The Short 8 Gauge

[Craig Larter]

Originally Posted by Ed Blake

I recently bought 300 hulls from Joe Plante in Alberta. Because he cuts the crimp off to salvage the shot the hull ends up at 23/4” long vs the standard 31/8”. I used one of the recently published loads from the PP, omitting the 1/2” fiber wad. The load is 26.5 gns Clay Dot under a BPI wad and 1.5 ounces shot. Stack height is about perfect minus the fiber wad as you can see from the pictures below. I have not shot these yet, should they be tested? It’s a tested load with the excepting no fiber wad and a shorter hull.

Very nice. Also a good way to get more loads out of full length hulls after they split at the crimp. Thanks

[Mike of the Mountain]

I loaded some up today with 26.43g E3 and a roll crimp. I can’t adjust my press for the shorter hulls as I have a solid bracket fastened to the back of the press to stiffen it up so it doesn’t flex or twist.

[Mike of the Mountain]

Since 1/30 I had made adjustments to my MEC and it makes beautiful loads with the 3" hulls. I know you're doing yours on a PW, but my MEC will now be dedicated to making short shells while the PW will make my 3 1/4" shells.

Keep up the good work Ed!