Pillow Ticking "Shot Cups"

[410-er]

Cut some for my 11ga.Made them 1 5/16" X 4 1/2".Soaking up some Bear oil right now.Might try this on Sunday with #4 shot.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you assume(?) that your diameter of your 20 gauge smoothbore is a nominal .620", multiply that times Pi( 3.1416), and divide that figure by 2, I get .974". A one inch wide strip of fabric should therefore have a bit of overlap in forming the cup. However, not all 20 gauge barrels are that nominal diameter. Mine happens to be closer to .627", and I then have a cup strip width of .985". A one inch wide strip of fabric should also completely cover the interior of the bore of my gun.

However, I don't see much of any problems arising from using a 1.125" wide strip of mattress ticking to make the cup, and the extra overlap will not harm much of anything.

BTW, for my 12 gauge CYLINDER BORE shotgun, I am using a nominal size of .730", and get a strip width of 1.148"- slightly larger than 1 1/8" wide. So, I will be cutting strips for that gun that are 1.250" or 1 1/4" wide.

I think thicker mattress ticking, muslin, or denim will hold more oil, and make a better container to protect the shot from rubbing against the bore, while lubing the bore adequately to keep it clean in the field for the next shot. :thumbsup:

 

[Eric Krewson]

Turkey targets
http://www.guncustomizing.com/targprt.htm

 

[luieb45]

Truth time?

I never would have bothered with wood if I had a scrap of 1/2" rigid copper pipe laying around. Just clamp it into my tubing flare tool, and the funnel would have been a done deal.

But wood sure goes better with the rest of my kit, in any case! :rotf:

So, is there any other way I could make a copper tube for the shotgun?

 

[BrownBear]

So, is there any other way I could make a copper tube for the shotgun?

Yeah, get a piece of 1/2" rigid wall copper pipe (thinner walled than tubing, but stiff) and use a tubing flare tool to flare one end to form a little bit of a funnel to ease loading. Then I'd experiment with the length, so it holds the amount of shot you want from the base up to the bottom of the funnel or so.

All you have to do then is pour the powder, push in an over-powder wad and use the doohickey to push the patch all the way down till the funnel hits the barrel crown. Pour in the shot, then withdraw the doohickey and push in an over-shot card. Use your ramrod to push the whole works down on the powder.

Zat help?

 

[Twice boom]

Truth time?

I never would have bothered with wood if I had a scrap of 1/2" rigid copper pipe laying around. Just clamp it into my tubing flare tool, and the funnel would have been a done deal.

But wood sure goes better with the rest of my kit, in any case! :rotf:

So, is there any other way I could make a copper tube for the shotgun?

1/2 rigid walled copper tubing did not work on my 12 bore. Reason being it's too tight of a fit with tick patching . Hard going in and the copper tubing pulls it back out after the hard fight to get it down the bore.

If you gonna make something along those lines I think you will be better to make it out of 3/8 copper tubing. It might be different for others but it did not work with my gun. It might work out of a 10 Ga.
twice.

 

[luieb45]

I don't think I have a tube flaring tool. What would be wrong with a straight tube?

 

[BrownBear]

I don't think I have a tube flaring tool. What would be wrong with a straight tube?

I'd want some way to stop it when it reached the right depth, as well as something to grab onto with greasy hands when you went to pull it out of the bore. You could do that by tightly wrapping some twine around one end, and maybe gluing or lacquering it to keep it from shifting around. You wouldn't get the benefit of the "funnel" but I don't see that being a huge problem.

For that matter, if you hit the end with a propane torch for 30 seconds or so, it would soften the copper real good and you could flare it by forcing it down a little ways over some kind of a tapered point like the end of an anvil.

In fact, I'd probably heat rigid wall copper pipe with the torch before trying the flaring tool.

