2 3/4"? A Newbe Question?

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ZVP

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As a 17 year old I seem to remember the 12gauge shells being longer than they are today. athey barely measure 2 5/16; and the 20 ga the same. Slugs are even about 1/16 Is there any reason behind this or am I remembering wrong?I have 12 ga skus by Brenkie and Windchester "OO".
They function well through the shotgun. I expect no trouble was 17 in 1966
No trouble feeding todays cyclif my pump action with either load or any field load I bought or even the super light loads I bought!
The little hulls just look so little!
ZVP
 
2 3/4" is the length AFTER firing when the crimp opens. The unfired shells will always be slightly shorter. Some will vary quite a bit depending on the manufacturer and the type of crimp they use. 3" shells are actually closer to 2 3/4" when unfired, and most will easily fit in a 2 3/4" chamber, but when fired there is no room for the crimp to expand to. This makes for higher than normal pressures and potential barrel bursts.
 
^^^nailed it square - shell length is always the fired length, so those 2" mini shells some folks like are actually closer to 1-1/2" unfired. This can be dangerous, as mentioned above, if folks just drop an unfired shell in a gun without knowing what the chamber length actually is - especially with older guns where their chamber might only be 2-1/2 or 2-9/16.
 
Some shells will be closer to 2-3/4" loaded if they use a plastic cap and roll crimp to hold the shot in rather than the star type crimp used in typical US loads. This is seen in S&B and some other foreign manufactured shells. A slug with a roll crimp will be similar to these in length.

Shotshellcompare.jpg

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