in as you go through the stages.

 

At home, rinse and tumble clean as for any brass, and clean your guns.

 

A tumbler is the big stopping point for me at the moment, I need to get one.

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You will definitely need to clean them after use.  Some folks tumble them in a wet tumbler using stainless steel pins and exotic mixtures involving Unicorn pee :o which results in cases that glow and sparkle like the sun.  However, many folks simply soak them in soapy water after use, then let them dry before reuse which gives then that aged patina.

 

Either way is equally valid,

 

Dogmeat (Who is an adherent of the wet tumbling method.  Well, except for the whole Unicorn thing, they are impossible to find these days! :P) Dad

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4 minutes ago, John Kloehr said:

From asking this question myself...

 

Put a gallon jug 1/2 full of 50-50 mix of vinegar and water on your shooting cart, drop the spent shells in as you go through the stages.

 

At home, rinse and tumble clean as for any brass, and clean your guns.

 

A tumbler is the big stopping point for me at the moment, I need to get one.

 

Just be careful not to soak them too long in any mixture involving vinegar.  It is an acid and, over time, will etch the brass.  Not too big an issue in this group as we tend to lose brass faster than we wear it out, but just something to keep an eye on.  Would probably not be good to leave them in the back of the truck in the vinegar solution from say the last match of the year in November until the first match of the year in March.  :rolleyes:

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8 hours ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

... Granted, I go the smokeless route. ...

H.K., you may have mentioned your loading procedure in the past, I don't recall, but are you full-length resizing the brass 12ga hulls after firing?  I have heard from some in the past that shooting smokeless through them makes them expand more and need the resizing.  Just last weekend, as an experiment, I fired 4 smokeless loads in brass Alcan shells.  I won't go into all the details, but I was using Titegroup and loaded 1 1/8 oz shot in two of them, and 25 grams of shot in two of them.  The two 1 1/8 oz shells both gave a big bang and slammed the plates down.  The lighter loads, one felt about like a featherlight and knocked over a plate, and the other was a Pfffft shot.  Afterwards, checking them in another shotgun, the Pfffft shell easily chambered and fell out, but all 3 that went bang (two BIGGER BANGs and one smaller bang) will not slide into the chamber and will need resizing.  These Alcans are a little thicker than the Magtechs, which may or may not make a difference.  If they do generally need resizing after smokeless, it will dissuade plenty from trying it due to lack of adequate equipment.

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I have a RCBS 12ga cowboy shot shell die; so that segregating cases fire in different shotguns isn't necessary.  If fired cases are segregated there is no need to resize them.  This no different than neck sizing of bottleneck rifle cases.  By putting a slight crimp on brass shot shells inserting them in a double's chambers is quicker & easier.  The die came with crimp bushing & ring

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4 hours ago, Abilene, SASS # 27489 said:

H.K., you may have mentioned your loading procedure in the past, I don't recall, but are you full-length resizing the brass 12ga hulls after firing?  I have heard from some in the past that shooting smokeless through them makes them expand more and need the resizing.  Just last weekend, as an experiment, I fired 4 smokeless loads in brass Alcan shells.  I won't go into all the details, but I was using Titegroup and loaded 1 1/8 oz shot in two of them, and 25 grams of shot in two of them.  The two 1 1/8 oz shells both gave a big bang and slammed the plates down.  The lighter loads, one felt about like a featherlight and knocked over a plate, and the other was a Pfffft shot.  Afterwards, checking them in another shotgun, the Pfffft shell easily chambered and fell out, but all 3 that went bang (two BIGGER BANGs and one smaller bang) will not slide into the chamber and will need resizing.  These Alcans are a little thicker than the Magtechs, which may or may not make a difference.  If they do generally need resizing after smokeless, it will dissuade plenty from trying it due to lack of adequate equipment.

 

I started out with the RCBS dies.   They don't really resize the shells.  I had run the Magtechs in my 97's and my Parker and they were just fine fitting in all 3 guns after using the RCBS dies to deprime then and run them through what they called a resizing ring.   You don't need to lube the shells with the RCBS dies.   Then I tried them in my 87, and they would not chamber in any gun but the 87.   So I got the CH4D dies.  These you need to lube for, and they do full length resize, and after running them through those, they chamber properly in everything again.   Sounds to me that your gun may be light my 87 and have an ever so slightly larger chamber, allowing the shells to expand just a little and needing them to be resized.  

As far as the Pfft goes, I did a lot of experimenting to figure out what the correct wad column you need to use is to prevent that.   Once I figured it out, pffts went away.

I use the same powder charge and amount of shot that that I use in AA's that my dad developed for trap shooting.  About 1 1/8 oz of shot and Red Dot powder.

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5 hours ago, Abilene, SASS # 27489 said:

 Afterwards, checking them in another shotgun, the Pfffft shell easily chambered and fell out, but all 3 that went bang (two BIGGER BANGs and one smaller bang) will not slide into the chamber and will need resizing. 

Did the three that went bang slide easily back into and out of the gun they were fired in?

 

If so, could it just be that the chambers in that gun are substantially bigger than the others?

 

A person only using one shotgun may or may not have the issue.

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25 minutes ago, Chief Rick said:

Did the three that went bang slide easily back into and out of the gun they were fired in?

 

If so, could it just be that the chambers in that gun are substantially bigger than the others?

 

A person only using one shotgun may or may not have the issue.

That shotgun had just come back from a gunsmith who brought it to the match and it had some problems so it went back with him.  So I can't try them, but if I recall, all but the pffft had to be pulled out of the chambers after firing.

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2 hours ago, Abilene, SASS # 27489 said:

That shotgun had just come back from a gunsmith who brought it to the match and it had some problems so it went back with him.  So I can't try them, but if I recall, all but the pffft had to be pulled out of the chambers after firing.

Not that I'd planned on using smokeless in brass, but this would be a reason not to if I did.

 

No desire to have to manually pull the shells out of the chamber after firing.

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