 

[majg1234]

rigid flares OK with a flaring tool and no heating just have to be careful or it splits took me about 3 tries to get it done,the soft tubing 1/2" worked great for the 20ga and for the 12 the rigid was good,haven't tried pauls' idea with a wad in the bottem of the cup yet but will probably this weekend,will try to post patterning results too.for the 20ga fowler it worked well in the field for "tree bacon" :grin: can't wait to load up the navy arms SXS and see what happens

 

[paulvallandigham]

PLumbers and pipefitters( Auto Repair, and Muffler shops, too) have those expansion tools in their shops. Make some new friends!

I don't know anyone who has EVERY TOOL in his own shop- unless he is very wealthy and he has been buying tools for YEARS, or inherited a complete shop.

You will be surprised at the reception you get when they find out that you hunt with Mlers. A lot of machinists, plumbers, and craftsmen of all kinds are interested in hunting, and many have wanted to try BP guns, but didn't know where to start. Expanding a Copper tube for you on a machine that sits idle most of the day is a very easy thing to do, if they now know someone that can show them what to do. :grin: :thumbsup:

 

[Deadeye]

Luie, if you can come up with a 45/70 case or a .458 Win. case just cut the head off and your done. Most other magnum cases will work but you need to cut off both ends and have enough length left for your shot. .375 H&H mag is a good one.
.300 ultra mag is a good one for the 20 ga. All these cases have a little taper that helps in withdrawing them from the cup. If you heat up the end and flair it it will be even better. I flaired the one for my .20 with a steel ball bearing.

 

[luieb45]

Do you think square patches could be used as long as they're 3" across?

 

[BrownBear]

Do you think square patches could be used as long as they're 3" across?

I haven't tried them, but I don't see why not. Some of the folks on here are reporting using strips rather than round or square. The 3" circles are right for 1 3/8 oz of #6, but if you were going heavier or lighter you might be able to adjust the diameter. If you were wanting to load say 1 1/2 oz, I might try 3 1/4", seat it down flush with the muzzle and add your shot charge. If that was too big and the shot was well down the bore, I'd just pull it back up till the shot was flush with the muzzle, mark or cut the patch, then take it back out and measure it.

 

[rabjr]

Cut strips Luie. I cut 1 1/8" wide strips for the 20ga, if your using a bigger bore than that you'l have to experiment a little to see the best width for your gun.

 

[Wayne/Al]

I have been working with the shotcups a little in the last week . In my case the strips were wonderful as far as loading went but when I shot, the patterns were lacking compared to the pattern when I used the full shot cups.
I made a loading doo-hickey out of copper tubeing and it was a little too big for the pillow ticking .020"and would only push the material half way in so I went to some .010" tight weave cotton material and it worked really well and I could not see any difference in the pattern.
Cutting the round patches was a pain so I tried some square ones. No problem they worked good . I cut them

 

[roundball]

I used 1 1/2 oz of #5 shot and the same amount of 2FF by volume. Did the tin can test at 25 yds and had penitration of both sides.

Thanks for sharing more proven information...nothing beats solid first hand experience.

But brace yourself...somebody is bound to tell you that "you can't do that"...
:grin:

 

[luieb45]

I tried one today, I don't know what I did wrong but it only put a few pellets in the 8" circle I aimed on. Today's patterning discouraged me a little because I didn't have anything that really "worked" well. The best pattern I think would do ok on turkey at 20 yards, maybe a few more. I'll try to get out during the week to shoot.

 

[rabjr]

Can you post a pic of the patch you were using?

 

[Twice boom]

I tried one today, I don't know what I did wrong but it only put a few pellets in the 8" circle I aimed on. Today's patterning discouraged me a little because I didn't have anything that really "worked" well. The best pattern I think would do ok on turkey at 20 yards, maybe a few more. I'll try to get out during the week to shoot.

And what did the rest of the patterning paper looked like.How big was the over all paper?
Twice.

 

[BigDeutscher]

Wow
You guys have takin all the guess work out of it
I will be out there trying acouple of these ideas
In the next week
I love smoothbores!
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