So, about two months ago I began to experiment with reloading paper shells for my vintage 12 gauge side by sides. I’ve loaded low pressure plastics for some time now but never got into papers which I feel are more traditional for vintage double guns, and besides the ejectors seem to work better with papers.
Let me start out by saying I am writing here about RELOADING empty Federal paper hulls to LOW PRESSURE (6 to 7000 psi). I will not give the powder charge weight here and please don’t ask. That data is available in reloading manuals and internet sites along with appropriate cautions and warnings by the companies that provide that info.
Once-fired Federal hulls are commonly available on the internet. I just bought 2500 empties at an average cost of 8 cents per hull including shipping.
I discovered that Federal papers would load/crimp just fine with no adjustments to my MEC 9000 that's set up for Remington Gun Club and STS hulls. Yep, I didn’t make a single adjustment to anything except for using a MEC round crimp starter instead of the 8-point starter for the Remingtons. I use Remington TGT-12 wads for 1 ounce target loads in the Remington hulls, and of course the Federals need different wads. I've been using Claybuster 2100-12’s and Federal 12SO wads made for 1 ounce. Either works well in the Federal paper hulls. Here's my first experimental run of Federal hulls reloaded to low pressure. Not bad looking.
I wondered how many times I could load the Federals. None of my older friends who loaded papers back in the day could remember. Here’s a collage of my reloaded shells along with their crimps. On each pic the left shell is reloaded one time, then two times, then three times, and finally the right hull has been reloaded 4 times. This doesn’t include the original factory loading; therefore the right shell has actually been loaded five times.
This next pic shows the inside walls of four shells that were reloaded 1-2-3-4 times. The apparent curvature of the left and right hulls is due to the camera lens while taking full screen supermacro pics. The walls are still in good shape on the right-most hull (loaded 5x) but the upper part that holds the crimp is getting flakey and soft. I’ve decided that four paper reloads is the limit for me with modern plastic wads.
Performance? Well the papers break clays just as well as my Remington reloads used as a control. Plus, they're somewhat softer shooting than Remingtons STS’s with the exact same charge of slow burning single-base powder (SR-7625) and with the same primers = Remington STS Premier 209's. I’ve also shot the Federal papers and Remingtons STS’s to compare against RST 2-3/4” Lite 1 ounce loads which many favor for our Foxes and Parkers. Recoil-wise my Federal paper reloads are the softest, Remington STS reloads slightly heavier, and RST’s the strongest. The RST's are 1 ounce at a listed 1150 fps and 6200 psi according to Alex at the plant.
Here’s a pic taken yesterday on one of the local sporting courses. My Parker VH 2-frame 12 gauge on the top (no name yet), alongside "Matilda" an early Fox 12 gauge CE on the bottom. Both 32-inchers..... probably not a surprise to many here. Quite a coincidence, my friend Toolman has a CE 32" Fox that's only one number off Matilda's s/n.
The next time some of you see me at an event I’ll probably be banging away with the papers. For traditional minded members set up for shotshell reloading.... try em, you may like em.
Frank