Lengthen forcing cones or not?

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Not me! Just trying to figure out how to print this for future reference.

I think what has come out of it is the fact that if you are deviating from the norm at all, eg; using fibre wads, black powder, etc, you really need to test if those pretty little smooken boomers that you have loaded actually perform worth a spit.

Thanks, great post.

4 Fingers, think on this a while, please.

Mako is dead-on.  No dispute.

We're talkin' Old West type shooting, NOT clays which require the most performance from the shotgun, ammo, and the shooter.  Most of the time you'll have to clang steel or perhaps knock down a target.  For the most part, a BP shooter wanting to use a modern style shotgun can "get by" using brass shells.  What I'm saying is give it a try ... you might be surprised how well that Stoeger works with a brass shell loaded with a good charge of Gunpowder and using card wads.    As Hellgate mentioned and as the man at Circle Fly who took my order some 7 or 8 years ago specified, use the 11 ga. over-shot and spacer wads (lubed is MY preference) and then a 10 ga. over-shot wad.  You'll get the best brass cased, BP powered, card wad shells made.  Shot placement is so very vital and seems to get forgotten in technical discussions of guns and ammo, so practice can certainly help ANY shooting situation.  Everybody who has joined in this discussion is an experienced shooter and I trust all the knowledge flowing from these shooters.  Just don't get caught up in the technical details of weapon and ammo performance and then forget about putting the round, or in this case shot, where you want to hit!

Just give that Stoeger and brass BP shells a "shot," so to speak.  You might find that the simplest solution works fine.  I was very apprehensive when I first started loading my brass shotshells with BP.  I had loaded cartridges for 30+ years and been shooting BP nearly as long, but I'd never put the two together, nor had I ever loaded a shotshell of ANY type.  Yes, it still takes me about a half-hour to load a box of 25 which is a lengthy process, but it's VERY simple the way I do it.  I have zero specialized shotshell tools.  I deprime with a decapping rod from an old Lee handloading set for 8mm Mauser.  I did a 10 minute modification using my Dremel tool to my Bonanza (now Forster) Co-Ax press to use the priming feature built onto the press.  I use a Lee dipper for both powder and shot and, because I actually was given a quart of Sodium Silicate, or waterglass, I seal the shells and I shoot those shells from an older (pre 1989 fall of the Iron Curtain) Tula hammer-double shotgun.  1oz. (by volume) of powder propels 1 1/8 oz. of shot.  Works for me, and it fits my K.I.S.S. lifestyle.  (In case you didn't know the acronym, it's Keep It Simple, Stupid)

    Have fun!!

[fourfingersofdeath]

Right on Steel Horse, Like I said in my earlier post: "If I was going to use the gun on bird or rabbit hunting or on clay targets, I'd go the distance and pattern it, etc. If just for cowboy, plates and knockdowns, if it was hitting and knocking them down, good nuff'.

No sense going in for extra work when it's not needed, thats why I aways try boolits as cast first, if they work I leave it at that and don't go looking for extra jobs to do.

[hellgate]

FFOD,
I'd still pattern the loads. I've been to several CAS shoots where you have a 5 or 6 plate rack to knock down where any rifle misses can be made up by knocking the plates over with the shotgun. Sometimes the plates are out there a bit and a tight pattern is needed to put them down. If your shotgun is throwing patterns with low density centers they will take down the poppers, close fallers and move the swingers but might leave up the smaller plates. It only takes a few minutes with a cardboard box and some butcher paper at 10 yards to see that you are doing things right or not.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

F2OD;  ++ on the patterning.  Its simple and quick at 10 yards and tells you if it is regulated and throwing even patterns.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Hellgate & Sir Chas., I'll have to do that - in spite of my arguments for keeping things as simple as possible.  I've been talking about doing it for years, but that "Round To-it" I need eludes me. 


I've been so happy with my results so far and, well ... Not to mention that in MY case using my Tula hammer double, it's an older model and DOES have short forcing cones, (and honed/polished chambers) so it is fine for brass shells with card wads propelled by BP.




Nuthin' but the BEST for my dogs!