Shot Pattern

[smokinbuck]

I have a 36" 12 GA barrel that holds 85% patterns on an 8.5X11 paper at 30 yards. 3 drama of FFg and equal load, by volume of 7.5 shot. 1 overpower card and 2 over shot cards, no cushion wad.

[Daryl]

PM send, Mike.

[Jerry]

Smokinbuck, What is the thicknesses of your over powder card and over shot card? Thanks, , Jerry

[Daryl]

I just measured the ones I use, and they are commercial over-shot cards at .025".
I do not use the 1/8" hard cards anywhere in a non-=choked gun.

[Jerry]

I have a 36" 12 GA barrel that holds 85% patterns on an 8.5X11 paper at 30 yards. 3 drama of FFg and equal load, by volume of 7.5 shot. 1 overpower card and 2 over shot cards, no cushion wad.
Mark, With this charge in a 12, what would yo suggest for a 20? You can PM me. Thanks in advance. Jerry

[Too-Tall Hunter]

Had my second snow day of the school year yesterday, so I decided it would be a good day to play with some shot loads in the smoothbore barrel of my 24 gauge double with an eye toward turkey hunting. Our season is about a month out right now.

I only have two sizes of shot on hand, 7 1/2 lead and 5 bismuth. I had patterned the bismuth last fall for grouse and pheasant with the following: 65gr 2F, nitro card, lube cushion wad, over shot card, 1 1/8 oz shot (by volume), over shot card. The patterns were good enough as far as I was concerned for close shots (20-25) on either bird, but that would be about it.

Yesterday I decided to play with the Skychief load idea. It definitely tightened up my bismuth patterns (sorry, I didn’t take photos) I felt like they would be good for pheasant and grouse out to 30, but it looked to me like a turkey head/neck could slip through. Load was: 65gr 2F, nitro card, 1 1/8 oz shot (by volume), over shot card, lubed fiber wad.

Not sure how many of you have experience with bismuth. I have a bag of older generation shot, a number of the pellets are misshapen. I believe that was the cause of some wild fliers I saw on the patterning board. Hoping the newer gen pellets are available the next time I buy a bag from BPI. Also, for those experienced with the Skychief load, my fiber wads are not soaked in any kind of oil. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of having anything “saturated” in the bore of a hunting arm that might be loaded and not fired for several days on end. I soak mine in melted SPG and let them dry. Since I’ve never bothered to weigh one, just wondering if that is dense enough to get the desired effect?

Second test load was 65gr 2F, nitro card, 1 1/8 oz 7 1/2 lead, over shot card, lubed wad. I fired those at 20 and 30 and for posterity took my last two shots at shoot-n-c turkey targets. The results are pretty consistent with what I saw in the other patterns I shot. Nothing overly scientific, but a fun way to spend a snow day afternoon!

Here is 20 yards



Here is 30 yards

[Daryl]

I read an (& many) article many years ago about what shot sizes for what birds. this particular article was about using finer shot to fill in patterns for head and neck hits
as well as for 'dusting off' crips on the water. The shot recommended was 7 1/2's and #8's.  I was shooting a 10 bore at the time & 2 ounces of 8 1/2's was what I used for
crips. They NEVER refused to work, yet no pellets, ZERO ever penetrated the body. The feathers would stop them. They did not even damage the wings, just the heads and
necks.  The article noted these loads were deadly for crossing birds (pass shooting) out to 35 yards & easily dumped birds coming in to the decoys. Again, no body hits, only
opened wings, heads and necks.
A tight central core in the pattern sure helps with this.
Back in the 1800's, the Swedish "cup" wad helped fill in the centre of the pattern.  Use your imagination.  I have read of some guys making a 3/8" hole in the centre of the
fiber wad to do the same thing.
Lots of things to experiment with.

[smokinbuck]

Jerry,
My opinion and is cards are 1/8". I use the same for each.

[smokinbuck]

@!*% phone, should have over powder & over shot cards are 1/8". I use the same for each and no cushion wad.
Mark

[Skychief]

Too Tall Hunter, you should find that the more saturated (heavier) the cushion wad, the denser your patterns will be.  Many, myself included have left guns loaded with olive oil soaked wads for a couple, few days with no ill effect (powder dampening). 

A lot of the oil is left in the bore wall as the wad is seated.  I do store my fowlers muzzle down though...

It may also be worth mentioning that I don't use soaked wads that have been laying around for weeks.  With time, the saturation will begin to disintegrate the cushion wad and won't give the denser patterns that more recently prepped wads will.

Best of luck with the gobblers, Skychief.

[Eric Krewson]

I posted this picture on Ken's thread above, Skychief load at 25 yards, I have found none better. I get almost the same density out of a cylinder bore 20 with a Skychief load. If I remember correctly, this is 1 1/2 oz of #6, 100 gr of 1F and a Skychief wad column at 25 yards.