The Short 8 Gauge

[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.

[Mike Koneski]

I'd send them off for testing. There shouldn't be much of a difference from our published recipes but for your peace of mind and the rest of the 8g community, we'd like that data. You should be able to send them to Bruce.

[Craig Larter]

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 Koneski]

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 Koneski]

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!