20 ga load??

[Dalton Masterson]

I seem to have misplaced my load data for 20ga blackpowder shells.
I am using AA hulls, 1f Skirmish powder, and old Pacific white wads.
I worked down to a 45 gr load, and still couldnt fit in 7/8 oz #8.
I sure wish I could remember what I was doing before. Can anyone give me thier recipes, please?
Thanks. DM (whose wife shoots the 20s with black only 1 or 2 times a year)

[Dick Dastardly]

Ho Dalton,

It's 'em heathen white plastic wads what's takin' up too much room in yer yaller hulls.  Give 'em up and put in a Circle Fly .135 over powder nitro card and a 3/8" lubed fiber wad, squeeze 'em down good and drop in yer shot.  Then press in an overshot card and close 'em up with a nice roll crimp.

I just loaded some of 'em up tonite that way.  They are a death ray out of my lil 311.

DD-DLoS

[Dalton Masterson]

Your probably right there, but I did something last year that made them work great. I just cant remember what it was. Maybe I trimmed them? Argghh, memory sucks sometimes. No more that miss Freeda shoots black, it isnt worth buying 20 ga cushions, and roll crimpers tho. I have all that for my 12s, but still use red AAwads. The plastic doesnt take much to clean up in mine. DM

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

If you have 2 3/4" chambers, star crimps with paper, or plastic work great.  DD has one of your options, that is to get shorter wads.

If you want to try shorter, 2 1/2" cases, but not bother with roll crimp tools, etc., try  the JAM ROLL. Apparently an earlier inventor of this concept was named Hartin, and it can be called the "Hartin crimp".

-Trim cases
-load your favorite recipe.  Adjust the load to leave about 3/8" (Or a bit less) of clearance from the load to the lip of the case
-top the load with an over shot card.  No O/S wads?  For 20 ga., bash some out of a wax paper milk carton with a 5/8" punch.
-Run the loaded case through your shotshell press's crimp start and crimp stations.  I've tested this crimp on a 12 ga. MEC Grabber, and a 16 ga. MEC 600Jr.

The result is that the folds of the case mouth are turned in on the O/S wad, which is still visible as a star shape.  A bonus is that the plastic doesn't get heat hardened and the case can be re loaded many more times.

[hellgate]

You can cut the "legs" out of most plastic one piece wads (like the AA wad) so you are left with two parts: the cupped over powder gas seal and the shot cup. That is about as short of a wad column as you can get to make room for as much powder and shot as can be had. If that gives you too much room in the case then you can put card or filler wads between the OP seal and the shot cup or in the case of the versatile AA wad, just cut the legs right through the middle and rotate the wad 90 degrees and press them together for a medium length wad. Just be sure to pattern the load to see that it does well in your gun regardless of what you do. Chokes really help.

[Dalton Masterson]

Hellgate, you may have just saved me. I think I was cutting these down before. I thought I wrote them down, but now I cant find it. All my other info is on masking tape stuck up on the wall behind the press. Not the 20 ga tho. Maybe I can disassemble one of the old ones and recreate them that way.
I did make one up with a roll crimp using my 16 ga crimper and a felt cushion wad. Used a 12 ga overshot card. Not the prettiest but it loads.
Thanks gents. DM

[Mako]

Dalton,
BPI has a short 20 ga wad that works well with Black Powder loads.  Go look at the end of my first entry in this old thread:

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,15014.0.html

After that post over a year ago I tried them, but my daughter no longer shoots 20 ga and we traded her up to a 12.  The wad worked for very low recoiling 3/4 and 7/8 oz. loads.  I have loaded 3.4cc of FFG with both 3/4 and 7/8 Ozs. of shot with good results, the 7/8 oz. load worked the best.  That is basically 50 gr of the Holy Black.  I loaded some 3.1cc loads in 3/4oz. but the plates rocked better with the 7/8 oz 3.4cc loads. 

I've done some others but this is what she ended up shooting.

Regards,
Mako

[Dalton Masterson]

Gents, what do you think of this load? I found some 20ga BPI 1/4 felt wads in my stash.
50gr 1F, BPI 1/4" felt, 7/8 - 1 oz #8, overshot card and a roll crimp.

I loaded a couple, but havent tried them yet. Wont get to until this weekend. Without a shot cup, will it spread too much for knockdowns? DM

[hellgate]

If your gun has chokes then probably not. Without chokes, maybe. An easy thing to do is to pattern it at 10 or 20 yards using a piece of butcher paper on a cardboard box or IPSC target. Put an aiming point on the paper to verify your POA = POI. At 10 yards a full choke shoots 90% of the shot into a 10" circle. A cylinder bore goes into a 20' circle @ 10yds.
Note whether the pattern throws a donut pattern. If so use a little less powder or a shot cup. As long as the shot is delivered onto a fairly small area it will take down most anything.

[Dalton Masterson]

OOps, was gonna add that its a Baikal/EAA Bounty Hunter with mod and imp chokes.  Willl give it a try this weekend, but did go ahead and order some 20 ga wads, cards, and roll crimper. DM

[Dick Dastardly]

Sounds like yer rite on the money Dalton.  I  should cut back a mite on my powder charge so I can close the roll crimp easier.

DD-DLoS