BP shotshells swell

[Hoss]

Whenever I load real BP or 777 into shotgun hulls they tend to swell and open up the crimp a tad. Sometimes leaking out shot. Any reason/cure for this? (Loading 7/8 oz shot, basically a square or slightly less powder than square load) using 7/8 is grey clay buster wad, STS or AA hulls.  
 

Does not happen when I load smokeless 

[The Shoer 27979]

Some of mine have done that, I put a 20 gauge( i was given a couple thousand from a friend) shot card over the top of shoot so it don't  leak out.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Try a little less powder to reduce your stack/column height. A lot of folks try to stuff in more BP than necessary for the load. 

[La Sombra]

I have found that if I tap the shell on the table three or 4 times before I crimp the crimp does not swell or open up. I also load 7/8 oz and 60 grains of 3f APP, pink wad and a AA shell.
 

La Sombra

[Springfield Slim SASS #24733]

Either too much stuff in there or not enough crimp.

[Prairie Dawg, SASS #50329]

I usually put something over the shot.
I've used 14 gauge overshot wads when I had a lot of them.

I've used 20 gauge overshot wads when I had a lot of them.

I've cut up primer cardboard boxes into little squares.

I currently have a surplus of Mr. Coffee filters, so I punch out a bunch of small round pieces, using a wad cutter & a hammer.

That way, if the crimp opens a bit, it's no biggie.

--Dawg

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Your stack height is wrong.  Winchester uses extremely dense (i.e., heavy for its volume) powder because their hulls are shorter than Remington hulls and have less interior volume.  BP, Clays, Red Dot etc. are bulky powders and take up a lot of space.  In the photo the 7/8 oz WAA12L wad (grey) is on the left, the WAA12SL wad (pink) is in the middle.  If you are using a square load what you are basically doing is taking the top off the wad and moving the equivalent to the bottom (purple arrows).  This is greater than the interior volume of the hulls so the center section of the wad compresses.  After a while the center starts decompressing and your hulls start tenting (opening up).  What a LOT of high volume loaders do with bulky smokeless powder is use the WAA12SL or Claybusters equivalent.  The cup is the same size but the center section is shorter.  For CAS you only need 35 or 40 grains of BP or APP.  With 777 you need even less as it has more power than BP or APP.  In the good old days when we use to use square loads that meant we were loading 80 grains of BP.  The only wad that would fit was the old Winchster Red wad.  (On the right).  It has been discontinued by Winchester but is still made by Claybusters.  The only place it is necessary anymore is for loading shorter BP shells.  To keep my CAS smokeless and BP loads from getting mixed up I now load my BP shells to 2 1/2".  The Red wad is needed to fit enough powder in the hull.  Switch to the pink wad, use 35 to 40 grains of powder (volume equivalent) and your shells should be OK.

[Rattlesnake Slim]

What Larsen says. I usually use 1oz or even 1 1/8oz wads with 7/8 oz of shot with APP in Remington Gun Club hulls. No more leaky crimps.

[Cusz M. Dutch SASS Life 55326]

A rolled crimp is what I finally settled on after your problem and a few others.  Set it up on a drill press and do all your reloads at the same time.  Will agree that the BP is not the cause just a symptom of wad column height not matching up with the components.

 

The roll crimp tends to handle the difference in shot shells interior dimensions and puts a little bit more of a taper to the end of the shell.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Keep your shells dry.  Desiccant packs in a steel ammo box are perfect for storing "black" shells.  This time of year (high humidity and warm temps), BP and subs will suck in atmospheric moisture.  If this only happens to you now, not in the winter, there's your problem and solution.

 

good luck, GJ

[Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971]

3 minutes ago, Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 said:

Keep your shells dry.  Desiccant packs in a steel ammo box are perfect for storing "black" shells.  This time of year (high humidity and warm temps), BP and subs will suck in atmospheric moisture.  If this only happens to you now, not in the winter, there's your problem and solution.

 

good luck, GJ

I bought some of these online.  My ammo loaded with BP subs gets stored in a dry box with one of these inside.  They recharge from a 110 V outlet.

 

[Itchy Trigger]

If it is a humidity issue, the following are great, less than $10 from Academy and don't depend on electronics.

Can recharge in an oven when the color changes.

[watab kid]

my papers have swollen but not my plastics , interesting 

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

With a plastic hull and plastic wad there is virtually no atmospheric moisture.  The only moisture is what was in the air when the powder was dropped into the hull.