Loading the Short Ten by Pete Lester

[Paul Harm]

Man, that's a shame, those cost a little bit. Those are made by Rockey Mountain and are turned from a solid piece of brass, so they're thicker than the Magtecks. They have a smaller internal volume, so that may contribute to you being able to use smokeless powders. Maybe the end was too small a diameter and allowed the shell to expand too much and crack. That would just be my guess. I found a thicker OS card gave me a hole in the pattern. Other guys had more luck. That was a 2005 Accurate reloaders guide. Here's a brief synopsis of the article:
The fundamental difference between a shotshell cartridge and a center fire rifle cartridge is that the efficiency of the shotshell is 100% dependent on the round itself. All the "resistive forces" must be generated within the confines of the round itself, no assistance is provided by the gun [the bullet meeting the rifling ]. The maximum peak pressure is reached long before the base of the shot/wad assembly has left the case. This means the efficiency re ignition and subsequent increase in pressure, is totally controlled by the integral configuration and assembly of the round itself. These constitute the main inertial mass [ shot mass ], the initial internal volume [ wad design ], the collapsing of the wad, plus the displacing of the internal assembly and the unfolding of the crimp. Crimping is certainly is one of the most importantly aspects of the shotshell reloading process. The influence of the crimp on ballistics is often ignored and assumed to be of lesser importance that primers and wad make/design. The fact is that the effect of the crimp-strength can totally overshadow the influence of other components and parameters. this is controlled by the following:

crimp depth

condition of the case

wad

wad tension

It is always wise to use a strong a crimp as possible.
Back to me - usually a roll crimp has lower pressures and I would think a card just glued in wouldn't have hardly any resistive forces so pressures would be even lower - too low. Black powder is a different animal so we can do things with it that doesn't work so well with nitro powders. The military has had all brass shells but they're roll crimped. I don't think they are worried about reloading them.

[Ron Scott]

Originally Posted by Paul Harm

Maybe the end was too small a diameter and allowed the shell to expand too much and crack.

Thank you for taking the time to retype all that info -- I appreciate it.

Regarding your theory about the end being too small. I don't think so because, 1) the black powder loads didn't crack the hull & 2) the overshot wad in both cases fit perfectly. But wow that I think about it, I used a different lot of brass hulls for the smokeless loads. Maybe they are harder than the first ones -- I could try annealing them. It would be worth testing because the load otherwise worked great. I'll keep you posted.

[William Davis]

Brass hulls can have very inconsistent quality. Steels you can specify types and be fairly sure of its quality. Brass rod s often imported with very poor quality. Few years ago PGCA member posted he was having trouble chambering brass hulls that had worked fine previously.

He sent a few samples to to measure. Found they were oblong and would not chamber In my Parker 10 Hammer either. Put them in the lathe and turned them true, found cracks as soon as I took a few thou off. Had 20 RMC turned 32/40 cases from when they first started in business. Few developed cracks, RMC replaced them. I shoot a fair amount of 32/40 gave up on the turned. Drawn brass makes a much better case. 32/40 I have choices. 10 G not as much to chose from

Drawn case Anealing does make a big difference and worth trying.

William

[Jay.R.Seamans]

With the price of Red Dot and supply issue.What powders are being substituted?

[Craig Larter]

RST sells 2 5/8" 10ga shells.

[Mike of the Mountain]

Originally Posted by Craig Larter

RST sells 2 5/8" 10ga shells.

I have never seen their 10g in 2 5/8. Well I’ll be dipped in guano and rolled in peanut butter!

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Mike Koneski

I have never seen their 10g in 2 5/8. Well I’ll be dipped in guano and rolled in peanut butter!

My friend that’s into Remington SxS’s had several flats of RST 10 gauge 2 5/8” . I tried reloading a few of his empties but they left the factory roll crimped and it was more of a pain in the butt than I wanted to deal with .

[Mike of the Mountain]

A buddy has some 10g RST empties he asked me about. Since I never knew they made 2 5/8” loads I told him I didn’t want them. If he still has them I mentioned to him to post them for sale here.

[24 grams]

Does the MEC 600 Jr. do an adequate job of resizing a 10 guage?
At very low pressures does the brass even deform?

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by Steven Groh

Does the MEC 600 Jr. do an adequate job of resizing a 10 guage?
At very low pressures does the brass even deform?

A single stage MEC with the ring resizer will usually do the job of resizing 10 ga hulls without issue. It is easier to resize Federal hulls as they are made of brass whereas others are made of steel. I have a Lefever G grade 10 which is a great gun but it has tighter chambers than my other 10's and would be hard or impossible to close with some reloads. I bought a 10ga collet for my MEC Supersizer and that solved the problem with that gun.

Keep in mind the resizing ring on a MEC single stage is a wear item and every now and then it will need to be replaced. If you bought a used reloader you might want to change it.