I want to load some 20ga. hulls with 7/8oz. of #8 for woodcock hunting. I'd used black powder loads before but because I'd like to see if/where the bird falls I'm wanting a smokeless load. Can I use any safe 20ga. load in the brass case and just seal the cover/top wad in place to whatever collum length ends up at?

In few words , the answer is NO.
Even the real life experts with the expensive equipment heartily advise against this.

I found this out after buying some beautiful brass shells for my 10 Ga.


Travis F.

So what causes the problems with smokeless? Is there any data for brass hulls? I don't plan on crimping the mouths but instead using silicone.

At a guess, problems start with totally different expansion dynamics using the brass hulls which will cause very different pressure peaks.

I have loaded brass perfect cases in 4 and 8 ga shotguns, and recently bought some cbc brass cases for 12ga but i have not loaded thes yet. when i used to load the 8 ga i used blue dot and sent it off with pistol primers, primers seem to make a lot of diference to these loads, the old brass perfect cases we used to load them higher than normal plastic henry or eley gastight paper hulls, we used a white klena felt as tight fit in the case to help seal the wad until it makes the bore proper, start as standard and see as you go stamp out your top cards exact to the case and make a taper crimp die that as a 7/8th thread and put it in a rifle press and make a very slight taper to keep the card in rather than useing sealers of some kind as is often done.

I don't know what type of brass hulls you have. CBC/Magtech....?

Circle Fly Wads

Wad sizing and loading BP cartridges.

CBC MAGTECH brass cases are available from midway usa just go to thair site they have them for sale in several guages They cost 11 english pounds for 25 hulls

Contact these folks http://www.ballisticproducts.com/, if they don't have an answer, then they may be able to steer you in the right direction. As to NO, I disagree, I know there were many many rounds of 12 ga OO buck made up for the military and it was smokeless. I must have a 2x2x2 box full of empties. They also loaded .410 bore in aluminum cases for the M6 survival guns. I have a batch of those also. I haven't loaded either, so have no recomendations, but do know it is possible and safe if the right components are available.