Reloading Poppers?

[losthwy]

If I only use ONE spacer to hold the powder in place with no crimp. Would it have enough pressure to blow the spacer out of the barrel??????? NO wad, no filler just one spacer.????????

[Rocky Raab]

Forgive me if I'm not clear on what you're asking.

Are you asking about blanks?

[losthwy]

They are blanks. The poppers I have cut open have powder held in place by a cork spacer followed by a light grains of filler and topped off by a paper seal with a crimp. (No wad).

[Rocky Raab]

Well, you need some sort of wad over the powder to keep it in place and form a gas seal. You could use a hard cardboard wad or a cork disk as long as it's a snug fit.

Over that, you can use a spacer or filler wad if you choose, but it isn't necessary.

Powder needs compression and resistance to burn properly in a shotgun shell, so you have to have some kind of resistance to take the place of the shot. You could use rice, cornmeal or (as I remember only too well while stealing watermelons) rock salt.

Over that, seat a final thin card wad and then crimp it.

Warning! loads like this are dangerous. The filler you use can travel many yards and injure or even kill living things. If the load is too light or the powder doesn't burn correctly, you can leav a wad in the barrel. Shooting again with a stuck wad is guaranteed to burst the barrel or at least bulge it into uselessness.

If I can't talk you out of trying it (is this a July 4th idea?), at least examine the bore after EVERY shot to make sure nothing is stuck. Oh, and blanks or not, it is still illegal to discharge a firearm within most city limits. If gun go bang, you broke law. Go jail, pay fine, loose gun. (a little red man lingo there, as Rush would say, LOL!)

[losthwy]

A wad hanging up in the barrel was my biggest concern. I'll go with some type of filler. One person recommened bird seed, cornmeal sounds good, I'll have to price which is the cheapest way to go.

thanks

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Forget all the crap about reloading rice, bird seed, ect.....the best way to make a popper load is to use cardboard wads. Fill the case with the powder charge, place the required number of cardboard wads on top, and crimp as you would a normal load. It may take a little experimentation to get the correct number of wads needed, depending on their thickness, the type of hull, powder charge, ect.
I have also loaded 20 gauge blanks without a reloader by cutting down the plastic on the shell & loading the cardboard wads by hand and then finishing off the last wad on the top with a coat of clear nail polish, and they work just as well.
When firing these loads, Rocky is right.....they can be lethal at close range, even with the cardboard wads, but the cardboard wads will shred as they come out of the barrel. The shredded debris looks like a bunch of feathers from a hit bird, so it helps to add realism to the scenario when I am dog training (which is why I load poppers in the first place). Also, the cardboard wads are biodegradable.
Cardboard wads are avaialble from both Precision Reloading and Ballistic Products, and a lot of muzzleloading shops carry them as well.
I will check my notes later and see what the powder charge is....I got the recipe from a reloading book by Don Zutz.

[losthwy]

The biodegradable cardboard part I like. What thickness to order and powder. That recipe if you find the time to look it up would be appreciated.

[Mr. 16 gauge]

Here is the load, from Handloading for Hunters , by Don Zutz (long out of print):

Win 209 primer

Any 12 gauge case (I prefer Winchester polyformed, as they are good for nothing else)

32.0 grains of HI-Skor 700-X

Seven .200 card wads (I ended up using 12-13 .135" wads)

pressure is around 5000 to 7000 l.u.p.

Hope this helps.......................

[Rocky Raab]

Thanks, Mr 16! An elegant and useful solution.

[losthwy]

Thanks for the recipe.

[Paul5388]

#1 son thought he would try a similar load when he was a teenager, so he loaded a normal light field load with a shot cup and milo in a plastic hull. He crimped the whole thing in a Mec 600jr and found it didn't have enough pressure to make a decent pop! The seed and cup always came out of the barrel, but the whole thing was highly unsuccessful. I think it was a Green Dot load, but that was over 20 years ago and thoughts go awry in that length of time!

We still tease him about that one!