Full-Blown Warthog 12ga Buckshot load wanted!

Mossyrock · October 14, 2008, 10:28:22 AM

Gents,

I recently picked up a TTN side-by-side, and I am eager to reload a bunch of Mag-Tech brass 12ga hulls. Here's the deal, though...I don't want to mess with any mamby-pamby, mouse-phart, game-boy loads. I want to go straight to the full-blown, holy-crap-did-he-really-pull-the-trigger-on-that BP buckshot warthog loads! I think I have the basics down on reloading the Mag-Techs thanks to the other posts here, but all the loads discussed are gamer loads. So, what say you? Want to get primitive with me? Want to help me develop a load for the odd roaming rhino or wayward locomotive?

Come on....let's get DANGEROUS!!

Deadguy · October 14, 2008, 01:30:49 PM

If you have the Lee powder dippers laying around, try two 3.1 CC scoops of your favorite BP, then a cardboard wad, fill the remaining space with your buckshot of choice, install overshot card and glue in place. Happy Shooting!

panhead pete · October 14, 2008, 06:38:20 PM

Oooooohhhh, I like this one!!!

I have used the same load, but a 4.3cc lee dipper plus a 1.9cc Lee dipper of FFg, 1/2" fiber wad and equal amount of shot. My shoulder was sore at the end of the day but sure got everyone's attention! Smoke em if you got em!! A 4.3 dipper each will knock em down and save you some shot and lead.
Happy Trails,

Panhead Pete

john boy · October 14, 2008, 07:04:59 PM

A square load: 3 drams of powder and shot or as us here in the US say: 85grs of FFg and 1 1/8 oz of shot.

Mossyrock · October 14, 2008, 08:31:29 PM

Hmmm... This is getting interesting....

Athena Jake · October 14, 2008, 08:58:59 PM

And then pattern your loads!
And test them against knock downs!

My hammerless Stoeger seems to like 2 x 2.5 lee dippers of FFg Goex, an 11 gauge nitro card, a win AA shot cup (legs cut through and rotated 90 degrees), and 1 3/8 oz of #8 shot with a 10 gauge over shot card glued in with Duco.

Do I know what the pattern is? NOT A CLUE!
it knocks em down at the club, and breaks them if they fly.
an' booms an' smokes like the 4th of July!

(real BP has a much better smell (to me) than the substitutes)

I learnt all this by reading through information reading in the "Dark Arts" - Shot shell reloading
http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,9733.0.html

Information on cleaning in and around here too... reeealy easy.

Noz · October 15, 2008, 08:51:04 AM

Shot with a guy at The Arkansas State Shoot that was shooting 95grs of FFg. I don't want any part of it. I love the smoke and beller of the black but that load hurt the people around it. It quickly became un-funny. when the black powdeer shooters began leaving the stage props when the shooter came to the line you knew it was too much over the top.
I shoot 57 grs under 1 oz. I bucks and roars and knocks things down without damage to bystanders.

Dick Dastardly · October 15, 2008, 10:59:27 AM

Full-Blown Warthog 12ga Buckshot load wanted!

Are you looking for 00 buckshot, or fineshot? It makes a difference. Please don't take anything loaded with shot larger than 7 to a SASS match.

Start with a good primer in those Magtech all brass hulls. Put in roughly equal VOLUMES of shot and powder with slightly less volume of powder than shot. Put a .135" 11ga hard nitro card over the powder and compress it well. Then, put in enough 11ga fiber wad thickness to bring the total load column up to within 1/4" of the case mouth. Put a 11ga overshot wad and glue it in place with something like Duco, Waterclear or Tacky glue.

I like to write the shot data on the over shot card before inserting it.

DD-DLoS

DD-DLoS

Mossyrock · October 15, 2008, 02:02:27 PM

Quote from: Dick Dastardly on October 15, 2008, 10:59:27 AM
Full-Blown Warthog 12ga Buckshot load wanted!

Are you looking for 00 buckshot, or fineshot? It makes a difference. Please don't take anything loaded with shot larger than 7 to a SASS match.

Start with a good primer in those Magtech all brass hulls. Put in roughly equal VOLUMES of shot and powder with slightly less volume of powder than shot. Put a .135" 11ga hard nitro card over the powder and compress it well. Then, put in enough 11ga fiber wad thickness to bring the total load column up to within 1/4" of the case mouth. Put a 11ga overshot wad and glue it in place with something like Duco, Waterclear or Tacky glue.

I like to write the shot data on the over shot card before inserting it.

DD-DLoS

DD-DLoS

Nope, not using this for gaming purposes....more along the lines of earth moving and stump blasting!

I am able to find Mag-Tech hulls, over-powder cards, wads and such, but I am having a heck of a time finding an adjustable powder/shot measure. Any suggestions?

