AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Black Powder Shooting => Topic started by: Nessmuck on February 22, 2018, 06:18:45 AM
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Just wondering were you folks get your bags of shot ? Someone recommended #4 chilled lead shot for a good turkey load......I been checking with ballistic products for the last 4 months ...no luck ,with them. Thanks for any help
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Nessmuk,
You will get a denser pattern with # 5 or 6 and still shoot right through a turkeys head at normal ranges.
Very best,
R.
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Check with your local gun shop that handles reloading supplies. That is where I get mine.
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Try these folks
http://www.rotometals.com/product-p/lead_shot_magnum_4.htm
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I always mix shot sizes when looking for tight patterns. I load 4s and 5s together for turkey. Modern shells do this too--they are called duplex loads.
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And what is chilled lead shot ? And is it needed ? Thanks
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Other than arrows and a .22 (legal in parts of Texas and a target of opportunity) I’ve always used 7 1/2 shot in both modern and ML and never had one run off. Longest was right at 40 yards. In my Beretta o/u percussion I use a plastic shot cup w no built in cushion and comes w no vertical slits. I cut 4 slits about 3/4” long.
Hope to have my new NWTG flinter in hand soon to brown, stain and work up a load using 7 1/2s.
TC
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And what is chilled lead shot ? And is it needed ? Thanks
Isn't that how it's made, molten lead dropped into water, chills and forms falling though the air in the tower? Note the tall structure(s) at the shot making joint.
Moulded might cost more. ;)
here's an inside view:
(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fminnesotatrap.com%2Fhistory-in-the-making%2Fva-shot-tower-diagram.gif&hash=d152874b5273108b50a8fe3e152479a26c7aae53)
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Chilled shot is hard. It has Antimony added to make it hard so it doesn't deform and ruin it's flight.
I use #4s for everything with a ML shotgun.
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"Chilled" is an advertising word used since the late 1800's to denote harder than normal shot. It likely means drop-shot and that's about it. All shot was made that way - back in the mid to late 1800's.
In my understanding, harder shot today, as Mikey says, has varying amounts of antimony added.
3% is common & I think what Hornady has in their buckshot sizes, with the hardest shot (Bleimeister- Alberta) having about 5% antimony added. The Bleimeister shot is the hardest, tightest patterning shot I have ever tested. It is better than any of the copper or nickle plated, or hard shot from the States. If you can find a bag of it at a shoot - buy it. Incredible stuff and good for 10 to 15% higher pattern density.
Haven't bought any for 20 years, so I do not know if they are still making it.
The use of modern plastic wads in ML's has been going on since the 70's that I recall. I did it and then had to remove plastic from my bore that had melted form the BP flame-out. I found that putting a hard card under the wad, would help reduce or eliminate this melted plastic. Uncut wads (card under) would certainly help with tightening up the patterns in non-choked bores. They might produce too-tight patterns close-in, and work best further out, say 40 to 60yards. One needs to experiment with uncut, then differing lengths of splits, like Standing Bear has.
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I run nickel plated shot in mine. No leading and harder so it holds a better pattern and aids in penetration.
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If you can find a bag of it at a shoot - buy it. Incredible stuff and good for 10 to 15% higher pattern density.
Haven't bought any for 20 years, so I do not know if they are still making it.
I bought a bag of #5 at a PG gunshow not long ago ( not sure if it is new or old manufacture). Glad you promoted it's quality cause I was gonna use it as ballast. Now I will jealously guard it. Unless someone wants to trade for an equal value of wetland approved bismuth shot :)
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Would you believe a very good supply of #4 was left in a house we bought by the former owner? There was also probably more #7-1/2 & #8 than I will ever use. I even traded a friend a supply of #4 for some #6. I Never have bought shot before with the exception of a bag of #9, for use in revolver cartridges, in the very early 1970s. The icing on the cake was a fair supply of powder I thus inherited.