[dogchaser37]

Attempted to load some more Federal paper hulls today. The load worked well as far as stack height, crimp, etc, but kept having malfunctions. Now and then a hull would not drop down into sizer, going down just far enough to screw up sequence of primer seating, powder and shot drops. The other problem was the wad guide would snag on the hull edge, causing it to collapse down before the wad could be inserted. Between the two malfunctions.......and sorting it out with getting powder and shot drops back into sequence (after having to clean up numerous spills), I began thinking I'm not cut out to run a progressive loader.

Had been thinking these were once fired hulls, but that may not be the case. Some hulls had spent primers protruding a bit......far enough they would not pass into the sizer/deprimer, and edges somewhat frayed. The cone shaped expander on the depriming pin arm does not clean them up as well as the spreader on my Texan does. Could use it but do not have a cone shaped crimp starter for it and the 6 point starter does a poor job on them.

All things considered, I may be forced to give up on the whole lot of them. A good sized trash bag full.

True once fired papers, usually aren't very frayed and the spent primers don't back out, at least not on any I have seen. Never had a once fired paper hull that wouldn't drop into the collet. Did shot get into the collet or between the collet fingers and the base?

That case conditioner I showed in #28 is a bit slow to use when you have a 1000 hulls but, it stops any problems at the wad quide.

 

[dutch7373]

In the old days we would make a 1 by 6 with dowels in it and place the shells in a warm oven for 10 minutes. The wax would infiltrate the crimp again. Too time consuming. I just expand the crimps that look too closed with the ball end of a ball peen hammer.

 

[howa9700]

First job for tomorrow is to look close at the collet. It may have a piece or two of shot in it. The other odd thing was handle when fully up, was not allowing enough clearance to insert a CB6100 wad into the wad guide (top gun hull for those). That was new. The two may be related.

 

[D Meyer]

Attempted to load some more Federal paper hulls today. The load worked well as far as stack height, crimp, etc, but kept having malfunctions. Now and then a hull would not drop down into sizer, going down just far enough to screw up sequence of primer seating, powder and shot drops. The other problem was the wad guide would snag on the hull edge, causing it to collapse down before the wad could be inserted. Between the two malfunctions.......and sorting it out with getting powder and shot drops back into sequence (after having to clean up numerous spills), I began thinking I'm not cut out to run a progressive loader. Had been thinking these were once fired hulls, but that may not be the case. Some hulls had spent primers protruding a bit......far enough they would not pass into the sizer/deprimer, and edges somewhat frayed. The cone shaped expander on the depriming pin arm does not clean them up as well as the spreader on my Texan does. Could use it but do not have a cone shaped crimp starter for it and the 6 point starter does a poor job on them. All things considered, I may be forced to give up on the whole lot of them. A good sized trash bag full.

If the base is on the large diameter size, which Federals tend to do due to a thin base, they can hang up on the indexing plate. I always spin my hull a little when placing it in the loader to be sure it is free and will not hang. Otherwise, put the hull through a supersizer or chuck it. With the wad station. This happens because the hull was only partially opened. Inspect the hulls beforehand and open them by hand if necessary. There also is a BP product to do this but I use my fingers. Or just don't use the hull. They do this more with more reloads on the case. I went through a lot of frustration with the progressives at first. A few other notes, before rotating the bottles up into place ALWAYS cock the measuring assembly. I have dumped shot many times. Before lowering the assembly ALWAYS be sure the plugs are in place. I learn by experience.

 

[wvgunner61]

If I could only reload one hull for the duration of my career, hands down, give me Federal Papers.

They run so smooth through the machine, all the same length and they crimp so consistently nice......

I know, I know they only last for two or three loads......who cares, I'm not looking for a long term relationship, I just want to shoot some clays. Besides they smell so damn good after you fire them!!

I reloaded 3 flats while Silver_Is_Money was contemplating the size of an orifice on the thread "VMD's, and now for something completely different."!! Just kidding buddy!!

Love the smell. Even in reloads it's reminiscent of olden days (the 70's for me).

