28 gauge loads

Just picked up a caywood game gun with 28 gauge and 50 cal barrels. What loads do you guys use for round ball and shot for the .28 gauge.

Just read a post from Grandpa Ron on this same thing. I still am smoothboreless so cant say.

Shine, this is what I use.
Shot loads in my Rice 42” barrel are 60-70grns Goex 3F. 60grns for a slightly longer shot string for small stationary targets, 70grns to open it up a bit for moving / flying targets.
PRB load for Deer (same for Turkey) is: 90grns Goex 3F / .022” patch / .520” ball.

3.5" TUNA CAN TESTING AT 25 YARDS



DOVES - SHOT



SQUIRRELS - SHOT



DEER - PRB



TURKEY - PRB

had a caywood 54 nwtradegun. used a 530 rd ball, 15 th. patch and 85 gr. 3f for deer and hog

In my 28 gauge I use 55 grain FF under two leather wads, and a paper shot cartridge made from thee thickness news paper tied shut with kite string and filled with 7/8 ounce shot. :idunno: :idunno:

is 7/8ths ounce about an equal measure of 55 grs of powder?

This chart might be helpful:
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/195339/

yes thank you

Howdy!

I have a very close gage smooth rifle that should be close to the answer you are looking for. I shot 55 grains of powder, a wadding of either tow, wasps nest, dry leaves, or whatever else dry was around, then a dose of shot with the same powder measure, plus just a bit more (dont know how much more, just always put in the same amount) with another wadding of the same material mentioned above. God good patterns with it.

With my 50 cal, I have shot as much as 90 grains, and as little as 50 grain. Both work as well for each individual gun. So, depended on which gun I was shooting at the moment. My 50 cal rifle now I shoot 5 grains and a .470 ball with greased linen patching. Works well for me.

Hope this helps.

My .54 smoothbore is a 15/16" straight octagon 32" long, and made by GM, mounted in a Lyman GPR stock, so this is a strong and heavy barreled smooth rifle, and not at all like many of the fine graceful light weight bird guns a lot of the guys here have, so please consider that before using my loads, as they may or may not be safe in your gun. And you didn't post the details of your gun so I am just listing what I use. Hope it helps.

28ga:
60gr FFFg, 2 cardboard OP cards, 1 oz #6 shot, 1 OS card

70gr FFFg, 1 cardboard OP card, 6" jute cord frayed into a ball of fiber for use as TOW, 1 more cardboard OP card, 1 7/8 oz #6 shot, 1 OS card

70 gr FFFg, 2 leather OP wad/cards, patched .527 RB or .515 PRB, with different patch thicknesses of course.

Hey Ugg, I use 55 gr fffg, and .535 rb with .012 patch in my ed rayl barreled trade gun. I haven't done any real testing with shot yet. I used a arbitrary load of 55 grains of fffg pluss the same measure of shot and two wads punched out of beer case cardboard with a 9/16 arch punch as a base wad, with a third as a overshot card. It seemed to break clay targets every time I did my part.BJH

LOL UGG I haven't heard that name in a while. BJ youd be proud I put this together from a caywood kit. Just got it back in trade.

OOooh, I really like the looks of that! Bet you're glad she's back home! :thumbsup:

Yeah I'm glad it's back home too. It only changed hands 3 times before it came back.

What gauge and what barrel length

Lonegun,
Did you mean 17/8 for your heavy load or 1 5/8?You usually list your load as the 1 5/8,or have you tweaked your system a little?
I have the same gm barrel on a lyman plains rifle.

I've been working on a couple projects, and tweaking it a bit. I am playing right now trying to figure out what my inconsistency is, because some days I get best patterns with 1 3/4oz, some with 1 5/8oz, and some with 1 7/8oz. Now most of the time, the 1 7/8oz is most consistent, but some days, and I haven't figured out why yet, but the other two shot loads pattern slightly tighter.

The only thing I can figure out is that maybe my powder is slightly inconsistent, but I can't discuss it here per forum rules, so lets just say it is locally procured. The more I play with it, the more I am sure it is the powder, which is getting better, but not perfect yet. What I find amazing is that the same inconsistency has not surfaced with PRB loads in either smoothbores or rifles.

There is no doubt t that you can stuff a lot of shot and powder down the barrel of a 28 ga. smoothie. But, the 3/4 to 5/8 oz. shot charge is the standard service load.

A long time ago they figured out that the longer the shot column traveling up the barrel, the more bore scrubbing and shot to shot mashing you get; hence more flyers and inconsistency in the pattern. To solve this they went to a bigger bore.

A bigger bore also has more surface area so the breach pressure is lower for a given volume of powder. So, the bigger the bore, the less shot scrubbing the walls, the more powder for the same breach pressure, as a result standard gauges and loads were developed to optimize the pattern density.

Virtually every modern muzzle loader tries a heavier shot load and often finds a suitable load. It may not be the most efficient in terms of percentage of shot on target, but it increases the number of pellets on target. :grin:

We also have the advantage of modern steel barrels but that does not mean we should be careless. It does mean that we should start with the standard load and work our way up for best performance which include the most consistent load. :hmm:

People have spent centuries optimizing the shotgun, you only have to worry about your particular gun. Do not expect a 28 ga. to do the same as a 12 ga.

Just to add a point of view, IMO:

1) To a large extent, today's mindset about shotgun loads in muzzleloaders seems heavily influenced by our lifetime brain saturation of load data per gauge in modern shotguns, using modern shells with their physical space limitations, fast smokeless powder, wads, shotcups, etc.

2) The good news is that one of the old sayings handed down from back-in-the-day, that truly has merit as far as the many range tests & field results I've experienced is:
"Load powder, more lead, shoots far, kills dead"

I tried 60 gr ffg and 7/8s number 6 im sure it is all I need up here for partridge and rabbits. I settled on 70 grs for roundball. This is a 6 lb gun anymore was starting to buck a bit. I was surprised because im not stranger to tooth rattling recoiol.