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View Full Version : Round Ball through 12 guage Mod. Choke



missionary5155
01-17-2009, 05:44 PM
Good after noon
My origonal goal is to figure out how to shoot round ball in choked shotguns. 12 guage is all I have. I feel the solutions we ALL come up with will be applicable to any bore size. Thank you to all who kindly suggested ideas.
Got my camara out and thought this would be a good place to better document my experiments. This does not imply this is diffinitive. More should be done. I know Shotman is getting ready to "stack wads". Longbow is working on "Donuts" And I hope they have coconut sprinkles on top.
You must remember that to safly fire Round Ball (RB) through a CHOKED barrel the RB must not overly exceed the tightest barrel constriction. My Modified barrel measures .708. I used a .710 RB for all theses experiments. 28 grains of Unique was the basic powder load. This has proven to be a safe load in MY Mossy. I recommend you start with 25 gr and find what is safe in YOUR 12 guage.
The first foto ( added next post ) shows my basic wad ( Win. # 114) and the shortening of the petals below full diameter for clearance through the choke. Upon firing the shot area of the wad collapses under the ball and becomes deformed. The wad may twist and tilt in the barrel. None of this is acceptable to accuracy. This would be the least desirable way to load RB. Accuracy was nothing to brag about.
Photo #2 ( Added next post) shows a simple "Support Ring " made from plactic 5/8 OD pipe. The plan is to also distribute the acceleration forces to the outside of the shot cup. The chamfer tool can be any angle that closely matches the ball shape. height of Ring is determined by the shape of your ball. I cut mine high enough that the ball still touches a flat surface. Ring is placed bevel up in shot cup and ball on top.
This system gives good accuracy. I fired this at 40 yards for a 1 1/2 group. At 57 yards it was at 8 1/4 inches.
The 3rd Photo shows the retreived wad and ball condition. It is obvious the Rings are splitting apart at various places around the circumfrance of the ring. Ring marks are impressed into ball base and cup base showing gaps. These gaps I reason are where the rings have separated randomly. It does not seen to case any serious problems. Wads do not seen to tip or distort. There is no evidence of shot cup center collapsing. This system is hand labor intensive (cutting, measuring, beveling pipe) but does show increased accuracy.
Photo #4 displays the "Cup System" and probably the best I have tried. Shot cup over powder cups are removed from complete wads. 3 are needed for each load. The collapsable fingers must be removed. The remaining over powder wad must be smothed on the flat side( a double cut file worked well). One over powder wad is inserted into shell normally curved cup side down. Next I used a fiber wad to properly adjust length (important for crimping). Next another cup was placed curve up to for the base for the ball. Next is Ball in the cup. Finally another cup is placed curve down on top od ball. This system gives Good ball support down the larger barrel diameter to the undersized ball. The RB does not skip or bounce. I fired these at 40 yards and grouped at 2 1/4 inches. I DO NOT recommend 28 grains of Unique with this system. This is the hardest recoiling load I have ever shot out of my Mossy. If I ever refire it I will drop back to 25.
Photo #5 Shows the assembled stack as fired on the left. The right stack is an Idea I may try next to eliminate the fiber wad and still maintain a little cusion effect in the wad system. If I had access to unlimited wads this is the wad system I would use.
Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions.

missionary5155
01-17-2009, 05:49 PM
I apologize ... I had the whole report written up and the first two fotos did not appear... trying again. These are pictures # 1 and # 2...

longbow
01-17-2009, 06:02 PM
Thanks for the report Mike. Interesting stuff.

I gotta get out and shoot! Getting cabin fever.

I should be casting this week so may have news in a week or so. I plan to load more 0.735" balls and some 0.690" in "ball carriers" (doughnuts?). We'll see how they do compared to yours. I have the same goal of being able to shoot through a choke safely with reasonable accuracy.

What alloy are you using? The pipe rings sure left their mark in the balls.

Keep up the good work, we are all learning... and having fun.

Longbow

missionary5155
01-17-2009, 06:42 PM
Greetings Longbow
The mix is something harder than pure (tough to scratch with a #2 pencil) but not as hard as WW. I do not have a hardness tester here( yet). The feller I got this lead from is a scrap seller and has little idea about lead hardness. "Lead is lead" is his idea.
I would compare it to 50-50 WW and Pure but maybe softer. I am 2 years + removed from up there and reliable supplies.