Brass shell length

[Wayne Owens]

I know shooting shorter crimped shells in a shotgun with tapered forcing cones has been discussed here before. My question is would there be any issues with shooting shorter brass shells in a lifter designed for brass shells with no forcing cones? Specifically, shooting 2 5/8" brass shells in a lifter with 2 7/8" chambers and no forcing cones.

[Jay Oliver]

Wayne, This may or may not help...but I do that often. I just figured I would be okay with the shorter shells in longer chambers and I haven't had any issues. Most of my 10 gauge brass shells are 2 5/8" and I shoot them in the longer chambers(both lifter and top action). This is with black powder and fiber wads...

[edgarspencer]

That's about like shooting a .22 Short in a Long Rifle chamber.
If there is no taper into a forcing come, I can't see there would be any difference regardless of hull length.

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

I've wondered about that also, and my concern would be gas leakage in the 1/4 inch area of the chamber wondering about whether, or not, the wads would be able to make a seal in that area.:banghead:

[Reggie Bishop]

I am an accountant, so pardon my ignorance, but would it affect recoil?

[Jay Oliver]

I just looked at my lifter with 2 7/8" chambers( serial# 20690). It does not have that sharp step/shoulder in the chamber that my 2 5/8" guns have. In my 2 5/8" 10 gauge lifters I almost exclusively shoot brass black powder shell. Even RST shells in 2 5/8" at 1100fps and 1 1/8oz. produce more recoil than I would like in these short chambered lifters. In my most recent 10 gauge lifter which is on the light side and has 2 5/8” chambers, the above RST load was too much in my opinion. Here is the thread with that gun: http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=30193

I am going to experiment with a 1oz. smokeless load an see how that works in a 2 5/8” gun. I think that would be 1 oz and 18grains of Red Dot(from memory so please double check if interested).

Back to Wayne’s original question. I might try a few lighter loads, like a square load of 2 3/4 drams of 2f and 1 1/8oz of shot or go down to 2 1/2drams of 2f and an 1oz to start slow. Track of the Wolf does sell the 2 7/8” brass shells(as well as 2 5/8”).

I think the variable I don’t know the answer to is the influence of the step/shoulder instead of a forcing cone with shorter shells. I don’t have a gun like that that has 2 7/8” chambers. I would think the fiber wads would be more forgiving. However, you could not go wrong by getting the 2 7/8” brass shells.

[Wayne Owens]

Jay, The reason I am asking this question is that I am considering purchasing a lifter which is in better condition than mine and including it in the gun case I made for my 2 5/8" lifter. The new gun has the same stock dimensions so I wouldn't need to modify the case. The gun I am considering has 2 7/8" chambers but I made the case to accommodate 2 5/8" brass shells. If there is a problem with shooting the 2 5/8" shells with nitro loads in the new gun, I will pass on this idea. Discharging a shell 1/4" behind the step at the end of the chamber is sort of like having a choke with a step instead of a taper. I just don't know if since it is only 1/4" does it even matter.