Western Expert Paper Hulls

[William Davis]

At the gun club today fellow gave me a bushel of 12 G Western Paper hulls. Look to be once fired. Red, Marked “Western Expert” 3-1 1/8-9 “Super Target. Also a big box of fiber and card wads. Lot of old primers too, which I don’t plan to use.

Loaded up a box for my Parker Lifter, half 2 ½ Drams 2 F Black 1 oz 7 ½. Other half 3 Drams 2 F 1 1/8 oz. Card wad over the powder one fiber wad under the shot. They load and fold crimp nice . Don’t seem to need a over shot wad. Going to try both loads out this weekend, see what works the best.

Anything I need to know about paper hulls for black powder ? can they be re-used or should I use them once and toss. My plan is to give the Black Powder 5 stand a try at the Fall Southern. Had planned to load plastic hulls until the paper came my way. All advise appreciated.

Bill

[Bill Murphy]

These hulls will suffer burn through at the base, at the edge of the brass, soon enough. When we were kids, we shot the red WW papers until we could see a burn. I would err to caution because of the possiblity of a base wad separating and only use them maybe twice. More caution is in looking down the barrel for base wads after every shot. After all these years, the base wad is probably ready to shred.

[William Davis]

Good tip will keep my eye out for wad residue. I ordered some new wads from Ballistic Products company yesterday which ought to solve that problem. Weighted the box of hulls over 50 # with 50 to a pound, no reason to over use them.

I have right much BP loading experience from Cartridge rifles and Muzzle loaders. Powder space in something like a 45/70 or 38/55 shell is variable depending on how you load the powder. Dump it's high, dribble through a drop tube much more compact. I tap my cases with a brass rod to settle the powder before inserting the over powder wad. Most cartridge loaders use some compression too.

I found I could adjust the wad pressure and make space left for shot fit the crimp exactly. Too much pressure bulged the case just enough to make it hard to chamber.

What I am back and forth with is lube. One friend does not use lubed wads, He squirts a little Anti Freeze Water Balistol mix in each tube between stations. Another wipes with a wet patch between, and a third lubes the fiber wad with SPG. My Rifles I use SPG on the grease groves and wipe each shot for best results.

If I can load with no need for extra steps it will be an advantage in competion so leaning toward the lubed wads. Although I guess the BP 5 stand they make time allowances between stations for wiping.

Very few shoot the BP matches at the Southern. Come out this fall, see if we can get a decent turn out.


Bill

[William Davis]

Last from me on the BP loads and Paper shells.

Back from the Club 5 stand. Half a box 2 1/2 Dram 1 oz other 3 Dram 1 1/8 oz. 3Dram load is the one. 2 1/2 seems a little too light. 3 Dram load not unpleasant to shoot and breaks the clays with authority.

Making a run of 100 shells for the Sunday SxS 5 Stand get together now. Most of them are LC Smith shooters.

Bill

[paul stafford jr]

i highly recommend lubed wads the more lube the better, I use 3 drams and 1 0z of #8 for all types of clay targets. that load shoots nice and soft. I like paper hulls too, I trim new cheddite paper hulls from ballistic products down to 2.5 in and use eight point crimp but after fifty shots the barrels could stand a good brushing before shooting some more. I only reload them once and sometimes not at all. I love shooting dirty but most of my friends hate it, to bad for them

[Paul Harm]

I've shot quite a bit of BP in shotguns - never found a need for lubed wads. I've shot a 100 to 150 a day - the barrels just get awful dirty. Paper shells with a roll crimp look the best when shooting smoke.