cutting shell
- Thread starter kx592
- Start date
I usually cut in the middle of the shell - where the wad is..... and I just use a sharp box cutter ( and like OldDrum said, wear safety glasses / and I wouldn't hold it again my chest as I was cutting it open ...) 
Just use common sense .... it would take a lot to set off a shell / a drop or a strike of some kind on the primer.
With all due respect to OldDrum ....I don't think water will make the primer inert ( or WD40 or anything else for that matter )... After you cut it / its only 2 shells - but you can put the shell in the chamber of your shotgun and fire the primer and then dump it in the garbage.
but yes, by the crimp he means the top of the shell where the "petals fold over" crimping the top of the shell and holding the shot in the hull.
Just use common sense .... it would take a lot to set off a shell / a drop or a strike of some kind on the primer.
With all due respect to OldDrum ....I don't think water will make the primer inert ( or WD40 or anything else for that matter )... After you cut it / its only 2 shells - but you can put the shell in the chamber of your shotgun and fire the primer and then dump it in the garbage.
but yes, by the crimp he means the top of the shell where the "petals fold over" crimping the top of the shell and holding the shot in the hull.
I'm sure my friends, olddrum1 and BigJimP, will concur, cutting opening shotgun shells is nothing new to those of us who reload a lot. This is done enough that there is a special cottage industry tool (de-loader) made for opening shells. It's a block of wood with a hole and a blade. You insert the hull and twist it against the blade. It circumcises the hull at the wad's compression column, the area between the shot cup and the over-powder seal. By cutting in this "void" the components can be harvested from of a misbehaving re-load without any spills of shot or powder. It's an easier method than picking open the crimp.
The cut in made in the area highlighted as wad:
The cut in made in the area highlighted as wad:
oneounceload
Moderator
I just a had to cut few loads open that had primers set too deep - used a PVC pipe cutter, cut them near the top, salvaged the shot and the powder, then used my press to salvage the primers. Done it more than I care to admit, but it isn't a big deal.
Seriously .... I haven't cut many open in many thousands of shells...
But last week / I had some "weird" sounding 12ga shells / so I did take about 10 out of the bin of 100 ....and cut them open to weigh the powder and reclaim the shot.... I found some light powder drops ( my target was 18.3 gr of powder ) and I found some as low as 18.0gr .... Not enough to make a difference balistically ...but still too much variation to suit me .... The min on my 12ga load is 15.7gr - and max is 19.8gr so it wasn't dangerous - just aggravating..
So I cleaned, lubed the loader ....anti static wiped the bottles and powder baffle ......and just in general fussed with the loader since I hadn't done anything to it in several months. My findings ...I think there was a little static built up in powder baffle and the bottle ...or maybe I let the powder set in the bottle and wasn't careful to loosen it a little when I started loading shells .....
But last week / I had some "weird" sounding 12ga shells / so I did take about 10 out of the bin of 100 ....and cut them open to weigh the powder and reclaim the shot.... I found some light powder drops ( my target was 18.3 gr of powder ) and I found some as low as 18.0gr .... Not enough to make a difference balistically ...but still too much variation to suit me .... The min on my 12ga load is 15.7gr - and max is 19.8gr so it wasn't dangerous - just aggravating..
So I cleaned, lubed the loader ....anti static wiped the bottles and powder baffle ......and just in general fussed with the loader since I hadn't done anything to it in several months. My findings ...I think there was a little static built up in powder baffle and the bottle ...or maybe I let the powder set in the bottle and wasn't careful to loosen it a little when I started loading shells .....
I've had to open my share of reloads, too. It's usually because I was pinching pennies and tried to get just one more reload from a sad looking hull. I have several boxes of practice loads with black Xs across the bases. The X means, "Don't even think of trying to reload me again!"
In all honesty, I've never had a failure of one of my tournament reloads (fist and second reloads). But, I've had a bad factory load cost me a target and the event at a major tournament.
