I'm new to reloading and i'm not asking for a tep by step explaination on how to do it. I just bought a Winchester 10 ga signal cannon that takes 10 ga blanks of any lenght. I want to get in reloading so I don't have the painful task of finding a source for these shells. I want to know what exactly I need tool wise to do this. I don't know what many of the tools are for, and I haven't seen much if any material out there on reloading shotgun blanks... I would appreciate any help at all.

P.S. I also have a winchester .308 and .22 I also plan on getting equipment for in the future.

If you can find a used Mec Jr.,single stage press. That will work but is not needed to just make blanks.

The easiest way to male blanks for you signal cannon is to use Black powder and fiber wads.

First, trime off any part of the case used as a crimped closure. An open, straight case is what you want to work with.
Deprime fired plastic hull with a rod smaller in dia. than the primer.
Reprime, on a flat surface using a wooden dowel and a mallet, to tap case onto new primer.
Load 4dr. (110 grains) of Fg black powder.
Seat two 11ga fiber wads on top and either hot glue them in place or use Elmer white glue. Only a bead bead of glue is needed, on the wad and case. The hot glue is the quicker setting.

The glue bead will break loose when fired leaving a clean case wall for the next loading.

Have fun.

Hog Killer

Thanks for the information, it's extremly helpful. I had my eye on the 600.. The only question I have now is do I leave out the crimp and still use the fiber wads or crimp it? And do I still use black powder? And the same amount? I was going to be using a 3" hull.

Thanks so much

sry if I'm being a pain...

I almost forgot, the 600 jr. only takes up to 3" hulls and the only 10 ga hull I can find on the internet is 3 1/2". Does anybody know where I could find one that is 3" or under?

Just cut the 3.5" shells down to whatever length you want.

If you load blackpowder, you're going to have to clean it every time you use it or suffer serious corrosion. If it were me, instead of using BP, I'd make smokeless blanks myself. Use a small amount of fast burning smokeless powder such are red dot, bullseye or similar. I've done it years ago with 12 ga hulls but don't recall the amount of powder used. However, if your wad is light you have no real pressure concerns as long as you are reasonable. If you want a display, load the wad with shredded paper or confetti. Obviously this will make a mess if you're in an urban area.

If you need some wads, I've got a bunch of Ballistic products uncut 10 ga wads (left over from when lead shot in the 10 was king). All you would need to do is slit them with a knife, 3 or more times or you could just load them with just some paper stuffed in the wad without cutting them. Be aware that any of these, including the confetti charges would be dangerous to someone directly in front of the cannon.

If you have any interest in a couple of hundred or so of the BP 10 wads email me. I probably will never use them again so they're on the house.

Thanks for the info , I'm good on wads. If I use the press, do I use a fiber wad and crimp it? Thats the only question I have now.

Doktor D,

Crimping isn't necessary, you want an open, straight walled case for blanks. If you haven't already, reread Hogkillers post above.

Crimp them if you like. I think you will get a longer case life if the wads are glued in as I posted above without the crimp. Also it is easier to load the wads in the case without having to deal with the crimped area. With the glued in wads and no crimp it will not look like live ammo(with shot).

Hog Killer