Light BP Loads for 12 Gauge

[Dusty Morningwood]

Recovering from a shoulder injury and will likely not be 100% before shooting season starts here in eastern WI.  I will be shooting .44 Russian in my Open Top and Henry, so no real recoil problems there.  But for my SxS 12 gauge, I am used to heavy charges in my Magtech brass.  Any suggestions on a light, but adequate load to take care of those pesky KDs without punishing my tender wing?  You can PM me specific load info. if you do not want to post on forum.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

My usual CAS BP 12 gauge load is 4.3 CC of FFg under 1 1/8 ounces of #8 shot. That is around 68 grains of so of powder, last time I checked. It is less than a square load, it is around a 2 1/3 dram load. I use Circle Fly wads in my loads, but it would work with a plastic wad too. I think it is relatively mild, but I suppose the shot charge could easily be dropped to 1 ounce or so without blowing the patterens.

[Dick Dastardly]

Hey Driftwood,

Yer only usin' that dipper cuz it's the biggest one in the LEE powder measure kit. .

Anyway, DJ is right on the money.  One thing more, with Circle Fly wads you can use more or less fiber wadding to make up the volume you need for a good crimp.  You can probably use the 4CC dipper and one ounce of fineshot and get the job done.  To make up the difference in volume, put in an extra half of a fiber wad.

If you are loading a MEC 600 Jr., get yourself a 3/4" long 1/4" or 5/16" carriage bolt (make sure it slips thru the wad guide) and use it with enough wad pressure to leave a nice concave when you drop the shot.  Be sure to take the bolt out before you drop the shot or else you will make a mess. . .

An overshot card will give you a good strong base for a pie crimp.  I prefer a roll crimp, but that's cuz I'm old fashioned.

DD-DLoS

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I can load 57gr. FF with a AA 114 wad and 1 oz of shot.  R-P, or other wads of a similar height can be used.  A .30-06 case is my powder measure.  Trap birds won,t survive!

LEE  4.0cc   =  54.5 gr

LEE Red 258  =   58 gr

MEASURE & WEIGH THEM YOURSELF - Please.

[Dick Dastardly]

I found an old all aluminum charge bar that drops 1-1/8 oz and bored out the powder end to drop 4/5 of that.  Comes to around 80 grains of FFg Holy Black.  Loaded up a box of 25.  I'll be testing them soon.

Interesting thing is that by spinning on a roll crimp I can use whatever trash hulls I can find and they load up just fine.  The roll crimp rolls down to the overshot card nice an pretty.

I'll pattern some and report back.

DD-DLoS

[hellgate]

If you want light loads that take down KDs then you must have a tight pattern. If your gun is cyl/cyl then the KDs had better be close. I basically have two loads:
a full load of 80grs (3 dram) + 1 1/8oz shot in a steel shot cup for KDs and a light load of 55grs powder and 7/8oz shot (i.e. a 20ga load) for swingers. If you have nice tight chokes the shot is focused on the KD and it will go down. The light load fits nicely in any of the Remington and WW AA hulls using the standard white AA plastic wad and a fold crimp. PM or email me for details on the steel shot cups & their loading with BP.

[Dusty Morningwood]

If you want light loads that take down KDs then you must have a tight pattern. If your gun is cyl/cyl then the KDs had better be close. I basically have two loads:
a full load of 80grs (3 dram) + 1 1/8oz shot in a steel shot cup for KDs and a light load of 55grs powder and 7/8oz shot (i.e. a 20ga load) for swingers. If you have nice tight chokes the shot is focused on the KD and it will go down. The light load fits nicely in any of the Remington and WW AA hulls using the standard white AA plastic wad and a fold crimp. PM or email me for details on the steel shot cups & their loading with BP.

Hey Hellgate:
The sxs I am leaning toward has 29.5 bbls and is choked full and full.  So I can start with those light loads until the wing is 100%.
Dusty

[reloader4410]

Mag tech brass usually does not need a crimp just a card on top of shot & glue. Any light load will not fill the brass to the top. 3.4 2f powder 4.3 shot thats my load never a problem with knock downs. Hope this helps.

[Driftwood Johnson]

D.D. you know me too well. You're right, 4.3 CC is the biggest dipper in the Lee set, so that's what I use in my shot gun loads. It does happen to be a relatively light load, only around 2 1/3 drams.

Regarding knockdowns with cylinder chokes and light loads: my loads will take them down every time out of the cylinder bores of my cut down hammer gun. Ya just have to take a moment to aim.

[hellgate]

The reason I keep dwelling (to most people, unnecessarily) on tight patterns and chokes is there are a few clubs that have really, really neat targets that fling a pop can (full of warm shook up explosive diet cola), clay birds, etc and some are real hard to put down. In years past I had to stand there and wham away at them to trigger the flipper. So I've had to search for ways to tighten patterns with special wads. Conversely, I have made wide pattern loads for those stages where a whole bunch of KDs are aligned so you can get several with one shot. Sometimes if you (here comes the word........) "game" it just right you can get 6 fallers with two shots as intended by the stage designer to entertain the shooter and onlookers to hoot and holler about.

[Cactus Cris]

I have been loading 12ga light loads with 3f BP for my 12yr old G'daughter to shoot.  AA win hulls, 26 gr 3f Schuetzen, grey WW wad, 7/8 oz #7 shot.  She is using my Stoger sxs single trigger and has no problem with recoil.  The load will take the KD's here in Az IF she aims.  I have tried them a few times just to see and they do work.  I load on a Mec Grabber.  Can't remember which bushing is in there tho.  Follow the HS7 powder in the bushing chart from Mec and see 26gr bushing.