Pillow Ticking "Shot Cups"

[Deadeye]

I got to shoot my double last weekend with .015
spit patched pillow ticking and 1 1/8 oz. 7 1/2 shot. 393 shot in 1 1/8 oz.
Had 227 holes in my 14" x 14" target at 25 yds.
Covered the whole target well, nothing could have gotten thru. Pretty good, I thought.
Couldn't find a copper tube the right size for my 20 ga. but found that many CF cartridge cases with the head cut off and flaired will work fine.

 

[Twice boom]

I got to shoot my double last weekend with .015
spit patched pillow ticking and 1 1/8 oz. 7 1/2 shot. 393 shot in 1 1/8 oz.
Had 227 holes in my 14" x 14" target at 25 yds.
Covered the whole target well, nothing could have gotten thru. Pretty good, I thought.
Couldn't find a copper tube the right size for my 20 ga. but found that many CF cartridge cases with the head cut off and flaired will work fine.

Those are tight patterns at that yardage. How's the gun that shot those patterns choked.

 

[BrownBear]

BB-did you find any of that heavy ticking with the sizing? Mine is like thin cardboard.

Yeah, I found some really heavy stuff at JoAnne's and bought 3 yards. It's kinda spendy because it's not as wide as the lighter stuff. I can't tell you how thick it is, because the mikes are at home and our flights have been weathered out for a couple of days. :shake:

 

[BrownBear]

...but found that many CF cartridge cases with the head cut off and flaired will work fine.

What a great solution! I've got a whole room full of the stuff. Thanks.

Those are pretty impressive pattern results! Waaaay tighter than I want for rabbits, but it looks like the range will stretch well for ducks or ptarmigan. Now I've really got the itch to get home!

 

[majg1234]

deadeye

try some 1/2 soft copper tubing and a flaring tool I did that it worked

 

[Deadeye]

TB, cylinder.
I haven't found any 1/2" I.D. tubing around here
but i have cartridge cases in all sizes.
Deadeye

 

[Deadeye]

BB, I shot a bunch of patterns with various combinations and the spit patched pillow ticking
and the hard over powder card was the best of them. Gotta try some criscoed pt next.
Deadeye

 

[BrownBear]

BB, I shot a bunch of patterns with various combinations and the spit patched pillow ticking
and the hard over powder card was the best of them. Gotta try some criscoed pt next.
Deadeye

Hmmmmph. I never thought of spit patch, but that's a great report. I guess as I think about it a bit more, I overlooked it because I'd need a lot of spit for those 3" patches! :rotf:

What were you using for a hard card over your powder?

 

[Lonegun1894]

BB, first attempt was taking a empty .50 BMG case, and cutting it off just below the shoulder to use it for my .54 GM smoothie. Looked great til I attempted to use it with a patch--failed, as the patch comes out with the brass. I'll have to find something a little bit smaller, and am thinking of trying some scrap cow horn I have left over from a cup making project I'm also working on right now. Hoping that works better, and will let y'all know how it turns out.

 

[Twice boom]

TB, cylinder.
I haven't found any 1/2" I.D. tubing around here
but i have cartridge cases in all sizes.
Deadeye

That's awesome results out of Cy bore.
Thanks.
Twice.

 

[BrownBear]

It's not out of line with what I expect from 1 1/8 oz of # 7 1/2 at 25 yards, with or without the ticking cups. Patterns would thin a bunch by the time you get out to 40 yards, but most folks really underestimate what's going on with cylinder bores up closer.

Patterns like that were one of the biggest reasons I dropped to 1 oz or 7/8 oz of larger shot for my snowshoe hare hunts starting 30 years ago. A fair portion of my shooting is well inside 30 yards, and that's just way too many hits.

The thing that really excites me about the ticking is the way it smooths the edges of the patterns and allows me to use the fringes more accurately and further control where and how many hits I get on snowshoes.

I'm pretty sure I jawed about it in a previous post, but I use shot size (within penetration needs for a species) to regulate pattern density. If I need more hits further out I'll go to smaller shot and a bigger payload.

The beauty of muzzleloaders for me is that if the birds are flushing close today, I just lighten up the shot charge. Flushing further on a windy day? Drop from #6 to #7 1/2 and increase the payload from 7/8 oz to 1 1/8 oz. In my experience that works about as well as screwing in a tighter choke on a modern gun.

