February 2012 Issue - Target Shooter Magazine

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.
bowl to vary the volume. English and American made
tools are usually graduated in drams for powder and
ounces for shot, whilst continental ones are usually in
decigrammes for powder and grammes for shot.
What simplifies things is that once you have adjusted
the measure for the weight of shot, it is customary
to use the same volume setting for powder. Using
my English measure, I have settled on a load of 1oz
Shotshell component parts
shot, this approximates to 28grams. At this setting
the measure indicates a powder weight of 2½ drams,
(74grains in common reloading parlance). This load
should be more than adequate for CAS steel plate
shooting.
So, using a cartridge filler tube, I take my primed case,
pour in a measure of 2½drams of Swiss No 4, I then
take a 3mm thick over-powder card wad and push this
onto the powder, next comes a 13mm fibre cushioning
wad, then a 3mm felt wad to prevent the shot
embedding in the fibre. Next, using the same measure
setting, I pour in 1oz of shot, (anything from No7s to
No5s is good for knocking over steel plates) followed
by a thin over-shot card wad. All that is left to do is to
form the crimp to hold the components together. If, as
I mentioned earlier, the case has not been previously
cut to length, then that will be necessary before the
crimping stage.
Even though modern nitro game and target cartridges
are still relatively cheap to purchase, the tools and
components required to manufacture ammunition at
home are still being made and are readily available
from several retailers, of note are Henry Krank & Co at
Typical hand tools
www.henrykrank.com and Clay & Game Reloaders at
www.claygame.co.uk . Also of interest is the extract
from the Parker Hale catalogue showing vintage tools
still available at least as late as 1958.
Comments and questions please to;
khall6548@aol.com
QUIGLEY SHOOTING
ASSOCIATION NEWS
Home made trimming gauge
Section of a vintage Eley Grand Prix cartridge
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
I made a simple gauge out of a piece of aluminium
rod as pictured, which allows for an overlap of 3mm
for crimping. The whole is now placed in the vintage
cartridge closer and the roll crimp applied. I generally
now mark the cartridge with an indelible pen to show
it is charged with black powder.
Parker Hale cat 58
92 93