Can I reload old fashioned paper shells?

[Pa SxS]

In the old days, I reloaded Federal Papers exclusively with plastic wads and Red Dot powder on both a Ponsness and Mec. They had the 6 star crimps and of course the smell was like perfume

While I've never used a roll crimper, there is no reason you can't roll crimp them and use either felt wads or plastic wads. Certainly it's faster and easier to use plastic wads. I guess it all depends on how many shells you have to load. If you only use them for hunting it wouldn't be too time consuming but if you shoot a lot of clay targets, it could get take you a long time just to load 100 shells. If you really want to use fibre/felt wads, you can get them here: http://www.circlefly.com/ Do a search for other threads on this site for suggestions on roll crimping.

[Roundsworth]

-Steve, it may depend on how old your paper hulls are. Reloading data revolves around individual hull designs.
-In the case of modern plastic hulls, there can be numerous internal differences amongst each manufacturer's offerings. There are two types of Remington 10 gauge hulls, for example. One is for lead loads and the other is for steel loads. There is actually quite a bit of difference in the internal volume between the two.
-Anyways, without beating this up too bad, your choice of hulls may make proper load data difficult to obtain without consulting out-of-date loading manuals. I don't have any old manuals, but I am sure there are more than a handful out there amongst the seasoned handloaders.
-I just started loading shotshells for my short tens and have consulted the DGJ and Sherman Bell's tested loads. So far, so good.
-I use a roll crimper from Precision Reloading and it works wonders! I applied a wee bit of paste wax to enhance the operation. I bet it would work great on paper. Cheers!

[Steve McCarty]

Originally Posted by Chuck Bishop

In the old days, I reloaded Federal Papers exclusively with plastic wads and Red Dot powder on both a Ponsness and Mec. They had the 6 star crimps and of course the smell was like perfume

While I've never used a roll crimper, there is no reason you can't roll crimp them and use either felt wads or plastic wads. Certainly it's faster and easier to use plastic wads. I guess it all depends on how many shells you have to load. If you only use them for hunting it wouldn't be too time consuming but if you shoot a lot of clay targets, it could get take you a long time just to load 100 shells. If you really want to use fibre/felt wads, you can get them here: http://www.circlefly.com/ Do a search for other threads on this site for suggestions on roll crimping.

I am going to start off easy. I do think I'll buy a Lee Load All in 12 gauge, use plastic and plastic wads. Seems the easiest. Then I'll evaluate my successes and see what else I can do. I load for a lot of old rifles, a 577 Snider, 577/450MH, 45/70, .303 British, 7.7 Jap; stuff like that. When I was a kid everytime I bought an old rifle I'd spring for a Lee Loader. In those days they made them in almost all calibers and I still use them today. Lee Loaders are no longer a hot item, but it takes me as long to load up 20 rounds in an old Lee Loader as it does to set up my dies if I'm using a standard press. Except for when crimping the rounds are fine.