12 ga. loads for 20 in. cylinder bore barrels

[Wolfgang]

Hi pards, . . . did a little experimenting with loads and will pass along the results.

I have two nice old 12 ga. hammer guns.  One a Belgian with 30 in. barrels ( full & modified ) and the other a Husqvarna that I've cut down to 20 inches and so is now cylinder bore.

I'd heard of cutting cushion wads in half to allow for more shot.  Since the mag tech brass shells are only 2 1/2 in. long I figured I'd give that a try.  60 gr. of  2f, nitro card, 1/2 cushion wad, and I could put in 12 pellets of OO buck instead of just 9.   Slick I figured, . . . would be good "medicine" for coyotes.  NOPE . . . the load blew out so bad that a coyote and 20 yards would have been perfectly safe with the ground peppered with the shot all around him !

So here is what I've cooked up and is working good for me.  Top picture shows the difference between the plain "square load" on the right, and on the left the one with the paper shot cup.  Paper is from the shopping bags givin out at Trader Joe's.

The lower one shows the same load but with no. 7 shot instead of OO buck.  Wads are "O fly" and powder is Goex.  Primers are what ever was handy. I have both CCI and Remingtons laying around the bench.  

The five big holes in the lower target were from trying out a Cap & Ball revolver before I used the target for the pattern.

www.drburkholter.com/cf24.html

[Fairshake]

The load with the 7 shot is about where I load my paper hulls for the cowboy game. 63 grs 2F 1 oz of 7 1/2 with the over powder wads and filler wads from C-Fly then a roll crimp on the drill press.When I saw your Husqvarna in your post I have to ask if that is the under lever model?

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy Wolfgang,

That craft paper wrap is effectively giving you a "choke" in your cylinder bore gun.  That, and keeping the shot from scrubbing going down the barrel.  Now, to further tighten the pattern, try putting about a 44 Magnum shell fill of Ballistic Products shot buffer in your shot load and vibrate it down till the shot "floats" and then do the crimp/glue closure.

The buffer seems to make patterns more even and they also seem to stay a mite tighter.

DD-DLoS

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Wolgang;  Thank you for that demonstration.  Before plastic, almost all known techniques for improving patterns had been tried with natural materials.  In WAS there is no ban on plastic, but in muzzleloading circles you cannot use plastic IN the load, cases are excepted. This is one that I've wanted to try, but most of my guns are choked quite tightly as it is.

I've just received my "new" 9th edition, 1910, of W.W.Greener's THE GUN and its Developement.  In it the author discusses the benefits of the "Swedish wad", a double ended cup wad made of paper pulp material.  It is only one improvement tried in those days when choking was poorly understood.

http://books.google.ca/books?id=vIffAAAAMAAJ&q=Swedish+wad&dq=Swedish+wad&source=bl&ots=x3KghJncvH&sig=qDnPs0bke1fw-tlwPhMp12TKkjM&hl=en&ei=997FS6CXNpOaMpz67L0O&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CAoQ6AEwAg

[hellgate]

Woolfgang,
I use the Ballistics Products LBC-30 steel shot cup slit twice with 75grs FFg and 1 1/8oz of shot and get modified patterns from 20" cylinder bores. This load holds together  nicely and knocks over whatever I aim at. For a lighter load I just use 55grs FFg under a white AA wad holding 7/8oz shot in a Remington plastic case and they shoot an open pattern between CYL & Imp Cyl pattern and is fine for close range work and for swingers. With the one piece wads it takes not more time to load a box of shells on my Mec 600jr than for smokeless trap loads. I've patterned them and they both work fine.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Hellgate;  I believe the point is that plastic is not necessarily PC.  It is EASY to tighten patterns as you suggest, and production rates are kept up quite well, thank you.  To get improvements like Wolfgang is getting with 19th Century materials and techniques is an accomplishment that stands on its own.

I am not casting dispersions on anyone here.  If speed and efficiency are what is required, then go for it.  If someone wishes to re-create the way it was done "in the day", then that is fine as well.

I can respect both routes to achievement.

[hellgate]

Sir Charles,
Bravo! Well stated. It indeed is more of an accomplishment to get exquisite results  using traditional methods. Just like to me, getting an elk with a minie ball from a Musketoon was far more satisfying than with a .30-06.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Another blast from the past coming to the surface. Puns intended!