Federal supposedly offers paper hull ammo and preobably paper hulls for handloading.I can't seem to find a Frederal listing for paper hulls. I have an older Belgian double which is likely a 2/58" or 2 9/16" chamber item with short cones.

I do have 16 ga. brass hulls which is fine for my purposes but wouldn't mind going totally hard core traditional with cut down paper.

If you find some paper hulls you might give the folks at MEC a call and see if they still have any of their old paper case irons left. This thing was sort of like a soldering iron with a tip that just fit the inside of the case. The device was mounted to the bench or press. After de-priming the case was slid over the end and heated until the wax in the paper melted. This ironed out all the wrinkles and made for a nice looking shell. An added benefit was that if there were any pin holes in the paper they were easy to spot by the smoke leaking out. You might give Ballistics Products a call to see if they have any paper 16 ga. cases. They may even have the irons.

C.G.B.

Gawd! Am I ever a genius! The device you describe to "iron out" hulls could be made in one of two ways. Either put a piece of aluminum or other tube stock above an electric hot plate (or an open alcohol flame) and slide the hull into/over it by hand (requires a stable mount overall) or else make a handle for the tube in which case you drop it into/over the hull.

Also the case end could be trimmed short when worn at the mouth and refilled like a brass hull. Someone suggested using an electric melt hot glue gun on brass hulls. And eisenglas from an art supply house is useable as the old traditional sealer.

There is the other choice and that is to cut down a 2 3/4 plastic hull. Someone suggested how to do this and I am trying to recall if it involved some sort of edged tool in a drill press.

I actually made one of the heaters out of an old soldering iron, just turned a mandrill out of Al to fit the case that slid over iron. BP used to sell a tool for cutting off cases that used a razor blade. Noticed that Sellier&Beloit still loads 16 ga in paper and 65mm length.
C.G.B.

Sliding an appropriately shaped iron onver the existing copper, etc, head, or removing that and sliding on your own sleeve, is pure genius. Your fortune is made - among 16 ga. paper reloaders anyway.

I think we are about 50 years late on this one. Just about the time you get good at something, technology passes you by.
C.G.B.