I've shot many, many 12 gauge reloads and never had a base wad separation or part of the hull come off and lodge in the bore. But I have seen it happen. I was standing to the rear of a young sporting shooter one time, he was using a Beretta 390 gas gun. Several of the reports sounded really loud and I asked him to look at the gun. The barrel was split probably 5" long on the left forward side of the forend and the wood had a chunk missing. The young man's father claimed he was shooting factory shells, not reloads. I don't want to mention the brand here but they were econo shells and had a paper base wad. We looked for the ejected shell to confirm the base wad had come out but there were a thousand or so there on the ground and we couldn't find it. Anyway, I mark every reload whether plastic or paper on the base with dykem, and discard the plastics after 5 reloads and the papers after 4 reloads. Hulls with separate base wads can become detached, it is very very rare IME but as Bill says it's good practice to look at the spent shells for partial hull separations, and also look down the barrels after every shooting cycle and before reloading.
Yep Chuck I plan to be at Blue Ridge pending nothing coming up with the family, etc. And I'll pump it up on the Fox site, adding to your post there. Frank
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