I

48 Handloader 266www.handloadermagazine.com

The earliest attempts simply substituted drawnbrass tubes for the paper tubes, affixed them to thebrass heads and turned them in to secure the over-shot wads. Wax or shellac was typically used to wa-terproof the shell mouth. Drawn, one-piece shellsfollowed as did the use of other metals such aszinc, aluminum and to a lesser extent steel. Oneparticularly interesting attempt employed a thinpaper shell with a zinc liner actually longer than thepaper. The zinc liner was then crimped in a pie orstar crimp that we would recognize today. All theseshells, however interesting and effective, had their

RELOADING

Brass

There are components galorefor loading brass shells with either

black or smokeless powder.

R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.

In the study of shotshells, per-haps the least understood seg-ment of this most interestingsubject is that of the all-metal

shell. While our modern plastic-tubed shells were preceded bypaper-tubed shells, it is not true thatall-metal or brass shells precededthose with paper tubes. Early on inthe development of breech-loadingarms, self-contained ammunitionwas bound in paper or linen. Inshotguns, the earliest shell that themodern shooter would instantlyrecognize had a brass head, a paper-tubed body and an external primer.

At the same time – the latter half of the nineteenthcentury – well-traveled sportsmen were taking tothe field with 12, 10, 8 and even larger bore riflesthat used brass shells. These self-contained shellswere sturdy, easily transported and waterproof.“Why?” asked many a waterfowling hunter, “can’twe have a brass shell, too?” Waterfowlers, to agreater extent than most others, felt the need for awaterproof shell. Actually, the paper shells of theday were intentionally moisture-resistant to varyingdegrees. The absorption of moisture into the shellwas a very real concern, as it could dilute the effec-tiveness of the black powder, and the paper shellscould swell to the extent they could not be cham-bered. Still, the waterfowlers had a point and whilemanufacturers continued to develop more mois-ture-resistant paper shells, attention was turned tothe development of all-metal shells as well.

June-July 2010 49www.handloadermagazine.com

Shotshells

This Model 1897 Bakerexternal hammer gun isfairly typical of its ilk.

PART I: Practical Tips for Versatility

Handloader 266

powder and shot. At the sametime such loads would not besuitable, perhaps even unsafe, foruse in a gun of standard dimen-sions. Few chamberless guns, asDr. Heath envisioned, were everbuilt.

The second development of Dr.Heath was what today we thinkof as the “high density-low veloc-ity” principle in which more andlarger shot were paired with alower-than-normal velocity for avery effective and useful load. In the 12-gauge, 21⁄2-inch brass

shells, Dr. Heath was able to pushas much as 2 ounces of BBs at800 fps with what he claimed tobe astonishing results.

All the above, admittedly askimming of the highlights of theera, took place in England andEurope. In the U.S. similar activi-ties flourished but with a decid-edly American flavor.

In the 1878 E. Remington & Sonscatalog of breechloading rifles,shotguns, pistols and ammuni-tion, the company had this to say:

“Of late years, the reloadingbrass shells for shotguns havecome much into use, and we rec-ommend every sportsman tohave some of them on hand, asthey can always be loaded inplaces where it might be difficultto obtain paper shells. They arealso better at taking a larger wadin the same size chamber, andgiving more penetration, and areless liable to injury by wet. . . .We are prepared to furnish metalshells that we know are suitablefor our guns. They are made witha solid head, or flange, and fittedwith a steel cone, upon which theprimer is placed, and explodedby the firing-pin of the gun.These shells are put up in boxescontaining twenty-four shells,with primer extractor . . . for re-

RELOADINGBrass Shotshells

Old published reports highlighted all-metal shells, this one from areprint of the “ALCAN Shotshell Reloader’s Manual, No. X” in the firstHandloader’s Digest.

Historicalinformation

regardingbrass shot-

shells isfound in avariety of

older booksand catalogs.

drawbacks. The brass shells hada larger interior capacity thanpaper shells and required largerwads. True pie-crimping couldonly be accomplished by the am-munition factories, and the ever-increasing cost of metals wouldeventually make the price pro-hibitive.

The concept of the all-brassshell attracted the attention inEngland of Dr. Charles J. Heath,at one time president of theBritish Waterfowlers’ Associa-tion. Dr. Heath developed twoprecepts of shotgunning sciencethat, in differing forms, are stillwith us today. One was a “cham-berless gun” that might bethought of as an early attempt atbackboring. Dr. Heath reasonedthat with the thin brass tubeshotshell there was no need forthe heavy forcing cone requiredof a gun shooting the papershells of the day and that it couldbe essentially removed and thebore enlarged to much the samesize as the interior of the brassshell. Of course, such a shellwould require much larger wadsand, for waterfowlers, hold more

June-July 2010 51www.handloadermagazine.com

moving exploded caps; also inboxes containing ten shells, with-out extractor.”

