Reloading

[Popgun]

I was sitting here thinking about the old days and an old fowler i used to shoot with now dead, anyway he used to home load by hand no loading press just some powder and shot measures and a bag of wads he used to load some for me as i was lerning my trade and was allways skint they seemed to work ok and we shot loads of duck using them,do'es anybody load like that now can it still be done.

[radio1ham]

cant see why not , you can still get the stuff powder and shot measures and roll crimp tools

i load my .410`s that way using a powder measure and a scale i made for weighing the shot and if i got no plastic wadds i use

anything else like kitchen roll and over powder cards and sometimes news paper and im one of the lucky ones

ive got a propper roll crimping tool for the 410 not one of these things u stick in a drill

so yes in my opinion it can still be done as long as you use the right weight of powder and shot

[mudpatten]

Yes mate, it can still be done like that. A few of the old boys round here still knock out cartridges with hand tools. One fella is still using some Shultze powder that his father bought in 1938. I think it was old even then.They work well enough. Trouble is, you can`t use `em on ducks.

 

You can never afford to get complacent when homeloading. A quick tale from the late Harold Pycroft, punt gunner of this parish. "In 1939 Christopher Dalgety was staying with me and we were punting in Langstone and Chichester Harbour. I had to go out on business so I left him in the kitchen with all the loading gear and four empty cases for my 2 inch Moore and Grey breachloader. He had a similar gun and knew what he was doing.

 

I came home a few hours later and as I opened the back door I was greeted with the sight of Christopher with a lighted cigarette in his mouth, pouring five ounces of black powder into a primed case through a paper funnel with a five pound tin of blasting size black powder open on the table.

 

I nearly wet myself. As I watched, disturbed by the draught the ash fell off the fag end into the open cartridge! By the grace of god the ash had gone out otherwise I reckon he`d have blown the roof off the kitchen.

 

He was absolutely distraught about the whole episode and could only apologise for his stupidity. He had become so engrossed in what he was doing that he had absent mindedly sparked up a fag without thinking about the consequences.

 

Whenever he loaded a cartridge after that he would deliberately leave his fags and lighter in another room."

[Vince Green]

I started reloading with a handloader called the Tayside reloader. Soon bought a press though.

[Popgun]

When i was a nipper i used to dry my black powder spread out on plates in front of the coal fire never had a problem, when i think back it scares me to death still you live and learn well hopefully you live.

[Vince Green]

Muzzle loaders still dry out black powder in the oven! Not this one though I would rather just go out and buy some more. However, it is a recognised practice to keep the powder sweet.

[Floating Chamber]

I started reloading with a handloader called the Tayside reloader. Soon bought a press though.

 

I still have some of the bits to my Tayside kit.

Edited May 11, 2010 by Floating Chamber