Using a piece of panty hose around your lead shot!

:rotf: :rotf: Have another cup of coffee! :haha:

 

[Britsmoothy]

Forget the nylons, what about silk? I understand it's good on the legs when it is cold ! That aside it won't melt in the tube!

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Silk will work for sure.....seen it in a movie once.
Will probably get you another 40 yards! :rotf:

 

[shortbow]

Paul, naturally I've misplaced my paper, and I also don't have a micrometer, but it is both thin and very strong for its weight, much thinner for example, than bond. And, take note, it is not butcher paper, which is much heavier. The parchment can be found in the baking section of the grocery store.

I only take one wrap, try it this way:

Measure the circumference of the dowel, then add 1/8inch.

Cut a long strip that wide.

Run a narrow bead of glue, I use that stick stuff, along the 1/8 overlap, wrap around the dowel and glue down the flap.

When dry, slide off the dowel and tie off the bottom of the cylinder and cut a section of the tube so that you end up with a tube that will be about a half inch or so longer than the shot column.

Pour in a measured charge of shot, tie off the top and trim.

Repeat as required. It doesn't take too long to end up with a couple of dozen charges.

When I load, all I do is drop my powder, drop two over shot wads, drop the paper shot charge, drop another overshot wad. When fouling starts to impede the loading process, I just spit into the muzzles before loading the shot cylinder. Works a charm.

Cooner, no grain scale around these parts, but the added weight would be insignificant.

HTH :hatsoff:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Ah-h-h! You didn't use the term, " Parchment paper" in your first post. I have parchment paper and will measure it, and also measure my post-it notes, and put the info up on this forum later.
Thanks for the clarification.

 

[ssettle]

White tail.. When working up a load for my double barrel Dixie 10 gage I was getting a better pattern without using the cushion wad and the heavy overpowder card. My gun has an open and improved barrel. You need to work up you load using thin overshot cards. Trust me it will work.
I also use dime coin rappers as shot cups.. They gives me a slightly better pattern than without ..you just have to make sure the cup is open on the end so it doesn't turn into a slug. My load goes like this ...powder , 2 thin cards, shotcup and shot and 2 more over shot cards. I like to usse 2 card wad on top of my shot so the load doesn't move in the other barrel when the gun recoils. My load kicks like hell but does pretty well out to 25 yards. Good luck working up your load... :v Steve

 

[white_tail]

Thanks for the information, I will give all of the sugesstions a try except for the panty hose or silk. I will leave the silk on bed, I have to keep my wife happy.

 

FWIW - here's some interesting info on original "shotcups"....
One item that helped make the shotgun fast to reload was the "Eley wire cartridge." This cartridge, which had come to the attention of American shooters by 1830, was marketed by the Eley Brothers, famous ammunition makers of London. Basically, it comprised a cylindrical sleeve, formed from soft copper-wire mesh, which held a given quantity of pellets. The pellets, which could vary in size from birdshot to buckshot, were packed in bone dust to keep them from deforming one another; then the cartridge was wrapped in paper to keep dust and pellets
in place. A shooter using the Eley loads had only to pour in the powder charge, drop a cartridge into the muzzle, and ram it home. Otherwise he first had to pour in the powder, ram down an over-powder wad, pour in the shot charge, then ram down an over-shot wad to keep the pellets together.
But the wire cartridge had a more important function than speed of loading. Upon firing, the wire sleeve traveled downrange with the pellets until, gradually, they outdistanced it and began to spread in normal fashion. By keeping the shot charge together longer, the sleeve made it effective at considerably greater ranges. The paper wrappers around the cartridges were of different colors, depending on the range for which each cartridge was designed. The green loads were for extra long distances and the blue loads were used for shorter ranges.

Another option for the "modern" shooter - aluminum foul - wrap it around your shot with the thicker section at the back and the thin single thickness at the front.

 

That's worth quite a bit, Gray Wolf. Good post. Thanks for the info.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Don't know, but I have used corn shucks. Soaked them in hot water until soft and flexible, then form into tubes around appropriate sized dowel, remove & tie off one end. then trim to length and let dry.

The dried corn shucks can be bought at most any grocery store in the Mexican food sections.

 

[Croppy Boy]

Some time ago I asked a question about shot cups on the MLAGB muzzleloading forum and received an answer from a learned elderly gentleman,

"Stay with a traditional method and make simple brown paper cartridges rolled round a former and of such a diameter that they will slide easily down the bore. Put your shot in these and glue the over shot wad to the top of the cartridge. Load with powder, over powder card and a soft felt wad and then insert your shot cartridge and ram down. A thump with the loading rod will secure the cartridge in place tightly. This will improve pattern and prevent leading. Eleys were supplying these in the 1820s."

I tried several of these but unfortunately they went through the target like a slug.

 

[mmahlock]

... A thump with the loading rod will secure the cartridge in place tightly. ...

This doesn't break open the shot pack?

 

[AkDan]

Steve,

Curious what you are using for powder and how much of powder and shot and wads. I also have the dixie 10 ga and am still trying to improve upon my patterns.

Another thing to add to my list of to do's this spring before we head south for longbeards. I knew it was a mistake to leave the shottie in MN!

 

[Adam Isrow]

Please excuse a stupid question, but in making paper shot cartridges, what is the diameter of the dowel to be used? Is it important that it be very close to barrel gauge? or will any old size that suits you work?

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Please excuse a stupid question, but in making paper shot cartridges, what is the diameter of the dowel to be used? Is it important that it be very close to barrel gauge? or will any old size that suits you work?

Depends on what you want it to do. If you want it to work as a shotcup/pellet protector, the final OD needs to be pretty close to the bore ID so that it won't split open when rammed and fired. That probably means an oversize dowel sanded down to the the proper diameter. If you just want a cartridge for speed loading then you can use an undersize dowel, like 5/8" for 12 and 16 gauge or 1/2" for a 20 bore, thus assuring the paper will split open in the bore. I've personally never seen any benefit to shotcups in terms of pattern, they seem erratic and sometimes fail to open, which can be a real danger in open country. You know your birdshot won't fly 1/4 mile to the farmhouse but a paper wrapped slug of shot just might. I also don't find the paper cartridges to be a great time saver compared to a self-measuring pouch of loose shot and they will come apart in your pocket if roughly handled or especially if they get wet.
We keep trying to reinvent the wheel. If you want tighter patterns at long range, W.W. Greener had the answer 130 years ago, get a choke bored gun. I just did a jug choke in a friend's 20 bore TVM fowler and the first test patterns with 80 grains 2f, two hard card overpowder wads, 1 1/4 ounce #4s and a homemade Styrofoam over shot card averaged 82% inside the 30" circle at 40 yards, with 62% inside the inner 21" circle. No trick loads, no reduced powder charges, just a good jug choke and that will be deadly on turkeys past 50 yards. :grin:

 

[Hoyt]

My personal experience with paper shot cups is they don't always open. One didn't open for me on a nice gobbler I had worked my butt off for and called in to about 20yds. I aimed right where his head meets his neck and squeezed off a good shot. When the smoke cleared he was just standing there looking around and then walked off. I don't use them anymore.

 

[slowpokebr549]

Have to agree there, shot cups have never done a thing for me.