I saw this load posted by RMC:
There seems to be a great deal of interest about high performance
#5 Western Buckshot, also known as Eastern #1 Buckshot. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to take a look at what has already been posted:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...mance-buckshot
"...Dixie Slugs, 12 gauge 2 3/4" 1 Buck Special.
The powder charge is 32 grs (2.8 cc) of Alliant Blue Dot - LBC43mm wad - 16 #1 BPI hard buckshot (stacked two on two) - vel 1220'/" - 10,700 psi.- Cheddite straight walled hull.
There seems to still be quite a few fine 2 3/4"guns out there! This load's pattern was tested by Joey Saunders out of a Remington 1100 (.690" full choke).
This load put 8 #1's inside of a 10" circle at a measured 40 yards.
As I have said before...it does not matter how many buckshot (or shot) is in the load! What does matter is how many buckshot (or shot) it puts into a 10" kill circle at 40 yards.
This is another load recipe I wil post since it has been pressure tested. We have enough loads posted that have not been pressure tested. The recipe must be followed exact
Regards, James"
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Just a few points to clarify:
This is a Roll Crimp load put up in new primed Cheddite hulls using Precision Spherical Buffer, (PSB), and a standard overshot card wad. The wad must be slit twice down to the inside base - just follow the mold line on each side. I find that a fixed blade carpet cutter, (no blade wobble), with a rounded edge standard box cutter blade installed works well for this. Be sure to dust the wad inside and out with powdered mica.
Lastly, this is a very easy load to assemble. The 16 thirty caliber pellets
literally self stack in two pellet layers when poured into the shell.
I would like to make this load but use Pro reach instead of Blue Dot. I checked on Alliant's reloading data and found a 1 3/8 load using Winchester AA hulls, RP 12 wads and Win 209 primers, 33 Gr of Blue dot = 1200 fps & 10,400 psi, 25 Gr of Pro Reach = 1275 fps & 10,620 psi. By ratio it looks like 24 Gr of Pro Reach would work with the #1 Buckshot load. I don't know if this is ok or not. If this is possible, I would load up a few and send them in to have them tested. Any comments and suggestions would be appreciated.