shotgun loading

[slowpokebr549]

I have tried coin wrapper before, Paul. I don't recomend it. I ended up, in effect, with a .69 caliber bullet.At 25 yards it shot one nice round hole in my pattening board.

 

[paulvallandigham]

YOu have to put slits in the coin wrappers-- or any paper cup-- to form the " petals" which fold back when they hit the air, like air brakes, and release the shot from the cup. The length of the slits seems to affect the degree of choke to the patterns you will get. I need to get back to my pattern testing and those cups I have, to see if I can figure out something to recommend, by way of number of cuts, and length of cuts.

 

[slowpokebr549]

NOW ya tell me. Oh well, I had just purchased that shotgun and patterns were eluding me. I stuffed a twisted off nickel roll with about 1 1/4 oz in it and let fly. Oddly enough it hit right at POA.

 

[roundball]

I have tried coin wrapper before, Paul. I don't recomend it. I ended up, in effect, with a .69 caliber bullet.At 25 yards it shot one nice round hole in my pattening board.

I did a lot of experimenting with paper shot cups as well, going through a pound of Goex and a few pounds of #6 lead[url] shot...in[/url] the end, I decided they were still not reliable enough to suit me, to say nothing of the hassle of having to fool with the paper cups in the first place.

It's tough enough to get a Turkey inside 40yds in front of my Flintlock and to me the risk wasn't worth it so I had the .62cal barrel Jug Choked 'Full' and couldn't be more pleased...throws outstanding patterns at long distances each time, every time, without fail and you just load it like you're supposed to...powder, wad, shot, card...the Jug Choke was the best $65 I ever spent.
:thumbsup:

 

[Dave K]

I too tried the paper shot cups like Roundball did. Tried it all and I never found anything but slugs. Sometimes, you "may" get a good pattern, but it was never reliable.Just try this and keep it simple. One over powder card, one lubed fiber cushion 1/4" thick or a lubed felt cushion (you need this to carry olive oil lube,my preferred lube, down the bore, some swear by Bore Butter) and an over shot card on top of the shot. You can get good patterns without using a lubed cushion, but you will hate the fouled up bore after a few shots, unless you like to swab between shots. Look at this site and you will see loads that work pretty darn good in 90% of the guns I have tried.[url] http://members.aye.net/~bspen/math.html[/url] You may have to do a little fine tuning to get it perfect, but you will. Make sure the cards are a snug fit to the bore. If you are blowing a donut in your pattern with the load info I gave, 1st make sure the lubed cushion is no more then 1/4" thick. 2nd if you still are not getting good patterns,either back the powder charge off about 5-10 gr. or increase the shot by about an 1/16 of an ounce. Once you get it right, you will have fun all day, breaking clay or taking game and only look to the bores when you clean up at days end.

 

[Runner]

I load one thick almost quarter inch wad over the powder. I have to short start it thru the choke. I don't use lube of any kind unless I am shooting real small shot. I use a thin over shot card. With 3f black I am pretty close to centered at 30 yards. The recoil is way too heavy for my light little Trapper with any kind of heavy loads using 3f tho. Using Pyrodex RS, my patterns are perfectly centered. On top of perfectly centered, the recoil is about half of what 3f black produces. That is what I use most. In my gun, equal loads of shot and powder destroy anything you might call a pattern. Loads of 3 parts powder and 4 parts shot produce devastating patterns. With my gun, the full choke tube is about useless. I get more consistant full patterns at thirty yards using the modified tube. I suspect that this is caused by loading the thick wad thru the full tube.
They are dangerous things, these shotguns. Your rifles start to gather more dust as the shotgun becomes the go to gun when you head out. Pretty soon you wonder what that big round ball would do to a deer!

 

[roundball]

I really like Circle Fly's lubed cushion wads...don't know what the lube is but you don't have to wipe between shots...thanks for putting me on to them!
:thumbsup:

 

[slowpokebr549]

That pretty much describes my dilemna, I find that little trapper in my hand no matter what I intended to take.