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I've either read or heard about this being done. I may have a source for 50 cal surplus brass and was trying come up with a use for it. My question is, is it possible/practical to make shotgun brass from 50 cal? Thanks don

Shotgun shells have rims, the .50 BMG is rimless. That single thing would make virtually impossible.

Fill me in, what shotgun gauge is the same as a 50 cal shell?

Welcome to the forum. Interesting first post.

A .50 BMG case is .804" in diameter at the largest point. That is close to a 9* gauge (.803"). See this chart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_(bore_diameter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) Don't know anyone that has a 9 gauge and as already mentioned the case is rimless, so would not be something you would be able to use. Besides, I would not want to waste brass from a .50 BMG and try reworking it when you can buy plastic 12 gauge primed hulls for as low as $11 - $12 per 100. Even brass hulls are only a little over $1 each if you want something for old black powder loads and want to stay realistic.

I just got started into reloading (9mm) so far. Two of my kids are in to the doomsday zombie thing, buying food, well buckets, guns, etc, but the ammo has been hard to come by. I realize that it will loosen up and the prices will come back down, hopefully. This is what got me interested in reloading and now I'm hooked.

One of my son in law is a Major in the full time Nat'l Guard and works at State HQ, he is checking into some of their surplus brass for me. I have no experience with military brass but have been doing a lot lurking in the different forums and trying to gain knowledge about the subject.

I watched a YouTube or some other video about surplus brass being made into shotgun brass. They were expplaining how the rim on the brass was used to eject it and with a breakdown gun this was not necessary because the brass would expand when fired but contract back to normal and easily removed from the chamber. I tried to find the site again but failed.

Hey don't ruffle me up too bad,,,I realize I know just enough to make a fool of myself and any suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Well, thats a new one for me, I never heard 50cal being converted to 12 gauge shotshells.
BUT, it can be done with some rifle brass in a 410 bore. Done it a long time back.
I found that the Magtech brass shotshells are easy to work with and need no mods.
Price is not bad at all. They use a large pistol primer instead of a 209 primer.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/165755 ... -1-2-brass" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There are also some milled brass shot shells made by RockeyMountain.
These are the best I have ever seen, but are pretty expensive compared.
http://www.rockymountaincartridge.com/i ... Prices.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can get once fired plastic shells pretty cheap, ( I think?) I know you may want to make some, but I would not trust a 50 cal brass even if it could be fire formed to fit, but no case head????
To me, the case head fixes the head space, if it didn't have a head, it could move away from the firing pin ( Loose in chamber) Not what I'd do..!!

NOT EVERYTHING you read on the internet or forums are true or even SAFE for that matter, your fingers and eye's etc. are worth more than a cheap shell.!!

Don2

I could not find the video that I mentioned but did find others that go into more detail. I concluded that with my expertise I will leave it alone. Thanks for your comments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiGUAa4zG70" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://pookieweb.dyndns.org:61129/Shotguns/shotguns.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive ... -7916.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don2 wrote:
NOT EVERYTHING you read on the internet or forums are true or even SAFE for that matter, your fingers and eye's etc. are worth more than a cheap shell.!!

Don2

Did a french model make the claim about converting the shells?

Anygunanywhere

anygunanywhere wrote:

Don2 wrote:
NOT EVERYTHING you read on the internet or forums are true or even SAFE for that matter, your fingers and eye's etc. are worth more than a cheap shell.!!

Don2

Did a french model make the claim about converting the shells?

Anygunanywhere

What do you have against French models...???
If they said it WOULD believe it.
Just kidding

Don2

anygunanywhere wrote:

Don2 wrote:
NOT EVERYTHING you read on the internet or forums are true or even SAFE for that matter, your fingers and eye's etc. are worth more than a cheap shell.!!

Don2

Did a french model make the claim about converting the shells?

Anygunanywhere

Photo of a French model. Bon jour

keysbottles wrote:I could not find the video that I mentioned but did find others that go into more detail. I concluded that with my expertise I will leave it alone. Thanks for your comments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiGUAa4zG70" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://pookieweb.dyndns.org:61129/Shotguns/shotguns.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive ... -7916.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hmm..Never heard of that process, I guess my question would be why?
If brass is free, then you must machine the brass to install a rim on it.
Then, you must hope that it all works without any hiccups. ( Like BOOM instead of BANG )
If your looking for heavy duty shotshell brass, look at Rockeymountain brass, it's all machined from one piece of brass alloy.

Mucho Bueno ( Think thats how its spelled?)

Don2

I use these

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Brass_shotgu ... -3832.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

EKO wrote:I use these

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Brass_shotgu ... -3832.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WOW, last time a bought a few boxes of 410 bore they were $14.95 each.
But everything has gone up these dayZ..!!
Don2

If you can get surplus 50 BMG brass in quantities without risking someone going to Jail, I'd be cleaning it and selling it.............If that don't work for you send it to ME!