In comparing the above, in Eng-land and western Europe, shot-shells were typically purchasedfrom an ammunition manufac-turer or from one’s gunmaker. Inthe latter instance, the gunmakerpurchased empty shells, paper ormetal, and loaded them for hiscustomers, often to the cus-tomers’ specifications. In the lesssettled America, the need to beable to load, or reload, one’s ownshells far from any settlementwas of paramount concern.

Fifty years later, in 1928, Maj.

Charles Askins, in his Modern

Shotguns and Loads, was ratherdismissive of both chamberlessguns and brass shells: “Whateverthe chamberless gun may or maynot do in the way of patterns, it isnot a practical arm. We are notgoing back to black powder norto brass cases, which must behand-loaded and carefully han-dled as was true fifty years ago.”

In spite of such feelings, whichwere no doubt shared by many,the all-metal shell held on. In thefirst annual edition of Hand-

loader’s Digest, edited by John T.Amber of Gun Digest fame andpublished in 1962, are depictedtools for loading brass shells. The

Above left, the CBC shell is drawn brass and accepts a large pistolprimer. Right, the RMC shell is turned from solid brass and cut for a209 battery cup primer.

The RCBS Cowboy Shotshell Die setis designed to handle the CBC shells.

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Handloader 26652 www.handloadermagazine.com

All well and good, you say, butsurely this is still the dim past.Not quite. Today there are atleast two sources of brass shot-shells for U.S. reloaders and twosets of reloading dies. There alsoare components galore for load-ing brass shells with either blackor smokeless powder.

The first all-brass shotshells areheadstamped “CBC (and thegauge)” and are manufactured byCompanhia Brazileira De Cartu-chos in Brazil and imported intothe U.S. by MAGTECH Ammuni-tion Co., Inc. of Minnesota (1-800-466-7191). They are availablein 12, 16, 20 and 28 gauges and.410 bore. Other sizes are manu-factured but may not be availablehere. These are drawn brass,one-piece shells with the primerpockets protruding into the shellinterior. Shell length is nominally21⁄2 inches. The 12-gauge shells onhand measure from 2.440 to 2.465inches. In type, they are very sim-ilar to the thin brass shells of Dr.Heath’s time and the Remingtonshells manufactured into the mid-twentieth century. The primerpockets are, or were, sized forthe 6.45mm (#56 Tupan) primer.In the early years of their avail-ability, we were informed to usesmall pistol primers. At sometime this changed, at least forthose shells imported into theU.S. Current CBC shells take a

shotshells in 12, 16, 20 and 28gauges and .410 bore. All but the.410 used No. 21⁄2 large pistolprimers. The .410 used No. 11⁄2small pistol primers. Our militaryused these in 12 gauge as guardshells with buckshot. Winchesterprovided a similar product.

RELOADINGBrass Shotshells

Tired of Run Out?Tired of Over Sizing?Want to ExtendBrass Life?

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Minimal brass sizing for flawless chamber-ing and maximum case life.Concentricities of .0005" or better from topto bottom.Head space adjustment within the die viahardened and ground tool steel retainerrings.Standard die body will accept die inserts forany caliber from 6mm to 30-06.Now introducing the Magnum die body thatwill accept larger cartridges up to 416 Rigby.2 part die insert construction - one for thebody, one for the neck and shoulder.Every die is custom made based on your fireformed brass.Wildcat Development and hydraulic formingservices available.

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The C-H tool is a two-die set with a full-length sizing die and a seating/crimping die.

book also contains the “ALCANShotshell Reloader’s Manual, No.X.” In it are several pages de-voted to all-metal shells and thereloading of them. These includethe Alcan-Metal shotshell, whichwas a four-piece shell: a steelhead, aluminum tube, basewadand a metal overlay cup thatserved to reinforce the tube inthe powder area. Also listed were a solid brass shell for usewith smokeless powder withRemington-type 57 primers and aBerdan-type solid shell for usewith black or smokeless powderand Berdan primers. Each wasavailable in gauges from 10 to.410, including 24 and 32 gauge.All-Metal shotshell reloading kitswere available in 12 gauge. In thebook’s section on Remingtoncomponents were listed all-brass

Handloader 266

of a simple aluminum die bodywith a screw-in steel sizing ring,a removable, steel decapping as-sembly, a crimping insert and asteel lock ring. The die comeswith a shellholder that fits anystandard metallic press ram. Thedie body is threaded 11⁄4x12 andwill fit most presses with a re-movable die bushing. This tool isdesigned to be used with theCBC shell and shot charges only.There is no seating stem for ballor bullet loading. Priming and de-priming are done with the die seton one’s metallic press. Powder,wad and shot insertion are eitherdone by hand or on a shotshellreloading press or some combi-

nation of both. If the brass shellis to be crimped, the CowboyShotshell Die is again employed.

