Skychief Load

[mossyhorn]

I was surfing on web and saw a reference to a "Skychief load" for a fowler. Could someone explain this load?

[rich pierce]

Nobody can explain why it works for some guns. An oil- soaked cushion wad it put over the shot. The rest is standard. A fella with the handle Skychief on another forum developed it. Like anything, it must be tried before being dismissed or embraced.

[mossyhorn]

Thanks!  I googled the words "Skychief load"  and found several references on this and the other forum in the last two years. Although I visit this forum almost everyday apparently I missed this reference to shot loading. I'll give it a try in my jug choked 20 guage and see what happens. Man there appears to be thousands
of ways to load these old guns outside standard shot shell loadings! If they worked 100 to 200 years ago there must be a way to get them to work with good patterns today.

[Bob McBride]

Thanks!  I googled the words "Skychief load"  and found several references on this and the other forum in the last two years. Although I visit this forum almost everyday apparently I missed this reference to shot loading. I'll give it a try in my jug choked 20 guage and see what happens. Man there appears to be thousands
of ways to load these old guns outside standard shot shell loadings! If they worked 100 to 200 years ago there must be a way to get them to work with good patterns today.

Google “Skychief load forum” which will search forums primarily and give you tons of results.

[Brokennock]

I have a photo tutorial and another post on loading it on that other forum. There are a couple "stickies" regarding it.

What I have found in testing it, and as or more importantly reading others tests of it, is that when it doesn't seem to work for someone, they have changed something from the prescribed loading procedure. And, that even the slightest deviation changes the results.

I normally load a thin overshot card on top of my powder then a lubed felt wad, then shot, then overshot card. Just adding the heavily lubed cushion wad over this yielded no benefits. Changing to the prescribed nitro card with no lubed felt wad in between powder and shot yielded the forecast improvement. I once forgot the thin overshot card between shot and heavily lubed cushion wad, pattern tightness was reduced compared to an properly loaded SkyChief load, but was more even than my standard load.

I might even have posted my photo tutorial here as well, can't remember...

[Daryl]

If I had a cylinder bore, I would try the Skychief load.
If I had a choked bore, either modern standard or jug, I would use a normal shot column.
If that load didn't give me what I wanted, I'd resort to standard column using a hard card over
the powder, then a plastic shot wad, then thin "B" overshot card.
I would never use the Skychief load in a choked gun. They usually need no special wadding to shoot
like champs & better than modern guns, per choke designation. Adjust shot and powder charges and that's
about it.  As to a wad column, one made of a steel shot plastic wad would likely make more tightly patterns
 than a soft plastic (petals) lead wad column.
For non-choked guns, ie: cylinder bore guns, using thin "B" overshot wads, 2 or 3 of them, between the powder
and shot, then one over the shot might work better than any other system of wads. This worked amazingly well
in a cylinder bore 11 gauge cap lock, on load that I used at one rendezvous. I won the trap shoot with that gun
shooting against hammer ctg. guns with chokes.

[Pukka Bundook]

Daryl,

What I can't quite understand, is why a lot of new guns seem to not throw good patterns with a cylinder bore.
I know that most old guns were not a true cylinder either, but had variations on the "Friction and relief" principle... and  seemed to shoot Much better than what we find now.
Re using antique sporting guns and duck guns, most appear to shoot very nice patterns when loaded correctly.   
I had an old double 19 -bore, converted from flint, and it Always shot 40 percent patterns at 40 yards.   ...which is what was always expected of a cylinder bore.
40 percent at 40 yards is a very game -bag filling recipe!
Yet nowadays, folks seem to have trouble with turkey loads at 30 yards....

[Eric Krewson]

I have a fowler jug coked by Caywood, it is supposed to be extra full but shoots more like a modified with normal load components.

Enter the Skychief load TURKEY BLASTER! 25 yards

[Daryl]

There ya go - it's all about experimentation.  The necessary pattern for hitting a gobbler's neck bones and brain makes for a small target
on a large background.  Due to the size of the bird and "hidden" vitals, either VERY large shot, or very tight pattern with small shot is needed.
Use what works in YOUR gun.
Richard, I don't have an answer as to why modern cylinders seem to shoot really wide patterns. Donut patterns can be cured through the use
of different wad combinations, as noted. The skychief load, or using thin, light weight wads.
Taylor's 15 bore Manton was a good example of a gun that shoots well with a standard load, however it took "some" experimentation to get there.
One or another load would shoot well in only one of the tubes. Finding a load that shot well in both, was the trick. We did it, but I cannot remember
what it was. Hmm - Interesting. That was only 3 or 4 years ago.  I think it was 75gr. of 1F GOEX and 1 1/8th ounce of 7 1/2's, with card, fiber cushion
then shot and overshot wad.  A square load shot donuts, but slightly less powder (7gr.)didn't.

[Darkhorse]

Skychief is a member of this forum also, he should be around bye and bye. Why don't you send him an email or PM and ask him direct about his loads? You will get much better info that way.

[Skychief]

Mossyhorn, like Darkhorse suggested, here I am!  Feel free to message me if you have any questions.  As Mr. McBride wrote, much about the load is written about and discussed, if ya look around a bit.  Let me know if I can help.

Happy New Year all, Skychief.

[mossyhorn]

Thanks Skychief I'll keep that in mind!

[Bob Roller]

My knowledge of smooth bores of any kind is zero but it seems that a lubed cap over
the shot charge would help to prevent dragging dry lead pellets across the length of the bore.
Bob Roller

[Pukka Bundook]

Good point, Bob.
Half the pellets in an average  charge touch the barrel walls, and are normally abraded a bit.
Pellets not damaged fly truer, hence we can expect a denser pattern.

[Bob Roller]

I have a fowler jug coked by Caywood, it is supposed to be extra full but shoots more like a modified with normal load components.

Enter the Skychief load TURKEY BLASTER! 25 yards

Are all the shot pellets incorporated in the cooking of the turkey ?

Bob Roller

[Skychief]

Mossyhorn, you have a message.  Sorry so tardy.

Best regards, Skychief.