Shotshell Pressure Question?

[Bruce Day]

Eric, correct, and pitting on the standing breech face around the hammer nose hole. Further down the barrel, its due to powder residue attracting moisture, the sulphur compounds in black powder mixing with humidity to create acids, so acid and rusting. Smokeless powder residue also can cause it but not as bad. We get people writing in about loose chambers, e.g., a 12 ga shell fits loosely and they think they have an 11 ga. I suspect its because the chamber got reamed out to clean out pits and chamber pits are a primer issue.

[Roundsworth]

The 'bulk smokeless' was supposed to be the greatest thing for handloading. You could use your blackpowder scoop to throw the same volume of 'bulk' for a given load. When powders like Infallible and Ballistite came onto the scene, charges had to be carefully measured/weighed. I have a few specimens in my collection with topwads citing grains of powder, rather than drams or drams equivalent. If you used the same scoop for Infallible as you did for bulk, a serious overload was made. I believe Infallible is the predecessor to Unique. I have WRA Co. catalogs that include lots of charts for the non-bulk powders. Cheers!

[Austin W Hogan]

We found an old Dupont loading manual and extracted some material from it in Parker Pages earlier this year. DuPont bulk became available around 1895, and is last mentioned in the early 1950's loading pamphlets. Shotgun handloaders were essentially extinct following WW2 until revived by Alcan in the early 1960's.

DuPont Bulk Smokeless was a convenience. It looked like soap bubbles under a magnifying glass. It was loaded by volume rather than weight as was black powder and it occupied the same space in the shell, allowing it to be used with the same wads. It produced about twice the pressure as black to achieve the dram equivalent load. I don't think pressures were noted for bulk in the DuPont manual, but Phil Sharpe's book indicates bulk burned cleanly at about 9000 psi.

This issue of Parker Pages will contain some information contributed by Ken Waite Jr on Parker's changeover from Black to Bulk smokeless for patterning. Parker continued to pattern with bulk smokeless throughout Meriden production.

PB stands for porous base. It was also bulky relative to IMR and SR DuPont powders, and occupied more shell volume. The early DuPont loading manuals specifically note that PB can not be substituted for black.

Best, Austin

[Roundsworth]

In the 1899 WRA Co. catalog, empty brass shells are specifically for black powder. No loaded brass shells are listed. The different paper empties are labeled for specific powders, black or smokeless. Loaded paper shot shells, black or smokeless, are topped with a single card and roll crimped. The 'Leader' paper shell was their latest and greatest for smokeless. The 'Rival' paper shell was well established as their black powder shell, empty or loaded. The 1899 catalog did not specify smokeless powders actually used in factory loads, as later catalogs did. As nitro loaded shells were not kept in stock, any of the popular smokeless powders were available by customer request. It was not mentioned as to why smokeless shells were not kept on hand.

[Mike Stahle]

Originally Posted by Mark Landskov

In the 1899 WRA Co. catalog, empty brass shells are specifically for black powder. No loaded brass shells are listed. The different paper empties are labeled for specific powders, black or smokeless. Loaded paper shot shells, black or smokeless, are topped with a single card and roll crimped. The 'Leader' paper shell was their latest and greatest for smokeless. The 'Rival' paper shell was well established as their black powder shell, empty or loaded. The 1899 catalog did not specify smokeless powders actually used in factory loads, as later catalogs did. As nitro loaded shells were not kept in stock, any of the popular smokeless powders were available by customer request. It was not mentioned as to why smokeless shells were not kept on hand.

This could be do to the “New Kid On The Block Syndrome”
I’m sure as today; Joe average hunter was well stocked in shells
and played the wait and see how those new smokeless shells
worked out for other's before purchased.

[Austin W Hogan]

I don't have the 1899 catalog, but have the Winchester 1890 and 1910. More varieties of loaded shells and cases were available in 1910, but brass cases were still available. Winchester offered the choice of propellant and shell length in 500 shell orders.
Remington continued to produce loaded black powder shells through the 1930's, but did not resume production after WW 2.

Best, Austin

[Roundsworth]

In 1920, WRA Co. said their 'First Quality' empty brass shells were for black and smokeless powders. The 'New Rival' and 'Nublack' paper shells were specifically for black powder. The 'Leader' in 8 gauge and the 'Repeater' in 24 and 28 gauge were the only other black powder offerings. The 'Leader' and 'Repeater' shells, made predominantly for smokeless, were available with DuPont, Schultze, Dead Shot, E.C, Infallible, and Ballistite smokeless loads.