The second reloading tool isfrom C-H Tool & Die Company ofMt. Vernon, Ohio. This is an old-line reloading tool company nowunder the able direction of DaveDavidson. The C-H tool is avail-able in most any gauge and shelllength. It is a two-die set, all steelwith aluminum locking rings.With 11⁄4x12 threads it too fitsmost any metallic press with a re-movable die bushing. Its shell-holder fits standard reloadingtool rams. The first die is an in-side-tapered, full-length sizing die– as opposed to RCBS’s sizingring. The second die is a seatingand crimp die. It includes an ad-justable seating plug to hold theovershot wads, bullet or round-ball securely positioned as theshell is crimped, much like amodern metallic seating/crimpingdie. Probably most C-H cus-tomers who purchase this die setare big-bore rifle shooters andtheir projectiles are roundballsrather than shot. The set willwork equally well with CBC orRMC shells, but depriming andrepriming of the latter must bedone elsewhere, as the standardmetallic presses will not accom-modate 209 primers nor will thehole in the shellholder allowthem to be removed.

Most who use brass shotshellswith shot loads will never have aneed to size the shells, but the

54 www.handloadermagazine.com

RELOADINGBrass Shotshells

The old LeeLoader kit forshotshells is idealfor reloadingbrass shells. TheDecapper &Base, right front,will removeprimers fromboth the RMCand CBC shells.

large pistol primer. An attempt tolearn more about the change wasunsuccessful.

The second all-brass shotshellis manufactured by Rocky Moun-tain Cartridge, LLC of Cody,Wyoming. These shells are turnedfrom solid brass and have thesame interior capacity and shapeas a typical straightwalled papershell. Primer pockets are cut forthe modern 209-style battery cupprimer. Dave Casey, proprietor,makes these shells to order, andgauge or bore and length are upto the customer. Casey will alsocut primer pockets to acceptlarge rifle primers, but he doesnot recommend it. Twelve-gaugeshells on hand are 25⁄8 inches(2.625 inches) in length. Head-stamp is “RMC (and gauge).”

When it comes to tools avail-able to assist the reloader inloading brass shells, there aretwo. The first is from RCBS,called the Cowboy Shotshell Die,part number 99060, and is avail-able only in 12 gauge. It consists

June-July 2010

use of the shellholder whenworking with the CBC shells is agreat help. Those who load bulletor ball will need the C-H toolboth for seating and crimping.Here, sizing may become an issuebut it is readily handled withthese fine dies. Whenever shellsare to be sized, they mustfirst be lubed as is donewith metallic cases.

Before we proceed, weneed to review some gen-eral topics in more de-tail. The first is crimping. Both tools allow for crimping. TheRCBS tool has a progressivecrimp beginning at five degreesand progressing to 20 degrees.The C-H tool has a .175 inch ra-dius crimp. Most crimp datafound in old documents suggestscrimps commonly ran from a .125radius to .175 inch. This all refersto a turn in or slight roll crimp. Inmetallic cartridges, a turning inof the case mouth is referred to

height, something that might notexist with the CBC shells andmight be beyond the capabilitiesof most case trimmers. Evenmore important is a consistentwad column height and a meansof keeping pressure on the over-shot wad as the crimp is being

applied. This is easily ac-complished with the C-Htool with its seating plug.With the RCBS tool, adowel or something sim-ilar must be inserted

through the top of the die andheld in place against the overshotwads as the ram is raised and thecrimp applied.

