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Joined: 14 Mar 2009 Posts: 3

I am new to reloading. I have been reloading both red winchester and black remington 2 3//4 shells using claybuster wads.This seems to work perfectly on the remington loads, but is a real problem on the winchester shells. I have tried 3 different wads on the winchester shells, but am still disappointed. No matter what I do, when I crimp the winchester loads it presses all the way through and leaves a small hole in the center (because it pressed too far down) and the bb's fall out. Obviously the pellets do not fill to the top or their is a problem with the wad. Is it possible to put in a paper wad cover or will this create too much pressure. At this point it looks like I have to throw out the winchester shells unless I can get a better crimp or seal.

Thanks

Member Joined: 02 Oct 2007 Posts: 1975

What is the load you are doing in the winchester hulls? You can use an overshot card on top of the shot with no problem. Will not increase pressure at all. I use them all the time. You can buy them or make your own out of thin cardboard. I use the high base from a 20 gauge hull with a 1/4" bolt thru it on the drill press. This makes a perfect overshot card. For 12 gauge I use the base from a 16 gauge hull.

Guest

An overshot card will work to keep the shot from dribbling out but there are other ways to solve your problem which is caused by insufficient wad/shot column height. You can drop two or three grains of puffed wheat or puffed rice on top of your shot charge to act as a filler. A Cheerio or two works and some folks are partial to dried pinto beans. You can place a 28 gauge card wad in the bottom of the shot cup. The main thing is to fill the case to withing 3/8ths inches +/- from the case mouth in order to get a nice tight crimp.