Lee Loader

Last Fall I loaded some green Chedite hulls for my 16ga mdl.37 Ithaca for a dove hunt. I have never hit dove at such long distances in my life using an ounce of shot over any powder load (Universal powder used); however, I started having problems ejecting the shells with about every other shell on my 2nd batch of reloaded rounds. When I got back to my reloading bench where I have a MEC 600jr I loaded them on and rechecked my load by scales - it was dropping the proper amount of powder and shot listed in the manual. I tried resizing them and loading them on my old Load All II with the same results. I called BP and reported the "sticking hulls" with no suggestion or resolution forth coming. I took my Ithaca to my local gunsmith since It had not been worked on since I bought it new in '68. The "smith" replaced a worn extractor and polished the chamber; it is some better but did not cure the problem. The gun works fine with AA hulls or factory loads, so I figure the Chedite hulls must be the problem, even though they shoot fine in an old single shot Western Auto "break action" I keep in the truck. I've not gotten the same performance from a different brand of hull as of yet. I have to wonder if the "brass" heads on the hulls are really some other composition?

I'm giving up on the green hulls for now, although the load is the most effective long range "bird getting" receipt I have put together; especially since my Ithaca is an Improved Cylinder bore that should be very limited in range. I've read that many users have had ejection problems with the model 37, but this is my first bad experience over its lifetime. I'm a big fan of the 16ga and would probably use it for all my shotgunning if it were not for having to use "steel" shot or some "matrix" mixture for ducks. (A couple of my other favorite 16ga's are Drillings.)

Any chance of getting a picture of the reloaded shell? Might as well ask for a photo of the freshly sized hull as well.

RD - you would have to walk me through the process, which is probably more trouble than it's worth. However, if you can give this "old dog" instructions, I will give it a try. Kaiser

Have you looked at this topic: https://www.lee-loader.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7

Pictures left to right fired round, resized and reloaded.

just curious.. did the pictures ever show up??? drag marks or???

I spent a stupid amount of time Trying to download my pictures to jpeg, even got another APP to convert on my IPad It could not make the pictures small enough to send. Even the pictures I have are too small to show the finite details of the brass. Thanks anyway, I’ll post them later; I’ve got a lot of loading projects to do that fortunately doesn’t involve “green hulls”.