When a bulleted round iscrimped, as the projectile leavesthe case or shell, the crimp is au-tomatically removed. In a brassshotshell, however, as the roundis fired, the overshot wad isforced out of the mouth of theshell and the shot follows, butwithout exerting enough force on

as a roll crimp, where the casemouth grips the bullet at the can-nelure, in a crimping groove orsometimes over the bullet ogive.In some rimless handgun car-tridges that headspace on thecase mouth, a straight tapercrimp is employed. In paper or

55www.handloadermagazine.com

When it comes to tools available to assist the reloader in loading brass

shells, there are two.

plastic shotshells, a roll crimp isone in which the shell mouth isturned in 180 degrees to securean overshot wad. The more com-monly seen star or pie crimp isone in which the shell mouthfolds inward to meet at the cen-ter obviating the need for anovershot wad. Neither of theselatter two can be used with thebrass shells under discussion.

To properly crimp a brass shot-shell calls for a consistent brass

Handloader 266

new hull conditioning tool calleda Spin Doctor is made of alu-minum and showed some prom-ise, but the brass shells scoredthe aluminum tool. It was de-signed to be used in a drill pressand still can be – just don’t turnon the press. A rawhide or plasticmallet, gently applied, is better.Perhaps better still would be tocut a short dowel to length anddrill a hole to accept the toolshank. Slide the dowel over theshank and tap the dowel with amallet. After numerous such at-tempts, the conclusion wasreached that if loading shot inbrass shotshells, it is best not tocrimp at all.

Not only do we put less wearand tear on the shell mouths, butwad column height becomesunimportant. Adhesives ensurethat the overshot wads stay inplace in the field. In a range envi-ronment, a tight-fitting overshotwad may prove sufficient, butgluing in the overshot wads is amuch surer approach. I havecome to rely on two-part epoxy,applying it to the edge of firstone, then another, overshot wadof .025 or .030 inch. Each isseated separately. Epoxy canreadily be cleaned up with rub-bing alcohol before it hardens.After firing, any residue insidethe shell can be removed with achamber brush or a brass brushof the next larger gauge. Othershave employed silicone adhesiveor simply a hot glue gun.

A second subject is priming.Most of us first trying brass shot-shells will not have access to ei-ther reloading tool. We’ll simplydo our reloading the old-fash-ioned way – by hand. Beginningwith a hard, flat surface, we placea primer, anvil up, position theshell over it and with a dowel inthe shell, tap the shell with a mal-let until the primer is seated. Thisworks with either shell, but whenpriming the CBC shell, becausethe primer pocket protrudes intothe shell interior, the dowel mustbe drilled to accept the primer

56 www.handloadermagazine.com

RELOADINGBrass Shotshells

to loading brass shotshells, sev-eral methods were tried. A plumbbob, found at any hardwarestore, can be used. The ones I’veseen lately were chrome-platedsteel, were tapered and of a sizeto handle anything up to 12gauge. Ballistic Products, Inc. (1-888-273-5623) makes tools for re-shaping paper and plastic shells,but they are made of wood andunsuitable for this purpose. A

the crimp to remove it. Subse-quent reloading of the shells isthen compromised as neither re-loading tool has the ability to re-move any leftover crimp.

In an attempt to remove thecrimp, after trying this approach

June-July 2010

To effect the removal of the shellfrom the shellholder in such aneventuality is likely why theRCBS shellholder has a strategi-cally placed trough cut in it. Aheavy-handed attempt to seat it

pocket. A 5⁄16-inch hole is suffi-cient if properly centered. De-priming is another matter. A nailwith its point filed down hasbeen used for a century or more.Lee Precision sells a Decapper &Base in .22 and .30 caliber for de-priming military cases withcrimped-in primers. The .22 cal-iber (Part No. 90103) is ideal fordecapping either of these shells.

Reloaders with a metallic pressusing the CBC shell may opt topurchase one of the die sets (12gauge only from RCBS; anygauge from C-H) for on-presspriming and depriming. Thosewith a shotshell reloading pressof any gauge can use it for de-priming and priming the RMCshell – just remove the sizing ringon the deprime station first, ifnecessary.

Things can go wrong, however.Seating a large rifle primer in theCBC shell will result in a primerprotruding from the shell head.

57www.handloadermagazine.com

The CBC shells can be primedand deprimed on most metallicpresses with a removablebushing. The dies are threaded11⁄4x12.

anyway (large rifle primers aretaller than large pistol primers)or to remove it can have a veryunpleasant result. Likewise,there are minor differences insome 209-type shotshell primerdiameters, and there is no “give”in the brass RMC shells.

The moral of all this is that untilyou have perfected your primingand depriming procedures, workwith spent primers! With theRMC shells, even a dab of caselube on the outside of the batterycup at first would not be un-called for.

“Reloading Brass Shotshells”will be continued in Handloader

No. 267 with loading proceduresand loads. •