 

[11B40]

Attempted to load some more Federal paper hulls today. The load worked well as far as stack height, crimp, etc, but kept having malfunctions. Now and then a hull would not drop down into sizer, going down just far enough to screw up sequence of primer seating, powder and shot drops. The other problem was the wad guide would snag on the hull edge, causing it to collapse down before the wad could be inserted. Between the two malfunctions.......and sorting it out with getting powder and shot drops back into sequence (after having to clean up numerous spills), I began thinking I'm not cut out to run a progressive loader.

Had been thinking these were once fired hulls, but that may not be the case. Some hulls had spent primers protruding a bit......far enough they would not pass into the sizer/deprimer, and edges somewhat frayed. The cone shaped expander on the depriming pin arm does not clean them up as well as the spreader on my Texan does. Could use it but do not have a cone shaped crimp starter for it and the 6 point starter does a poor job on them.

All things considered, I may be forced to give up on the whole lot of them. A good sized trash bag full.

If you decide to scrape them, I could use a few hundred. I cut them down to 2-1/2" and hand load the shells with a roll crimp.

 

[howa9700]

Send me a PM with an address.

How many hulls will fit in a flat rate USPS box? Would that do it?

 

[howa9700]

Dumped a couple pieces of round shot from loader.....not sure if they came from the collet or elsewhere, but whatever the case, ran about 20 hulls thru the re-sizer and all dropped down as they are supposed to and worked fine.

These are a random sample from my stash. Some look rough and mangled on the crimp edge and some look new and once fired. All have same gold colored primer.

At worst, can load the straights but set the rough ones off to the side for someone else or to pitch as they come up.

 

[dutch7373]

If they don’t have pinholes just above the brass open the crimp and load them.

 

[novashooter1]

Dumped a couple pieces of round shot from loader.....not sure if they came from the collet or elsewhere, but whatever the case, ran about 20 hulls thru the re-sizer and all dropped down as they are supposed to and worked fine.

These are a random sample from my stash. Some look rough and mangled on the crimp edge and some look new and once fired. All have same gold colored primer.

At worst, can load the straights but set the rough ones off to the side for someone else or to pitch as they come up.

View attachment 66396

The "rough" ones are no issue. The decapping pin straightens them right out.

 

[novashooter1]

I'm not sure I would give up plastic shells entirely, but I would gladly load a ton of paper hulls. I am not old enough to remember when paper hulls were the standard, I grew up in a plastic world. I have to say, I am baffled why paper hulls were largely abandoned. Sure, they have a couple drawbacks, as do plastic shells. For target shooting especially paper shells are fantastic. They don't last as long as an STS, but 4-5 loads is still not that bad. Maybe the old paper hulls were different, but these new Federal papers are very consistent. They fail where the tube meets the brass. I have not had one fail at the crimp yet. I've got them wet when duck hunting, and had no issues. I'm sure eventually I would find one that swells, but it isn't like they are made of a sponge. That wax does a great job.

 

[curly1969]

Like Mike McAlpine pointed out, a little grease on the resizer helps immensely, I have found a dab inside the finish crimp die on my MEC 600 helps as well, I have had some 'stick' and pull apart, not always federal, but other paper hulls that may have swollen with moister absorption, or the wax finish has worn off. sure love the smell and the nostalgia of Paper hulls, I use them for Black powder loads when I can.

 

[RMc]

Federal Paper hulls are my favorite with blackpowder loads for fall dove hunts. Usually decap, and heat on a dowel rack at 150 degrees for a half hour to redistribute the wax and drive out any moisture. Fiocchi primers are used to prevent any gas leaks around the primer. Final load is 3 1/8 drams of FFFg, (85 grains), card & felt wads and1 1/8 ounce of Precision nickel plated #7 shot - closed with a fold crimp. Shells are stored in military ammo cans to prevent moisture absorption.

I use the same load with larger sizes using dime size paper tubes as a shot cup to contain buffered shot.

I load Federal papers with black powder exclusively.

 

[J.Fred_Muggs]

That odor “smell” that we all are referring to is the paraffin in the paper that gets hot and released a vapor

And Federal is very aware of the appeal of the odor, and they are sure there is plenty of the aromatic that produces that odor in their paraffin.

Sell the sizzle, not the steak.