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smoothshooter

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Has anybody here had much luck using #8 shot in black powder shotguns/smoothbores.
Most shooters say they go with larger sizes with increased individual pellet energy at the expense of pattern density to make up for the lower velocities attainable with BP.
Do you guys agree?
Is that a good trade-off?
 
I use #8 or #7 1/2 lead shot for clay birds and doves. And #5 or #6 shot for rabbits or squirrels. The loads that I use are pretty effective.

The only time I actively go larger is when hunting water fowl and shooting steel shot...then I go 2 sizes larger, than what I used to use when lead was legal. The velocity needs to be at least 1500 ft/sec.
 
Never been a fan of large shot but am a fan of the accumlative effect of multiple strikes from shotgun pellets.
Whether they cause a bleed or strike heads and necks or a wing small shot works for me.
I have used 7&1/2 regularly.
I have a fair amount #7 in stock.
 
For smaller birds , doves , grackles , quail , wood cock , etc , #71/2 ok for me. Always use a stiff properly wadded load w/good results. Bigger birds , stiff load , #5 shot is a favorite for me. Grouse , ringneck pheasants , ducks , luck to ye!!!...........oldwood
 
For dangerous game such as Panda, sloths, and door to door cookie sales people number 8's seem very light. Were you speaking of clay pigeons, woodcock or.
 
Typically use 7 1/2 or 8 on anything up to and including quail, I find that 6 is a good compromise of pellet count and energy on pheasant and rabbit.
 
Got a lotta clay pigeons over the years , but never did figure how ta cook 'em. Far as those wood cocks , put them across the band saw , breaded and deep fried real nice . Guys at the camp said they had a tast simular ta fire wood. I dunno.......Still have my job as cook long as I stick to spaghetti........
 
Far as those wood cocks , put them across the band saw , breaded and deep fried real nice . Guys at the camp said they had a tast simular ta fire wood. I dunno.......
We breast them out, put a breast fillet over top of cream cheese on a half a jalapeno. Wrap with bacon and grill until the bacon is done. If you have smaller jalapeno peppers, you might have to cut the breast fillet in half.
 
Your results may vary...
My experience...any shot size will work 20 yds or so. 30 yds or so 7 1/2 just knock them off the limb/tree or rolls them over just to run away. 5 or 6 works best over all for a kill shot for squirrles rabbits or birds
 
I use #8 or #7 1/2 lead shot for clay birds and doves. And #5 or #6 shot for rabbits or squirrels. The loads that I use are pretty effective.

The only time I actively go larger is when hunting water fowl and shooting steel shot...then I go 2 sizes larger, than what I used to use when lead was legal. The velocity needs to be at least 1500 ft/sec.


How are you getting 1500 FPS out of a frontstuffer?
 
Has anybody here had much luck using #8 shot in black powder shotguns/smoothbores.
Most shooters say they go with larger sizes with increased individual pellet energy at the expense of pattern density to make up for the lower velocities attainable with BP.
Do you guys agree?
Is that a good trade-off?

First, I'm not so sure the black powder always gives lower velocities....

I just did a survey of 8 different loads, from 28 gauge up to 12 gauge, and from 1/2 ounce of shot up to 1.25 ounces of shot. The average MV was 1210 fps. The slowest speed was 1165 fps and the fastest was 1330 fps. All were using lead shot.

Now some of us remember when shotshells were sold with labels that listed "dram weight eq" or "dram eq" which was a very old reference to that particular load compared to black powder shells. It became normal for smokeless powder shells to list this information, rather than the fps, because the smokeless powder was competing against the established black powder loads of the time. THEN as black powder shells phased out, the shooters were used to certain "dram equivalents" when selecting shells, even when they may not have understood the origin was in black powder. Slowly as the 21st century arrived, the "dram eq." listings changed to listing the fps of the shot column.

DRAM EQUIVALENT.JPG


So the pellets in a lot of cases in modern guns are not going any faster than their kin when launched from black powder muzzleloaders.

I submit that the difference between the two, muzzleloader vs modern shotshells, is due to choking of the barrels.
A lot of smoothbore muzzleloaders, especially flintlock smoothbore muzzleloaders are cylinder bore, meaning no choke. So as Brit Smoothie pointed out, he likes for several pellets to hit and overwhelm the game..., and when a choked barrel is used, there is a much greater chance that this will happen.

Now the cylinder bore shooter has a problem in that his shot is spreading very wide, over a short distance, so the pellets that arrive on target are fewer in number.

So one solution is to use less but heavier pellets, so that if two or only one pellet hits, the idea is that pellet will do enough damage to harvest the game. So while #6 pellets will work on pheasant from a modified choked barrel, some people want to use #4 pellets from a cylinder bore barrel on the same bird.

The other solution is to use more pellets, so instead of using an ounce or an ounce and a quarter, the shooting will use two ounces. The powder then is upped to move that much mass up to a good speed to get the job done.

I thin through testing, the shooter can determine a combination of more pellets and pellet size to get a good pattern to get success in the field.


LD
 

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