Very cool old shells!!

Don't want to change your thread but a good youtube clip on the flechettes is "Vietnam War: Gunship Mission firing flechettes (Combat footage)

Fired from Cobra helicopters by motorized rockets carrying aprox. 2000 "nails" a little less than 1.5". long. 2 rockets could cover a football field w/ lethal firepower (rockets usually fired in prs., one from each side of the gunship's pods).

One question I still wonder is if the brass is rolled a little to hold the cardboard in (that's what I see in the picture, but I don't see all that well)
is that a weak point that if that would break off after reloading a couple times , and/or maybe if you could just keep loading them by trimming the cases off even shorter, by putting in less wadding or shot.

Foxpaw, yes if the slight roll crimp is used the brass will eventually crack and need to be trimmed back. That's why most people used the waterglass and didn't crimp. The other problem was if the load didn't use enough velocity/pressure, the crimp remained after firing. a similar reloadable hull was made by Alcan that had a brass head attached to a zinc tube for the main body of the shell. As far as the brass being short, they are very thin and therefore have a large payload capacity even if only 2 and a half inches long.

this is a 3 1/2 inch 10 gauge shell. as you can see its barely over 3 inches. 3.028. 2 3/4 or 3 inch or 3 1/2 are quite a bit shorter when you measure them

IF I ever shoot and reload a few of these I think ill use a 3 inch recipe and glue in an over shot card with a little elmers glue. used to be able to get water glass at the drug store but ive not seen any in a while

Danny, if you search the web, there is some data out there for brass shells. I'm sure waterglass is a bygone era. I have a reloading data folder for the Alcan shells, but it only lists their powders which are long obsolete. AL5,AL7, and AL8 were imported from Sweden back in the 1960's. I still have a can or 2 around here.

here are the two side by side. The Alcan is only 2 5/16" long.

this is cool. seen home depot sells it by the gallon