Help... my balls won't fit

[truthisdiscovered]

Greeting all,

Cast my first run of OO buck pellets the other day, had a question about lubrication and the guys on the chat set on the straight and narrow.

Started to load some last night and saw almost immediately that these pellets are too big to fit in the typical 3-per-stack triangle conficuration without bulging the hull.

Pellets came from a 6 cavity Lee mold @ .330 each, cut apart with a razor knife loaded into a 2 3/4" Federal hull w/Win AA wads. What the heck have I done wrong?

TID

[runfiverun]

do the rounds chamber?
i'm sure the 330 diameter is your issue.
i doubt you can do anything to make it better,except maybe build up some mold release in the cavity's.
or squeeze the mold haves together a bit more.

[DeanWinchester]

You owe me a new keyboard for that title.......

[truthisdiscovered]

The rounds will not chamber reliably. Some do some don't... "death on a cracker" for either home defense or hunting.

I suppose I could simply reduce the number of pellets to allow for a loose stack, perhaps down to 6 or 7.

I've seen some vids on loading buck and ball that only requires a disc check in place of the wad... is this a viable option, or will I need to simply get a
.320 mold?

TID

[Johnch]

Cut the pettles off the wad

I have to with my mold

John

[runfiverun]

that would work.
you could also reduce the number and add some buffer to help patterning.

[turmech]

Stacks of three are a tight fit. I was able to do it and they chambered. I will say the original Winchester wad are better than the claybuster versions. The wad petals are thinner. I was also using the old win hulls.

I switched to 8 and 10 pellets of buck shot stacked in pairs of 2's. It worked much better.

Or you can cut the petals off like said above.

[truthisdiscovered]

OK... now with that in mind (removing the pettles off the wad), should I then lubricate the buckshot... or are the velosities low enough not to bother?

Don't you guys just love rookies?

TID

[turmech]

I have never done it as I shoot the buckshot naked in the shot cup. If I were going to remove the petals I would coat them in graphite. IIRC some here use pencil shavings in a rotary tumbler or a plastic jar allowed to roll around in a car trunk for a while.

[runfiverun]

you can get colloidal graphite easy nuff.
it's also called locksmiths graphite because it's used in locks.
you can make a suedo wad with a tyvek wrap too they are very,very thin.

back in the olden day's before they used plastic wads a gas seal was good enough for the shot to sit on.
and the graphiting of shot was done to keep it from oxidizing as well as provide a "lube" against lead streaks in the barell.

[texasnative46]

truthisdiscovered.

Fyi, COFFEE, spewed out of one's mouth, is NOT good for laptops!

IF you're planning to use the buckshot loads for "home defense, fill the case with #4 "duck-shot" after seating the bigger shot. - Ive done that & it's NASTY up to about 40M.

yours, tn46

[truthisdiscovered]

That's a great concept... I've heard of "Buck and Ball" a once feared load used by the Yankee Irish brigades in "The War of Northern Aggression" :D

I guess you could call that load "Buck and Duck"...

I have a few bags of #8 lying around... that would be "Buck and Bird"

Either way, I wouldn't want to face "Buck and anything"... especially at the average confrontation distances. Even I could make those shots.

Great advice guys... I appreciate all of the help.

TID

[220swiftfn]

As others have said.......think of others before you title a post, please!!!!! Also, cut off the shotcup petals for "OO" buck. In order to fit an uncut wad, IIRC it's number 1 Buckshot that fits, and there's 3 more in a standard 1-1/8 load (but then you need the Claybuster version of the WAA12R wad to get enough load height....)



Dan

[MtGun44]

#1 buck puts four in a layer. 2 3/4" std is 16 pellets, 2 3/4 Mag is 20 pellets, 3" is 24 pellets :shock:

My defense load for 12 ga is 2 3/4 mag # 1 buck. 20 .30 cal balls. Yahoo!

Never loaded buckshot myself but a friend that has also reports cutting off the
petals of the wad.

Bill

[220swiftfn]

#1 buck puts four in a layer. 2 3/4" std is 16 pellets, 2 3/4 Mag is 20 pellets, 3" is 24 pellets :shock:

My defense load for 12 ga is 2 3/4 mag # 1 buck. 20 .30 cal balls. Yahoo!

Never loaded buckshot myself but a friend that has also reports cutting off the
petals of the wad.

Bill

Hmm, coulda swore that it was #1 in a shotcup that was three, and #2 that fit four with petals intact.....



HERE it is, I had this on my other computer, so I had to find it again.......



http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=123819



Dan

[texasnative46]

truthisdiscovered,

Actually, "buck and ball" was used at least as early as the Queen Anne's War by Roger's Rangers.- During the American Revolution, both sides used that load in the Brown Bess & Charleville muskets to get "possible" HITS.
(FYI, the saying even today in the Army is: A dead soldier is a problem for graves registration. On the other hand a wounded soldier ties up about 6 people to care for him. - Cold-bloodied, but true.)

During the War Between the States, Confederate Marines & CN sailors used "fluff" for repelling boarding parties, out of (cheaply bought in Europe & thus very numerous in CSN service) percussion muskets and shotguns. - After considerable looking, I found out that "fluff" was pieces of scrap metal mixed with broken glass - THAT combination made NASTY,difficult to treat, "horrible-looking" but mostly superficial wounds at close range (that often became infected in those pre-antibiotic days) AND it was quick to reload, when compared to rifles of the period.

yours, tn46

[runfiverun]

if you use smaller shot as a buffer.
remember to weigh the entire amount of lead you put in the case and adjust the load accordingly.
shotshell loads don't do well with 2 oz's of shot over a 1-1/4oz load recipe.

i'm just silly and use 1/4oz #B on top of 7/8oz #3 steel for my home shotshell stuff,it has a nasty habit of penetrating just about anything at 25 yds.

[montana_charlie]

... petals ...

[CATTLEMAN]

You get my vote for best title, I though something naughty as soon as I read it!

[Alan in Vermont]

I happen to have a round of factory Remington OO Buck here on my desk. 9 pellets in 3 layers of 3 with buffer. The pellets are visible through the hull where they touch the inside. Wad column is solid and appears to be something on the order of 1/2" thick and no shot wrapper of any sort.

I just did up a bunch of O Buck and got ten pellets in a 2 3/4" hull, the cheapie Rem. Gun Club hulls using a Claybusters clone of the WW AA12R wad. Pellets stacked in pairs, leaving room for a just about flawless 8-point crimp.