smoothbore loads

[k morgan]

looking for load suggestions for 20 gauge thin walled trade gun from nothstar 24 inch long barrel

[Daryl]

Found these:
raditional Loads for Muzzle Loading Shotguns by Gauge.

Gauge
   

Amount of ffg powder
Amount of shot

20 gauge
   

2 ¼ drams = 62 grains
   

7/8 ounces
     

2 ¾ drams = 75 grains
   

1 ounce

 
 
In my 20 bore flinter with 31" bl. I use 3drams (82gr.) 2F and 1 1/8oz. shot.

I use a hard 1/8" card over the powder, then 1/2" cushion wad, then the shot, then the thin "B" was over the shot.
This load hammers clay birds. I swing past the bird and when the muzzle is about 1foot past, I slap the trigger.  This passing of the bird, makes up for the slower ignition of the flintlock.
With a caplock, I slap the trigger when the muzzle touches the bird.  This technique give perfect lead, every time.

Some guys use more powder and more shot than this.

[Brokennock]

I usually use about 62 grains 3f black powder and 1oz of shot,  mostly #5, for squirrels and pheasants.
Then move up to 75 grains powder and 1 1/4 oz #5 shot for turkeys.

Lighter load is built pretty standard. Powder, 2 thin cards, lubed felt or tow wad, shot (usually in a paper cup/cartridge) then two more thin cards.
Turkey loading is the Skychief load.
All loads are built at the muzzle and pushed down to the powder as a whole, not pushing down each individual component.

[nobade]

Guess I'm pretty typical. 60gr powder and 1 oz of shot in my Northstar trade gun. Two cardboard wads over the powder and one over the shot.

[k morgan]

thanks for replys

[Hungry Horse]

Don’t be afraid to try what the old timers used. Wasp nest disintegrates and doesn’t blow a hole in your pattern. And 2F creates a lighter explosion that doesn’t blow your pattern either.


Hungry Horse

[Brokennock]

Don’t be afraid to try what the old timers used. Wasp nest disintegrates and doesn’t blow a hole in your pattern. And 2F creates a lighter explosion that doesn’t blow your pattern either.


Hungry Horse

Please, please, post a quote from or link to, a period writing on shooting that mentions using wasps nest by the "old timers," IF you have one.
Many of us, including much better researchers and historians than I, have been searching for years for a period reference to this practice.
You state everything you say so matter of factly that it seems what you say should be indisputable, so you must have a reference.

[LynnC]

Scroll down the topics in Black Powder Shooting and read “Skychief Load”. Many find it an effective loading method.

[Hungry Horse]

I got it from a little  red book written on shotgunning published in the 40’s or 50’s. The only other wadding that doesn’t blow patterns occasionally is wads made from thin cork material used to line tool drawers. A trade gun found in a Minnesota river that was lost during the fur trade used beaver fur for wadding, really don’t know about this for sure.
 I do know that its hard to keep 3F from blowing your pattern. I shoot 2F, and shoot 1f if I can get it.

Hungry Horse

[Jerry]

Guess I'm pretty typical. 60gr powder and 1 oz of shot in my Northstar trade gun. Two cardboard wads over the powder and one over the shot.
nobade, What granulation of powder do you use? 3f or 2fg Thanks, Jerry

[k morgan]

i have talked to several old timers that said hornets nest was the best they had used

[Daryl]

i have talked to several old timers that said hornets nest was the best they had used

Was that back in the 1700's or 1800's?
  just'apullin yor leg.

[Keith Zimmerman]

I only use wasp nest.

[Daryl]

Keith, how do you carry the wasp nest when hunting - or at the range/rendezvous?

[Mike from OK]

Are we differentiating between wasp nests and hornet nests here?

When I hear "wasp nest" I usually think of a paper nest built of separate intricate paper cells akin to a honeycomb. Usually hanging under the eaves of a house or barn and inhabited by red demons with a bad attitude.

When someone says "hornet nest" I envision a basketball sized nest constructed around a tree branch... containing thousands upon thousands of Satan's bald faced spawn.

Is one as good as the other? Or is one vastly more sturdy and suited to be used for wadding?

Mike

[Daryl]

The paper ones, whether infested with wasps or hornets- your choice. Best to 'gather' them only after freeze-up, I would expect.

[WadePatton]

Are we differentiating between wasp nests and hornet nests here?

When I hear "wasp nest" I usually think of a paper nest built of separate intricate paper cells akin to a honeycomb. Usually hanging under the eaves of a house or barn and inhabited by red demons with a bad attitude.

When someone says "hornet nest" I envision a basketball sized nest constructed around a tree branch... containing thousands upon thousands of Satan's bald faced spawn.

Is one as good as the other? Or is one vastly more sturdy and suited to be used for wadding?

Mike

The basketball-sized nest is full of wasp nest on the inside and the only difference is the honeycomb vs. the flat paper of the "shell" of the hive. It's all the same paper.

Ground bees and yellow jackets use paper nests as well, but build them in the ground.  The only difference I see in the paper is the size of the holes in the honeycomb part, but I've not measured anything, nor shot it. 

[Mike from OK]

Thank you gents. I knew they were both paper but I didn't know if one was preferable to the other as far as wadding goes.

I've used wasp nest as wadding before... I can usually find several abandoned nests around the eaves of the house come fall. But I haven't had the opportunity to use hornet's nest.

Mike

[Daryl]

If you hit it with a rake, you can tell about instantly, if it is inhabited. On second though, a sling-shot might be a better idea
or wait until the first frost, maybe?

[Keith Zimmerman]

I usually stuff a bunch into a tin.  Or in a linen bag in my haversack.

[Mike from OK]

If you hit it with a rake, you can tell about instantly, if it is inhabited. On second though, a sling-shot might be a better idea
or wait until the first frost, maybe?

The old timers told me when I was a kid that you could back off a ways and shoot a hornet's nest with a rifle and the little buggers would know where it came from and attack you.

Might have been their way of telling a kid to stay out of trouble. Never tested the theory. Lol

Mike

[Daryl]

Hasn't everyone been chases by wasps?  They're pretty quick.

[Levy]

I've been chased by everything except girls.  I had a honeybee hive in the wall of my house for 40 years.  They apparently either didn't like the lawnmower or didn't like the dust it kicked up.  Twice I had to run for the lake, which was about 100 yds. from the house.  I'd dive in and swim as far as I could underwater, which wasn't very far after the 100 yd. sprint (even though I was a lot younger then).  When I came to the surface and looked back, the surface of the water where I entered, was covered in bees.  I collected some hornet's nest for wadding years ago, but don't remember ever actually using it.  James Levy