shotgun shell ???
 

I am brand new at this. What do you think of brass hulls? Will recoil cause left shell to come apart and blow left barrel when fired? I like black, what is best, ff? ch

Calvin,

Welcome to the forum. Shooting black powder from brass shells in old guns is great fun. I am not sure of your experience so I may be going over things you already know. Rather than take up alot of space here I invite you to read about BP Cartridges at www.circlefly.com Your question about a shell coming apart from recoil is very valid. My overshotcards are a size or two larger than the other wads and I have carried them in my pocket all day and not had them lose their shot. If I fire the right barrel and not the left I will reload the left barrel crtridge in the right barrel and put a fresh cartridge in the left barrel. I do seal my cartridges now because I have pressed the envelope to long. I have sealed the overshot card with waterglass, but if you do not use those cartridges soon the waterglasss will become brittle. I use a hot glue gun now to seal the overshot card because 1. it is fast and easy 2. it sets up right away.

What gun are you going to shoot them from and at what?

Kindest, Harry

Harry,

An old parker lifter I just aquired, hammer gun. The old guns are really neet. Bought it from small picture think i finally got lucky. I am going to shoot phesants and ducks........ every thing, bored with 870, 101. The boy is getting old enough wants to hunt all the time so this is making it fun again for me. I load blk powder cartridges 45 70. Shoot silhoets. Need recipe for shot shells. Use fff for 45 70 whats best for shot gun. Nears I can tell it's got 2 5/8 chamber. Thanks much, ch

You can use FFF however pressure will be much lower with FF. Is your Parker a 10 gauge or a 12? Does it have Twist or Damascus barrels? What is the serial number and barrel length? Sorry to be so nosy, it is just that this info will help answer your questions.

Harry

This site might have answers to some of your question.:)

http://www.tbullock.com/bpsg.html

Calvin, Chances are your Parker's barrels have some pitting in them from the use of black powder and corrosive primers used "back in the day".A word of caution here..I would have the barrel wall thickness checked by a competant gunsmith before I shot the gun with any type of load.

Harry,

Thanks for the help. 30 inch twist barrels 12 gauge. The pitting doesn't look real deep the boar is pretty shiny. I'll have my friend check it. Serial number is 22266. I'll use ff powder. Number two frame. 2 1/2 shells all right? ch

Calvin,

I have two 1881 lifter Parkers with Twist barrels as well. One is a 10 gauge and the other is a 12 with straight grip and 30" barrels like yours. I shoot mine with smokeless loads most of the time. Sherman Bell compiled a lot of data on black powder vs smokeless and found that in some cases the pressures are at the same level in the same locations. You could shoot shells from www.rstshells.com as they are made for old guns like ours. If you want to reload smokeless loads I can give you some data.

Harry

I forgot to answer your question. Yes, 2 1/2" shells and I think that 3 dram of FF with an overpowder card, a cushion wad, 1 1/8 oz of shot and a large over shot card. I do shoot 2 3/4" low pressure smokeless loads in the 12 gauge.

Harry

Harry,

thanks much! Godspeed.... later ch