Cas City Forum Hall & CAS-L
CAS TOPICS => The Darksider's Den => Topic started by: Flinch Morningwood on March 05, 2023, 02:53:57 PM
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Playing around jerry rigging a reloading set up for the Magtech brass 12 ga shotshells I have on order.
Anyone know what the inside diameter measurement is? It’s harder to find on line than you might think…. :)
Thanks in advance!
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They get narrower at the base so not a consistent diameter. Not to sound snarky, but why do you want to know that dimension? If you are wondering about wads and which to use. I use 10ga. as overshot wads. Most other wads in the stack are 11ga or 12ga depending on the wad needed. I would suggest looking at Ballistic Products for both a reloading manual and wads. https://www.ballisticproducts.com/ This is where I have been buying from for years. Good service and up until "supply chain issues" good inventory. A little more spotty now.
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Like I said, playing around with a reloading jig and waiting for the shotshells I ordered to come in.
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I've never loaded brass hulls but FWIW I have consistently read that the brass hulls are thinner than plastic ones so you need to go to 11 gauge wads to reload 12 Ga brass hulls to get a decent gas seal. Also (what I've read) very heavy loads can swell the brass and cause more difficult extraction from the chamber and require resizing more often which can lead to brass fatigue. I would expect black powder loads to give a longer life to the hulls than smokeless loads.
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Howdy Flinch. Not precisely what you are asking for, but maybe close enough? I don't have Magtech hulls, but I have old Rem-UMC and Winchester hulls. I don't have any of the Winchester at my current location, but I do have some of the Rem-UMC. My understanding is that the Magtechs are the same as the Winchester (might have heard that they are made on the same old Winchester machinery) and I believe the Rem-UMC are the same. Having said that, I have two loaded Rem-UMC with me at the moment and measured them as best as I could with my calipers. The overshot card is about 1/2" down from the mouth, so I had room to insert the caliper blades. These hulls are somewhere between 50 and 100 years old, loaded 50 times by me and unknown before I got them. So while they chamber okay, I expect the mouths are slightly out-of-round. On both, I measured between .765" and .773" by rotating the caliper around the inside. Hope that helps. Most people these days who shoot brass hulls use the Magtechs so it is likely that one of them will chime in. Coffinmaker comes to mind. Good luck.
BTW, I use no "special" tools or jig. I hand deprime mine by holding it over a trash can and hitting the punch (held with the same hand that is holding the hull) with a mallet, then push the hull down over the pistol primer on the table top to get it started in the primer pocket, then I seat the primer on my Lee LoadAll. Then dip in the powder and drop in a .125" Nitro 11 ga over powder card., then back to the press to add the wad (red plastic wad) and then drop the shot) and I use a thin 11ga overshot card, glued in with Elmers wood glue. A 10 ga overshot card would fit tighter, but I had a lot of the 11 ga and they work okay. The Nitro card makes a good seal under the plastic wad which is a little loose in the hull. I tried some fiber wads but the pattern is tighter with the plastic wad. If you were thinking of loading smokeless, I have some info on that but it is going to be more effort and probably require resizing after shooting.
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Thanks!
I’ve got a bunch of old loading dies and am working a depriming die for 12 ga using a 12 ga shell holder and “reworked” dies to fit the 7/8-14 threads.
Using a long depriming post from an old 45-100 die and some other shorter dies. I am lathe cutting the outside of a short die so brass shellcase can reach far enough to punch the primer. Working well in theory but want make sure the die is shaved enough to allow the casing to slide over.
Took another die, shaved that one and have a blunt end to compress powder with over powder card.
The rest is done by hand.
I’ll post pics when done if anyone is interested.
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:) Hi Flinch ;)
Allow me to elucidate. I've been shooting All Brass Magtech for a couple Lustrum. I finally settled on an inexpensive Lee Classic Single Stage Press. Added an RCBS die and shell holder for Brass 12Ga. I use this setup to resize if necessary, de-prime and re-prime my hulls. Shooting reasonable CAS lever loads, the brass seldom if ever needs resizing unless some Ham Hock steps on one.
I made a 30 round loading block from an old Maple block I had laying around. The actual loading process is by hand. Dump in powder (APP), Wad (Ballistic Products Spitfire for 1 ounce pay load), Dump in shot, press in over shot cards (2), DONE.
Run 'em in my 12Ga Hammer Doubles. Double Yer Fun!! Oh, Picked up the Classic press on eBay.
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I made a set of wooden tools & loading block, per several sets I've seen. Using a Lee adjustable shot dipper works for both powder & shot. I'm using 11 ga wads, except for the over shot wad, which I'm using 10ga. Actually, I'm using 2 of the overshot - this is part of experimentation with adhesives. My use a bit different than some. I'm packing as much gunpowder & shot (including bigger stuff) for hunting use. Think of varmint control with style points 😁
Firing max loads causes a lot more "loosening" of shell contents in a magazine (and/or barrel #2 of a SxS) when firing - compared to a standard 1 1/8 oz load.
Regards,
Slim
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I made a set of wooden tools & loading block, per several sets I've seen. Using a Lee adjustable shot dipper works for both powder & shot. I'm using 11 ga wads, except for the over shot wad, which I'm using 10ga. Actually, I'm using 2 of the overshot - this is part of experimentation with adhesives. My use a bit different than some. I'm packing as much gunpowder & shot (including bigger stuff) for hunting use. Think of varmint control with style points 😁
Firing max loads causes a lot more "loosening" of shell contents in a magazine (and/or barrel #2 of a SxS) when firing - compared to a standard 1 1/8 oz load.
Regards,
Slim
DITTO, sort of. Same cards and wads here. I use old tools from the period. Mainly a wood dowel with a deprimer pin that fits nicely inside a 12 bore shotshell, just a quick rap with the hand deprimes. I prime with an antique metal shot gun shell primer. I load all my cards and wads with the other end of the depriming dowel. To hold the shot card in I melt some spg or bees wax and dip a dauber in it and swab it around over the top of the shot card and walls of the case. Never had one come apart and all that extra lube keeps the barrels pretty fouling free.