 

[Twice boom]

wish I can say I have experienced as tight as patterns as the ones Deadeye got out of his cylinder bored gun. I'm afraid I can't get those kind of patterns shooting my modern breech loaders choked skeet, and have tested hundreds of rounds with different wads powders,primers and shells.. 14x14" is something expected by me out of Mod or full choked gun at 25 yards.
That's why I had to ask. Heck 14x14" patterns at 25 yards means that gun will shoot way past 40.
Maybe deadeye is on to something.
Twice

 

[BrownBear]

Maybe deadeye is on to something.
Twice

Yup. Sounds like something you'll want to try for yourself.

 

[roundball]

It's not out of line with what I expect from 1 1/8 oz of # 7 1/2 at 25 yards, with or without the ticking cups. Patterns would thin a bunch by the time you get out to 40 yards, but most folks really underestimate what's going on with cylinder bores up closer.

IMO, 20-25 yards is a good typical working / hunting distance for small game with smoothbores in general...and tiny little clay targets cross the stake on a skeet field at 21 yards. My 33" GM .54/.28 gives a dense pattern at only 25 yards with small size shot like #7.5s...bare bore / no shot cup, etc...use 7.5s for the occasion dove shoot.

I use #5s for squirrels and one afternoon sitting for squirrels, picked two off the same beech at 30 paces with the #5 load...3-4 pellets each, dropped stone dead off the tree.
I've heard it said that longer barreled smoothbores (cylinder bore) give tighter patterns...having a Virginia built right now with a 42" x .28ga barrel...so I'll soon see first hand

 

[BrownBear]

I've heard it said that longer barreled smoothbores (cylinder bore) give tighter patterns...having a Virginia built right now with a 42" x .28ga barrel...so I'll soon see first hand

I've heard the same thing about long barrels, and I'm really looking forward to your shooting reports. In 58 cal, it could easily be the right "all around" gun for me too.

 

[roundball]

I forgot to mention that the Virginia being built will actually have 2 interchangable barrels...42" Rice B-weights, a .54cal/.28ga barrel and a .45cal rifle

 

[gizamo]

A great topic. If it wasn't for the butt deep snow, it would be fun to experiment with all these great ideas....

Dang Winter gets in the way.... :hmm:

 

[Wayne/Al]

We finaly got a break in the weather and I took my Pedersoli SXS 12 Ga out to try this new idea of the pillow ticking shot cup. I shot the right barrel which is cylinder bore. At 27 yards with a load of 1 1/2 onces of 2ff and an equal amount of #6 shot by volume. Two card wads and a wonder wad over powder and a card over shot. I first shot with out the shot cup and the pattern was so sparse you could throw a cat through it with out touching anything. Then I used the same load and added the pillow ticking shot cup. I was suprised at the pattern. It was a very good one. I dont count holes or any of that but I would not hesitate to take a 30 yd shot at a turkey with that pattern.I shot 3 more times just to make sure it wasnt a fluke and had the same results each time. I cut the ticking in three inch round patches and pre lubed with olive oil.
I had a little trouble getting the shot into the cup so I would have to make one of those Doo-Dads that Swampy and others have made to load with if I was going to use it regularly. Bottom line is it worked for me.
BTW my left barrel is jug choked and shoots a good pattern for turkey hunting so I dont have to go that route but I was just curious after all the talk on this thread.

Wayne/Al

 

[BrownBear]

Hmmmmph. I hadn't thought to try straight olive oil, but you've got my interest!

Now if this weather would ever settle down I'd do some more shooting. They're forecasting 60 knots of wind tomorrow, and it's headed that way already tonight!

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Skychief]

We finaly got a break in the weather and I took my Pedersoli SXS 12 Ga out to try this new idea of the pillow ticking shot cup. I shot the right barrel which is cylinder bore. At 27 yards with a load of 1 1/2 onces of 2ff and an equal amount of #6 shot by volume. Two card wads and a wonder wad over powder and a card over shot. I first shot with out the shot cup and the pattern was so sparse you could throw a cat through it with out touching anything. Then I used the same load and added the pillow ticking shot cup. I was suprised at the pattern. It was a very good one. I dont count holes or any of that but I would not hesitate to take a 30 yd shot at a turkey with that pattern.I shot 3 more times just to make sure it wasnt a fluke and had the same results each time. I cut the ticking in three inch round patches and pre lubed with olive oil.
I had a little trouble getting the shot into the cup so I would have to make one of those Doo-Dads that Swampy and others have made to load with if I was going to use it regularly. Bottom line is it worked for me.
BTW my left barrel is jug choked and shoots a good pattern for turkey hunting so I dont have to go that route but I was just curious after all the talk on this thread.

Wayne/Al


:applause: :thumbsup: