Interesting things you find on the course
 

First one is an Eclipse shell box, all plastic shells (without a metal base) that were made in California in I believe the 80's. Good vintage stuff! Nice that Eclipse printed two load recipes using 700-X on the side of the box.

Second pic shows discarded paper hulls that were loaded with 1 ounce of 7-1/4 shot at 1395 speed. Must be marketed for the "speed kills" clays shooters, and although I load 7-shot for upland birds that 7-1/4 sizing is unusual. I had to fight against being intimidated while using my regular 1 ouncers with 7-1/2's at just 1150. :rolleyes:

A friend pf mine picked up an unfired 20 gauge shell on the clays course, and a few stations later absentmindedly inserted it in his gun, then figure he had forgotten to put a shell in his O/U. You know what happened. Gun blew up, but he was lucky that he suffered only minor injuries. He's a dentist and needs all his digits.

my first time to see this 7 1/4 load and it was pretty speedy too guess it was made for them fast birds....interesting anyway...charlie

You're calling stuff made in the 80s vintage. It seems like last year. You're making me feel old.

Frank, the 'Eclipse' shell description reminds me of the "Wanda" brand shells introduced in the (I think) 1970s. Hull was completely plastic, a semi-transparent burgundy color, so you could see all the internal components, almost like a cutaway sample shell. They weren't around too long and I don't know what became of the company/brand. They predated my reloading career by several years, so I never saved any of them.

The Bornaghi 'Discovery' pic and description reminds me of some of the shells the Italians, Spanish and Portuguese competitors used to bring over for the International Grand Prix shoot up at Ontelaunee Rod & Gun north of Allentown PA in the 1990s. The shot load was the only restriction specified in ammo (max. 7/8 oz.) by international rules. One brand they loved was the Melior "Meteor" (Italy).

One day between squads we set up a portable Oehler chronograph on a picnic table and using a gun rest tested a few rounds. All of them showed velocities in the 1405-10 range.

Kevin, I believe that the International Trap and Skeet maximum shot load was one ounce when you started shooting the bunker. I'm not sure when we were mandated the 7/8 ounce maximum, but I think it was after you started your illustrious bunker career. The shells pictured above may have been intended for the bunker.

Once while pheasant hunting I happened to look down and saw a blue paper high brass shell, I believe it was a Remington, with unusually ornate brass. The brass was decorated clearly by the factory of manufacture with the decoration stamped into the brass. It was marked 1 1/4 oz. on the paper of the hull. I have never seen one like it before or since.

Wanda Cartridge Company was in Manvel, Texas, a suburb of Houston from 1965 to 1972. I was still in college and shooting at the old Seattle Skeet & Trap Club at Redmond, WA, and the Wanda sales rep came by giving out sample boxes. Of course I shot the box I was given at trap (I was on the dark side at that time), but I saved one shell. Skip ahead to the middle 70s, and on one of my first trips to Kodiak, AK, I found a box of 20-gauge Wanda shells while walking by the edge of the old Kodiak dump to get down to the beach. I took them back to Elmendorf AFB and shot them up at skeet at the Chugach Rod & Gun Club next door at Ft. Rich. Pictures from a recent Ward's Auction --

Attachment 76690

Attachment 76691

When I was a kid, my dad decided for himself that Wanda shells were the thing of the future. At that time, he was loading Alcan paper hulls, and had purchased a right hand 1100 (new on the market then), although Dad was left handed. Paper hulls were going the way of the dinosaur then, and functioned sporadically in the 1100. Dad thought the uniformity of the Wanda shells would be the answer! He bought a few cases, and also the reloading components offered by Wanda, that included a big box of the little plastic conical "crimp inserts" that served as the case closure. Wanda also provided instruction for modifying popular loaders of the day to reload the shells, which in part meant diabling the sizing function.

The plan worked fine on new shells, they worked flawlessly in that 1100. The plan failed though shooting the Wanda reloads in the auto. Twice I remember Dad having to pick pieces of red hard plastic from his cheek and forehead from shells that shattered upon ejection. If I recall, the demise of Wanda was a flurry of lawsuits stemming from case failure.

I Wanda why they quite making them :rotf: