[sharps4590]

Go to the local drug store and get a couple bottles of sulfur. It isn't expensive. A couple inches in front of the throat block the bore with newspaper. Melt the sulfur on LOW heat, pour it in the chamber and let it cool. Bump it out onto a thick, soft cloth and measure. The cast should come out beautiful but, it will also be as brittle as single pane glass. There, you have an excellent chamber cast....and you can re-use the sulfur.

 

[sharps4590]

sooner, you should be able to find the French proofs on line. If not, gimme a bit and I'll check my Wirnsberger's. I know he has them listed.

 

[sharps4590]

TRAP, I don't know. I'm not much of a shotgunner in the first place and, every European country was/is different. Pre-war all Germany and Austria did was designate whether or not choke is present by the "crown over W" but never specified the amount of constriction. I don't know what the other countries did. I didn't see any designation for choke for France in Wirnsberger's but, I wasn't looking for it either.

 

[sharps4590]

It isn't European shotguns, it's FRENCH shotguns. I have and have had German and British shotguns from before the turn of the 20th century to 1936, the latest I can confirm, and NONE of them had any problem with 12 or 16 ga. American ammo.

One thing you need to keep in mind is that brass hulls are like brass rifle cases, once you shoot them in a given chamber, they are formed to that chamber. They might or might not load in another gun. That is circumvented the same as rifle cases, you re-size them....and shotgun dies are expensive, I almost fouled up by shooting all 50 of my hulls in two, BP proofed guns. I was able to use the base die from my Lee Load All and get them so they would chamber in both guns. After that I kept them segregated.

 

[sharps4590]

Ok, in reality, 2 3/4 shells are a little shorter than your 2 1/2 in. brass hulls. Compare them. You are correct in that the 2 3/4 chamber is longer to allow for the star crimp to open up. The 2 1/2 in. brass hulls and roll crimped shells don't need the extra length.

Everything I'm going to write I do for 16 ga. shells but it will work the same for 12....or 20, or anything else. I cut back 2 3/4 hulls for my 2 1/2 in. guns. Don't cut yours so far back you don't have enough plastic for the roll crimp. DO NOT bother gluing in the over shot cards. They won't stay and they definitely will not withstand the firing of the opposite barrel. You may ask me how I know that. You will need wads, either traditional wad column or plastic wads and over shot cards AND a roll crimper. The roll crimper can be had from Ballistic Products Inc.

If you're going to use the brass hulls I wouldn't bother with trying to glue the OSC in. Historically the ammo makers used water glass, AKA sodium silicate. It's available off line. I got mine from Amazon I think and, it isn't expensive. Measure the inside of your hulls. I think you'll need 13 ga. wads as 12 is too big....I think. Measure to be sure or you'll have 500 wads of the wrong size. The need to be snug.

ExactaRoll Double-Pin Roll Crimper 12ga (ballisticproducts.com)

 

[sharps4590]

You know what, Mike, it can't cost much to have those chambers opened up for the brass hulls.

 

[sharps4590]

"Tight to face" should pretty much explain itself. That it is tight to the face of the standing breech. Pull the forearm off and leaving the action closed, shake it back and forth and up and down. You should not feel any movement between the barrels and the action.

I don't know if you know it Mike but, plastic hulls are only good for one BP loading. The BP eats little pin holes in the hull, nearly invisible and, it eats the base wad. That's a bummer about the brass hulls.

 

[sharps4590]

AAAARRRGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! As is typical with anything to do with French firearms their proof laws are a convoluted mess!!!! If they used powder T it might have this proof mark. If it was double proofed with Powder T this mark should be present. If it was Treble proofed with Powder T these marks should be present, unless it was proofed with Powder M but, sometimes they used Powder S so, with early French guns one must use great caution in assuming it is strong enough for modern powders as compared to French powders of the era.

The BEST I could determine was the gun MIGHT be single proofed for 14,223 psi

I think one would need the gun in hand to compare proofs with the gun.

If it's tight to face, I wouldn't shoot anything in it at any more than BP pressures until something more definitive could be determined.

 

[sharps4590]

The roll crimper is really pretty cool! It makes a very nice roll crimp on paper or plastic hulls. You can use a battery drill but a drill press and a little lube is a lot easier.

Ok, another little thing with your brass hulls. If your 12's are like my 16's, the standard loads, with a traditional wad column, will be 1/8 to 3/16 short, maybe more, of coming up to the case mouth. Don't worry about. Set the over shot card and cover it with waterglass. You can try some glues with the brass hulls but I never had success with any. I've read that some guys say they do. Glues will not work with plastic or paper hulls, guaranteed.