One bad shell in a box of 25 X-Treme Reduced Recoil 00 Buck

[Big Frank]

When I got some shells out to put in my sidesaddles today, a few 00 pellets fell out of one shell. The clear overshot card from 1 of the Freedom Munitions shells was in 4 pieces lying in the box, and the end of the shell was squashed out of shape, and bent in at one spot. The top of the box has a dent on one corner and must have been dropped right on the mouth of one shell. I used a pair of long needle nose pliers to squeeze the roll crimp flat against the side and straighten out the part that was bent in. Then I squeezed it until it was round. I used a 3/4" 12-point socket as a gauge to check for roundness.   I stuck it in and turned it back and forth, and it didn't seem to have any high spots. After I put the shot back in, I microwaved the wax that was leftover from a jar candle, after I pried the steel wick holder off the bottom of the jar, and filled the case to the top. After it set up, I scraped off the bit of spillage that was stuck to it, and wiped it down with a rag. It drops right into the chamber of my shotgun, but doesn't slide out quite as easily. When I drop it into the ejection port and push the button on the shell lifter, the bolt sends it home, and it ejects as well as any other new shell when I cycle the bolt.

I think this is effectively a semi-frangible slug now, with 9 pellets stuck together. With a Balsam Forest fragrance that will blend right in when I'm out in the woods.   I poured the rest of the melted wax, and some Pumpkin Nutmeg Pie scented wax in a jar that's nearly full of leftover wax from several different scented candles. The only thing I'm wondering about is if the roll crimp will unroll when the shell is full of wax. Other than the spot where it sunk in the middle, it's right up to the edge. I think I'll try carving it down a bit with an X-Acto knife. Maybe I'll end up with a pointed wax bullet that tapers down to the mouth of the shell. I just don't know if I need to do that or not to avoid it being over-pressure. All opinions are welcome.

You can see that it's not quite round, but it's round enough to chamber by gravity alone. I call that good.

[Big Frank]

I decided not to leave the shell filled to the edge with candle wax. I used a plastic knife to carve it away so I wouldn't cut the hull. I ended up turning the case with one hand and holding the knife with the other, acting as a human lathe. Once I cut down to the mouth of the case and went around several times it didn't look as good as I thought it should, So, holding a roofing nail in a pair of needle nose pliers, I heated the head of it with a propane torch and ironed out the surface of the wax. Much better! But it looks like a sad ghost in the shell , not to be confused with the Japanese media franchise, Ghost in the Shell. I wiped it down with an old towel, and after I took the picture I saw the little lint fuzzies in it, so I wiped out the mouth of the case too. It looks better now than in the picture, and I'm not worried about excessive pressure from the roll crimp not being able to open. It's buckshot that I think will act more like a slug, so I'm calling it a Buck-Slug shell. I should shoot a reactive target like a bucket of water with it to see what happens.

Have you ever seen a sad slug frown before? It's funny how our brains are wired to see faces, even where there aren't any. When I was a kid, I saw the face of the man in the moon one night. It looked like Jesus Christ in the shadows. And I wasn't even smoking crack that night.

[Big Frank]

Here's that one round, with 3 that were okay, and 3 00 buckshot with star crimps. I can carry those on the sidesaddles pointing down without worrying about the shot falling out. The shells fit really snugly in sidesaddle on the side of the stock and only slide in until the "brass" hits the edge. So I took 6 Gamester plastic shells with no brass and slid them all the way in to force the shell holder "clips" open and I'm leaving them in there. The area where the steel head normally is on shotshells is wider, and it tapers smoothly between that and the main body of the hull, so they were easy to slide in. The sidesaddle  on the receiver is a much better fit. It has a bit of rubber in it to hold the shells in place, instead of the whole thing being so tight.