Thread: 20g ammo advice

Originally Posted by Chippychow

I’ll defiantly keep and eye out for one or maybe find some measurements for one and machine up the parts, looks easy enough

its a bugger you so far away or Id lend you one of my 12ga kits to get the gist of whats needed and lyman shotgun manual for measurements and load data... BASICALLY the primer gets poked out base of case with a nail into hole drilled in flat surface....primer placed by hand into pocket and pushed in by tapping down on flat surface...a dowel with hole slightly bigger than primer slid down inside case will do this bit.
powder measured out and put in,plastic wad put in and pushed down,shot put in, case then closed.the crimp starter is taperd hole with wee bumps inside to push hull into shape,either 6 or 8 star. you can do this by hand with used hulls. then star is pushed down onto shot with hull held in what is basically a chambersized tube and dowel like bit tapped to finish pushing star inwards and down...the whole trick is to have hull filled to correct lever so star closes and drops SLIGHTLY or rolls inwards if you like but star crimp stays firm.... if you look at early steel loads like winchester Xpert they have seared /melted star crimp shut.
being a break open gun you can get away with a lot as crimp doesnt need to be flash to chamber it...sure your lbs per inch of compression isnt going to be right.
easiest way will be to buy load of birdshot that has a wad in it and open crimp CAREFULLY with small screwdriver etc tip out birdshot and replace with buckshot...you CANT overload case with buckshot as the airspace between balls is greater than with the smaller shot so payload will be less. try smallest sinkers you can buy from warehouse if you cant source buckshot elsewhere...they work. the .410 is another guage that is served well with buckshot...man is that easy to put together.