loading a .680 ball.

[KinkBreaker]

youll have to stop vacationing so much

[pipehand]

youll have to stop vacationing so much

Jealous?

Just reread the other posts- I was supposed to have polished that forcing cone, but didn't. The load with the Winchester wads seemed to crimp better and were more accurate, so shooting the older loads was mainly to get empty hulls. In the interest of proper scientific experimentation, I should do a side by side test of once fired Remington and Winchester hulls.

[KinkBreaker]

not really, went to the river last saturday.

[pipehand]

Did you have a second canoe, or were you doing that walk on water thing again to take that picture?

[pipehand]

OK, I took the barrel off again, and used Ajay's method for polishing the forcing cone- it looks more gradual as well as smoother now. I re-shimmed the barrel to receiver junction, as the shims I used before were too big (in area not thickness) and worked their way out to cut my hand on occasion.

I loaded up eight Win AA's and eight Rem Gunclubs with 18 grains of International Clays, Cheddite primers, Win WAA12 wads, a .125" nitro card, 1.6 cc's of Alduh Cornmeal (yellow) and a Lyman .678" roundball that casts around .680" from wheelweights.

Taking the gun apart, polishing the forcing cone, and re-shimming, and changing wads called for major resighting at 50 yards. Initial rounds were 8" low and 4" right. I started with the AA loads, and by the time I got on paper right, I ran out of those.

This is the last 5 rounds of the ones loaded in the GunClub hulls. I did try to pick out the ones that were in the best shape to load up for 50 yard testing. As near as I can tell, there are three right in the center, one high, and one at 3 o'clock. The ones in the center don't leave a good indication past the first shot there as I need to move the targets on the target backer. I keep putting targets in the same place, so the center is pretty well eaten out, and the round balls push the paper out of the way. Had to have that one at 3 o'clock to keep me humble.

It'll be a couple of weeks before I can play with the shotgun again. I hope Y'all keep casting, loading, and shooting those big balls and continue to post to this thread. My next experiments will be to load the ball subsonic, and load some heavy so they are still supersonic at 50 yards. I've been loading the balls sprue up, and if I can find a way to load them consistently sprue down, I'll try that.

I may also "glass bed" the barrel to the receiver with some steel epoxy, and use a release agent so the barrel is removable.

[pipehand]

UPDATE:

I did try a load of RedDot that took the 680 RB to 980 FPS. Accuracy was minute of trashcan at 50 yards. Not good. The 1150 fps load with Int'l Clays is holding inside of 5 inches at the same distance. I would hunt with that in a pinch. I think I'll take the scope and mount off the 870 and get back to the big bead.

Next shotgun project is to work up a 2&3/4" 12 pellet O buck load using the Activ T-42 wads I picked up a couple of weeks ago. They were older than the clerk that rang them up, but they hold a lot of shot and have thin petals. 12 of my Lee .311" roundballs weigh 1.22 ounces, so I should be OK with 1.25 ounce load data. I have some brand new Cheddite hulls to use with them.

[Hogtamer]

Let us know about those OO loads. I like the idea of more pellets and more boom, but I've gotten more lead on paper with lighter loads: PT1265 multimetal wad with 8 pellets and buffer over 19.6 grns CLAYS.

[pipehand]

Hogtamer, you are totally right about the balls on target thing. My usual load of 9 .311' balls in a WWA12 wad and a trap load of International Clays average a pattern of 10 inches at 25 yards. I tried the 12 pellets in the Activ T-42 wads with 23.5 grains of Unique, and the smallest pattern was 14 inches, but there were generally fliers out to 24 inches with most. A Tyvek wrap inside the wad didn't improve things, and I actually tried fusing the petals together with a hot iron on a few. It just didn't work as well as the mild 9 pellet load. I'm glad I'm not out much on the T-42 wads. They may work out better with a load of Blue dot, and some F shot or something. I had all good intentions of starting another thread with pics and all, but the 12 pellet loads were so disappointing that I chucked the idea.

[Hogtamer]

I finally had better luck with 28 grn Longshot powder: Bpi op wad, teflon wrap, 16 ga nitro cards, twelve pellets, buffer and overshot card. Lot of components but effective. As for the 2 ball, I'm getting one on the money and 1 flyer most times. Occasionally get a perfect shot with 3-4 in. Separation between balls that is awesome destruction. Best I can figure the phase of the moon at loading time must be the determining factor accounting for the difference!! Both loads @ 50 yds.

[nanuk]

... It is hard (no pun intended) to get really good home made equivalents to nitro card wads though... at least from what I have tried. The cardboard backing from notebooks and such is fairly hard but thin and unless you glued them up they would be pretty flexible so would tend to wrap around the ball.

Longbow

Longbow, try the box from boxed seasoned frozen chicken wings. it is very thick and hard! I think two of them glued would easily meet your expectations

[longbow]

nanuk:

I just order nitro card wads by the thousand. they are cheap and they work. Either 16 ga. or 20 ga. will drop into a 12 ga. shotcup. 20 ga. is probably a better fit but I am currently using 16 ga. with no problems.

If I ever run out I will give the frozen chicken wing boxes a try though. It never hurts to have options! Thanks for the tip.

Longbow

[Geezer in NH]

bump to top