I think two factors for successful reloading are inspection and record keeping. I eye-ball my reloads while re-boxing, and then label the boxes with computer generated stickers. This may seem like overkill, but it works for me. I know some folks who keep their reloads in bulk: They go from the loader to buckets and then the buckets go to the range or field. These loads are never really inspected, you'd better have a good memory to know what's in which bucket.
In all honesty, I've never had a failure of one of my tournament reloads (fist and second reloads). But, I've had a bad factory load cost me a target and the event at a major tournament.
I think two factors for successful reloading are inspection and record keeping. I eye-ball my reloads while re-boxing, and then label the boxes with computer generated stickers. This may seem like overkill, but it works for me. I know some folks who keep their reloads in bulk: They go from the loader to buckets and then the buckets go to the range or field. These loads are never really inspected, you'd better have a good memory to know what's in which bucket.
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I admit I'm a bucket guy - for just weekly practice ......but shells for tournaments are different.
I do check them carefully for good crimps, etc - if I was going to a shoot. I don't box them up anymore / I put them in quart freezer bags / and for big time tournaments like state shoots, I shoot factory Rem STS shells.
I do check them carefully for good crimps, etc - if I was going to a shoot. I don't box them up anymore / I put them in quart freezer bags / and for big time tournaments like state shoots, I shoot factory Rem STS shells.
All of the press mfg's tell you not to de-prime live primers ...
but you can do it on station one, in a manual press, if you're light on the pressure and careful. If I were going to do that / I would make sure the primer tray is empty / and there is no powder in the bottle on the press ( just in case ) - and wear safety glasses.
primers are pretty cheap / around $ 0.03 each .... I don't like wasting things - but you've reclaimed the shot and the powder ......I would just put what is left of the hull in the chamber of my gun and fire the primer inside the gun in the back yard .... I've even fired a few inside my shop in the basement ( put on ear muffs ) ......and make sure your wife isn't upstairs ...or she'll coming running downstairs to find out what dumb ass thing you just did ....
but you can do it on station one, in a manual press, if you're light on the pressure and careful. If I were going to do that / I would make sure the primer tray is empty / and there is no powder in the bottle on the press ( just in case ) - and wear safety glasses.
primers are pretty cheap / around $ 0.03 each .... I don't like wasting things - but you've reclaimed the shot and the powder ......I would just put what is left of the hull in the chamber of my gun and fire the primer inside the gun in the back yard .... I've even fired a few inside my shop in the basement ( put on ear muffs ) ......and make sure your wife isn't upstairs ...or she'll coming running downstairs to find out what dumb ass thing you just did ....
Yes, if you're careful ......
but if you smack it too hard with the press ram ... it could detonate .....
be careful .....
You aren't trying to remove the primer with something manually ? You obviously made up some shells - so you have some kind of a press. What press are you using ?
but if you smack it too hard with the press ram ... it could detonate .....
be careful .....
You aren't trying to remove the primer with something manually ? You obviously made up some shells - so you have some kind of a press. What press are you using ?
You cut open factory ammo ....when you could have gone to a range and picked up any number of fired and empty hullls ... interesting ...unusual ...but intersting.
Punching a live primer out of a cut shell is not a safe operation / you should fire the shell first ...then punch the fired primer with a phillips screw driver.
There is no down side to firing the primer in what's left of the shell of your gun ....( you removed all the powder, the wad and the shot right ?).
Punching a live primer out of a cut shell is not a safe operation / you should fire the shell first ...then punch the fired primer with a phillips screw driver.
There is no down side to firing the primer in what's left of the shell of your gun ....( you removed all the powder, the wad and the shot right ?).
It seems we should have asked you why you wanted to cut the shell in the first place. Let's go back to square one… instead of worrying about cutting a live shell open, why not just use a snap cap for your bore sighting? There are styles with removable "primers". Or, just pick up some grounded hulls from a local gun club and punch out the primers.kx592 said:
