10 ga. breech loader

[h4198]

Am in the process of having a 10 ga breech loader built. I need some direction on how to load 10 ga blanks. Have ordered 50, 10 ga. primed hulls from Midway. Cannon Mania says their 10 ga. blanks use 8 Drams (220 grains) of ffg black powder. Do I just dump the powder in and add a cardboard wad, or is there more to it? Thanks, h4198

 

[musketman]

If you are loading the hulls with the charge, you will need to crimp the tops like a regular shot shell to hold it in place...

Or, you can dump in the powder, then the wad and seal the wad with a bit of wax to hold it in place, care must be taken not to expose the powder to a heat sourse, like the candle's flame...

Please mark the blank cases so you don't get a live shot shell by mistake...

If the charge doesn't come to the top of the case, I would trim off the excess hull and use the waxed method above, this way you would know the blanks are not live shot-shells...

One word of caution, the wad will act as a projectile for the first few yards...

 

[h4198]

Musketman, thanks for the info. Should I put pressure on the wads as I seal them? Think I will trim the cases just past the wad, as I have no way to crimp them. One of the reasons I chose the 10 ga. is because there is nothing else around the place in that ga. so no mix ups should occur. Would there be any advantage in using fffg instead of ffg? Thanks, h4198

 

[musketman]

Musketman, thanks for the info. Should I put pressure on the wads as I seal them? Think I will trim the cases just past the wad, as I have no way to crimp them. One of the reasons I chose the 10 ga. is because there is nothing else around the place in that ga. so no mix ups should occur. Would there be any advantage in using fffg instead of ffg? Thanks, h4198

FFFg will burn cleaner, but it does make more pressure, even though these are blanks, pressure should not be overlooked...

Also, FFFg will pack tighter in a measurer than FFg (smaller grain size, less air pockets), so it is possible to get a over charge of powder with the same pre-set setting...

I don't think you need to compress the wad, just make sure there is no space between the powder and wad and you will do fine...

 

[musketman]

If the charge doesn't come to the top of the case, I would trim off the excess hull and use the waxed method above, this way you would know the blanks are not live shot-shells...

 

[h4198]

Musketman, once again, thanks for the info. Will try to post a picture as soon as I get the barrel and breech back from the machinist. h4198