Wills Point Pete · October 15, 2008, 03:55:29 PM

Rocky Mountain Cartridge sells an adjustable powder/shot dipper. Lee used to make one, too, dunno if they still do.

Now a buckshot load is pretty simple. Try three and a half or four drams of FFG. Then a one eighth Nitro wad. Compress the powder with a brass or wooden rod. Just set the base of the shell on the bathroom scale and push down on the overpowder wad until you hit forty-fifty pounds. Now add your shot cushion wad, I have used those half inch fiber wads and the Winchester red wads. Now I use the Claybusters, mostly. Now in my shotgun the fiber wads open my patterns about one choke constriction. In other words my IC barrel shoots cylinder patterns. The red wad shoots Modified patterns in that same barrel. If I reduce the powder charge some that same IC barrel with shoot Imp Mod with the red wad. The Modified barrel does the same thing shoots tighter or looser depending on the load.

Anyhow then I drop nine or twelve double ought buckshot down, depending on how much recoil I'm willing to take, add my overshot wad, glue it down and the next day they're ready to rip.

I've never needed to use these for anything serious. For that I am greatful. I do believe they'd work, though. And I'd have a nice cloud to hide in while I reloaded.

Mossyrock · October 16, 2008, 01:39:19 PM

Approaching this from the standpoint of a BPCR shooter, I have to wonder about the effects of hard fouling. One thing I have not seen mentioned is the addition of a good BP lube. Should I soak the under-shot wad in SPG or one of my home-brewed lubes? Would that help keep fouling soft for repeat shots, or does it screw up the patterning?

Dick Dastardly · October 16, 2008, 05:33:13 PM

I use a lubed 1/2" fiber wad over the over powder nitro card. It doesn't seem to hurt my patterns. It does make cleanup a snap.

Also, if you are looking for top performance from your buckshot load, give Ballistic Products shot buffer a try. Sift about a 44 Magnum brass full of buffer down in your buckshot with a little vibration before gluing in the over shot card.

Good luck on your loads and death to the varmints yer shootn'. This is a serious load.

DD-DLoS

Pettifogger · October 16, 2008, 08:44:05 PM

Fouling is an issue in guns with rifling because the fouling clogs up the rifling. Shotguns are smooth bores. I'vel shot lots of shot gun rounds with BP and no lube over multi-day matches and the bore was cruddy as heck, but the gun still patterned fine.

Wills Point Pete · October 17, 2008, 12:14:52 AM

I tried lubed wads and the glue wouldn't stick to the MagTech brass shell. So I quit messing with adding lube. I'm sure some extra lube would make cleaning a bit easier so If I was shooting paper or plastic shells I'd try it some more.

I am also sure that there is some way to clean the lube off the brass. Since my little double will shoot those brass buckshot shells far longer than any civilian could survive any conceivable gunfight as they stand, I don't worry about it.

I know some pretty tough fellers. Off the top of my head I can't think of any one of them that is tough enough to shoot those real warthog buckshot shells until the gun quits working.

Mossyrock · October 17, 2008, 08:31:20 AM

Quote from: Wills Point Pete on October 17, 2008, 12:14:52 AM
I know some pretty tough fellers. Off the top of my head I can't think of any one of them that is tough enough to shoot those real warthog buckshot shells until the gun quits working.

Now THAT is as profound a quote as I have ever read on this board!

Point taken, and thank you!

Singing Bear · October 18, 2008, 11:36:56 PM

Well, this load wasn't out of brass shells, but could work all the same. When we first got into BP, all we had was Pyrodex. Got some AA hulls, added TWO 4.3cc scoops of Pyro, added just the shotcup and 1 oz of shot. Didn't realize we were loading for cannon and had a grand'ol time making boom and smoke. Of course we dismissed our aching shoulders, headaches and magnum face after the match and attributed them to shooting a 12 ga. side by all morning, not realizing we were way overcharging our loads. Well, we're still here and our shotguns are no worse for wear some 15 years later. We recently resurrected this load in tribute to the passing of one of our original members who passed on. After a couple rounds, we gave up and wondered how the heck we made it through those early SASS years. We had 5 shooters and I supposed those 10 big rounds was plenty to keep 'ol Pete happy.

Adirondack Jack · October 19, 2008, 12:00:42 AM

Lee makes a handy adjustable shot dipper for like $3. It would work as a BP scoop as well.

My default load in brass is 1 1/8 ounces of shot and a 60 grain VOLUME (45 grains weight) load of 777 FFG. For more swat I carry a couple of shells with 1 1/4 ounces of shot and a paper shot cup. Only once did I have a KD laugh at that load (it was a bad target), but TWO of em took it out nicely (yep, just pull em both at once). Not as rough on the RO as my buddy's 10 ga, and nowhere near as rough on the shooter as a 1 3/8 ounce, 1450 fps Super X super pheasant load, but does get their attention.