[SeldomShoots]

I need some advice on how to go about reloading a box of shells with the ashes of a deceased club member. His spouse has requested this so friends can celebrate his life with shooting the shells. My thoughts were to use a mix of lead shot and ashes to get a decent crimp and have enough pressure. If you have done this or have suggestions I would appreciate your thoughts.

Assuming this is not a cast, and I the dumb fish taking the first bite at it, I would presume ashes would act like buffer filling in the gaps between shot. You shouldn't need to make any changes to your load.

Watch the wind, you don't want to end up like "The Dude" in the Big Lebowski covered with Donnie's ashes.

 

[Nostrjr]

I need some advice on how to go about reloading a box of shells with the ashes of a deceased club member. His spouse has requested this so friends can celebrate his life with shooting the shells. My thoughts were to use a mix of lead shot and ashes to get a decent crimp and have enough pressure. If you have done this or have suggestions I would appreciate your thoughts.

I have not used ashes but have used string line chalk for gender reveal. Use a single stage loader, be careful on the final crimp to just push it down flush. If you crimp too deep a drop of candle wax will seal it.

 

[bosni]

There is a company in Alabama that does this:

http://www.myholysmoke.com

 

[GunsUp]

You might want to place round card on top of the stack powder wad and ashes under the crimp of the beloved. This will keep your friend in line until the last lost target is called.
The card will add a bit of confetti to the ceremony.

Looking for a recipe Similarly to a popper round

Best regards


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[pettifogger1]

Done this a few times at Cowboy matches. Just make sure the wind is not blowing towards you!

 

[shotgunpeople]

Did this for a friend's wife as he wanted to be spread over his favorite fields.

Mixed in with the shot, went off well.

 

[RobertT]

Copied from the holy smoke link previously listed: None of the ashes will have any effect on rifling, the propellant or the firearm. All ash are placed in the shot cup or the bullet for rifles and pistols. All ammunition produced by Holy Smoke are boxed and sealed with reverence and care.

 

[phatkaw]

I have not loaded buffered shells but I do know it can increase the pressure a lot.
I know some of the older guys here know about this and I hope that they see this thread so there isn't a lot more ashes to shoot into the atmosphere...

 

[phatkaw]

If the shells sit around and draw any moisture then you got a big slug!

 

[Bob_K]

The easy way I would do it is to get a box of 12 ga blanks. I have a box of Fiocchi blanks and the shells contain a fast burning powder, a cork over powder disk, and sawdust. I would pry open and replace the sawdust with the ashes.

 

[1straightshot]

Did it at my club for a friends wife. Just used a standard load. Filled the shot cup up with ashes to the top. Crimp compressed slightly to give a good crimp.
No problems just watch where you point the gun. The wads go about 15 - 20 yards with more power than you would think..

 

[skeet_man]

Not to be blunt, but almost nobody realizes that "ashes" aren't actually ashes. At the risk of being insensitive, I'll copy/paste the explaination from another website:

"Cremains are the bone fragments from a cremated body which remain after the cremation process. “Cremains” is a portmanteau or blending which combines the words “cremated remains.” While commonly referred to as “ashes,” technically cremains are not ashes but rather mostly dry calcium phosphates with some various minor minerals such as salts of sodium and potassium, or more simply, bone matter. Since the cremation process takes place utilizing extreme temperatures upwards of 1600 °F, any true ash is completely incinerated. "

That being said, they have much more mass than actual ashes would have, and thus can't simply be added. I suspect they would act in a certain extent very similar to buffer if distributed either intentionally or through an eventual settling process through the shot, which can raise pressure unpredictably unless recipes are incredibly carefully followed. I definitely wouldn't replace sawdust with cremains in a blank shell, adding any mass to one of those shells could be catastrophic.

This is not to be taken as reloading advise, but simply what I would do if I were going down this path. I'd find a 1 1/8oz recipe, and would put in 7/8oz of shot. On top of that I would put an over the shot wad, and then cremains up to bottom of the crimp, then crimp the shell as normal (another over the shot wad probably wouldn't be a terrible idea, or seal the crimp with wax). That way you have the same approximate volume of a 1 1/8oz load, although the overall weight will be lower, resulting in a lower pressure than your 1 1/8oz recipe would have provided.

 

[skeet_man]

Did it at my club for a friends wife. Just used a standard load. Filled the shot cup up with ashes to the top. Crimp compressed slightly to give a good crimp.
No problems just watch where you point the gun. The wads go about 15 - 20 yards with more power than you would think..

This would probably be fine too, with the caveat that you would need to be VERY cognizant of making sure the wad clears the barrel every time (since you've dropped down to probably a 1/8oz to 1/4oz payload), probably not something that's foremost on your mind when performing a ceremony like this...

 

[DustyGmt]

Wow. Kind of like a Gonzoesque Hunter S. Thompson like send off.... instead of a 156 ft tall gonzo fist cannon a shotgun barrel.

 

[jansonuhl]

I need some advice on how to go about reloading a box of shells with the ashes of a deceased club member. His spouse has requested this so friends can celebrate his life with shooting the shells. My thoughts were to use a mix of lead shot and ashes to get a decent crimp and have enough pressure. If you have done this or have suggestions I would appreciate your thoughts.

I have done this. Just put ashes in the shell with a tea spoon on top of the shot, tap on the side of the hull as you put the ashes in, close, and shoot normally.

 

[Old_Diabetic_100]

I'm sure the OP's post is a cast. However, stranger things have happened...........like Rolling Stone Keith Richards snorting his dad's ashes for kicks.

Keith Richards tells of snorting his dad's ashes with cocaine | UK news | The Guardian

Skeet Man is correct. Cremated remains sometimes contain quite large fragments of bone that wouldn't fit into a 12G hull.

My mother was very attached to her little Jack Russell dog. When it died, unbeknown to me she had it cremated and put its remains in an old teapot. One day she asked me to make her a pot of tea and in doing so I picked up the wrong teapot and accidentally dropped it on the floor. Out shot a whole load of dusty foreign objects so I quickly vacuumed the mess up, washed the teapot and made her a cup of tea. She went ballistic when I took her the cup of tea on a tray along with her teapot, sugar and milk. You can't please all the people all of the time!

 

[1straightshot]

This would probably be fine too, with the caveat that you would need to be VERY cognizant of making sure the wad clears the barrel every time (since you've dropped down to probably a 1/8oz to 1/4oz payload), probably not something that's foremost on your mind when performing a ceremony like this...

Good point to mention.
We used a single shot break open just for that reason.

 

[mcneeley5]

Just take the "box" and spread by hand, a nice prayer and no need for the drama.

 

[browning66]

1straightshot - clarify if you used any lead shot in what you did.

jansunuhl - this was what I had in mind.

Thanks