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Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2350 Location: West MI

Mec sells a short kit that is easy to install. They have been very helpful to me and would probably install the kit for you if asked provided you're buying it direct.

Yes, short hulls are available from Grafs....when in stock. Trimming recycled hulls is very easy. BPI and Precision sell hull trimmers. A home made trimmer is easy to make out of some PVC pipe and an Exacto blade and works great.

No more of a pain than reloading full length shells once you're dialed in. My vote is for roll crimping being the most adaptable to different length hulls especially if you're trimming once fired hulls, re; rolling doesn't work with fold crimp hull mouths. If you need to reload huge amounts of shells quickly than fold crimps in a progressive press maybe the ticket. But if you have the time take a look into roll crimping.

As far as I know and I don't know everything, shooting shorties in a longer length chamber is fine; no issues that I'm aware of. Be aware that some short length shells are loaded to a "low preasure" and may introduce cycling issues with some auto's or recoil set triggers. I shoot home rolled 16ga 2 1/4" shorties in my 2 3/4" Rem 11-48 and Citori Upland and 10ga 2 3/4" shorties in a 3 1/2" O/U and they work fine but neither shell is loaded to low preasure.

http://www.grafs.com/shotshell/416

http://www.precisionreloading.com/2004catalog.htm

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/

Hope this helps, I think you'll find reloading for the 16ga very rewarding. Mike

Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 596 Location: 17603

Hammer,
The only problem can be that the extra bit of chamber can get fouled, and when a long cartridge is subsequently chambered after firing a short one the actual chambering of the round may be a problem. The Freedom Arms Casull is VERY tight chambered and powder residue and possible lead shavings from the 45Colt can cause problems.
In shotshell there is the possibility that it may affect pattern performance. The shot wad column expands to chamber size for a 1/4" and then is constricted into the forcing cone, rather than leading straight in to the forcing cone on the proper hull length for chamber. Real world? I doubt you'd be able to detect ANY difference, though most dedicated trap and clays guns in 12ga are 2 3/4" chambered.
Cheers,
R*2

The 454 has a SAMMI maximum average pressure of 65,000 psi and the longer cases will stick because of chamber fouling and/or erosion.
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Joined: 07 Oct 2008 Posts: 74 Location: MO Ozarks

Hammer -

Yes MEC makes a "short kit" for it's loaders. Easy to install/use.

I know of no problem in firing short shells out of long chambers. As far as I know, all the modern gun makers that build 3" and 3.5" 12 ga. guns state that you can shoot 2.75" shells in them.

As the forcing cone is a taper, I can't see any issue that would arise with the wad or load. I suppose it might be possible for pressure to bleed past the wad in a 2.75" round fired in a 3.5" chamber, but I really can't visualize how that would affect anything.

As far a shooting a 2.75 (70 mm) round in a 2 9/16" chambered gun, I don't think there is really any issue for a moderate (<9,500 psi) pressure load. I think it less than completely prudent to load high or max. pressure rounds in any of the older guns that are short chambered.

Just my 2 cents worth and worth just what you are paying for it!

BTW, I fired many, many thousands of 2.75" rounds out of my 2 9/16" chambered Model 12 16 ga. Only issue is that some of the hulls don't eject reliably. Had it looked at by gunsmith a while back and he stated it was in perfect condition. But I still have decided not to shoot anything over 9,500 psi in it, as I love the gun and want to pass it on to my grandson. I see no reason to take a chance on abusing the gun in any way.