12 gauge papers

[Cold Spring]

I like shooting papers at vintage SxS events and did up a bunch yesterday in prep for Hausmann's Northeast event. 1-ounce loads in once fired Federal hulls with Federal wads and 700-X powder. As most here know there's nothing like the smell of freshly fired papers. Best of all, no adjustments except for the powder bushing and crimp starter on my MEC 9000 that's long been set up for Remington Gun Club/STS plastics with 1 ounce loads but different wads and powder. Nice looking crimps.

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[6pt-Sika]

The guy I used to grouse hunt and skeet shoot with now about forty years ago would dumpster dive for paper Federals . I’ve seen him take what appeared to be wet once fired Federals and put them in the oven to dry them then load them. He always claimed Federal paper handloads had a softer recoil than the same load in a plastic hull .

[Cold Spring]

I agree on the somewhat lighter felt recoil with the same reload recipe in Federal papers than in Federal Gold Medal plastics. I load both and have often fired one of each in sequence to compare. I've heard various theories why that is but haven't ever seen any objective physics to confirm. JFI I like 700-X as compared with several other common powders I've tried because it seems to make the most distinct "nitro-wax" odor after firing.

I can get three reloads from the Federal papers before seeing burn pinholes just above the brass bases, and I'll reserve that third one for black powder and fiber wads when loading for the occasional SxS BP event. That black powder loading is done with single stage press and for safety sake using a brass hand dipper for the BP, not the powder bottle nor the charge bar which only dumps the shot pellets.

[Researcher]

When I began trap shooting back in the early 1960s the Federal paper was THE hull for loading. Federal primer, 23 grains of Red Dot, nitro card, two Felton Blue Streaks and 1 1/8 ounce of shot. Pretty soon replaced the nitro card with the Alcan PGS (Plastic Gas Seal) and dropped the powder to 18 or 19 grains. Nowadays I load them with Clays, WAA12SL and 7/8 ounce of shot.