Hey guys.

I've got a few boxes of Sellier and Bellot 00 buckshot. I've practiced loading and extracting the shells (with the safety on and my finger off the trigger!) in my Mossberg 500 a few times. I've noticed that with the shells I've practiced with, I hear a little "rattle" in two of the shells.

Taking a closer look at the shells, I see that a few specks of gun powder somehow got around the wad between the powder and shot, and is now sitting with the shot.

 

Are these shells unsafe to fire now, or are they still okay? I think I should probably practice with dummies now, huh? :-/

ok, they might have been their before you just did not notice it..

Get yourself some dumny rounds.

You could be hearing/seeing some buffer material rattling around in their.

So would it be safe to fire, if it's either gun powder or buffer material????

Sure.

 

It isn't extra gunpowder and the buffer material is just in there to keep the shot from deforming against other shot in the shell.

Awesome, thank you.

And I second the idea to get snap caps or dummy shells if you are doing this in the house.

Brownells sells some excellent dummy shells, the right weight and balance and everything so loading practice is realistic.

Hey guys.

 

I've got a few boxes of Sellier and Bellot 00 buckshot. I've practiced loading and extracting the shells (with the safety on and my finger off the trigger!) in my Mossberg 500 a few times. I've noticed that with the shells I've practiced with, I hear a little "rattle" in two of the shells.

 

Taking a closer look at the shells, I see that a few specks of gun powder somehow got around the wad between the powder and shot, and is now sitting with the shot.

 

Are these shells unsafe to fire now, or are they still okay? I think I should probably practice with dummies now, huh? :-/

 

Some grains of powder will infiltrate past the wad and in S&B's clear case you will notice a couple flecks of powder. This usually happens after shells have spent a hunting season bouncing around in your ammo box in the back of the truck. I suppose manipulating live rounds though your shotgun would create the same situation. "Rattling" heard could be the lead pellets knocking against each other if there is no buffering utilized in the shot column area or there is a little space for movement. But, I see loose powder with straight-walled hulls and loose-fitting wads. It's not uncommon. Premium cases like WWAA and R-P Premier's have tapered inner walls towards the base that serve to tightly seal the powder in the powder area once the wad is compressed down. Cheaper hulls have straight walls and count on the crimp and the payload's weight to hold everything in place. Upon ignition, the expanding gases expand the base of the wad to enable a tight gas seal.

 

I would practice with dummy rounds in the home.

Hey guys.

 

I've got a few boxes of Sellier and Bellot 00 buckshot. I've practiced loading and extracting the shells (with the safety on and my finger off the trigger!) in my Mossberg 500 a few times. I've noticed that with the shells I've practiced with, I hear a little "rattle" in two of the shells.

 

Taking a closer look at the shells, I see that a few specks of gun powder somehow got around the wad between the powder and shot, and is now sitting with the shot.

 

Are these shells unsafe to fire now, or are they still okay? I think I should probably practice with dummies now, huh? :-/

That's just dangerous honestly it doesn't matter if safety's in your firing pin could pop forward hit the primer and whatever is in front if the muzzle is donezo Ferrari. As average joe stated pick up snap caps

Not smart to use live shells, please get snap caps so we don't have to read another news headline about irresponsible gun owners.

Update: Went shooting last week, and the shells fired just fine. I'll be picking up some dummies.