Another good load from Track of the Wolf .310 buck mold

[Hogtamer]

This time for 20 gauge. Shooting paper will drive you nuts with a shotgun but it's really the only way to quantify results. Had in mind a great 3" 20 ga load using the "0 1/2" pellets from that 6 cav. mold. I use very hard (7.5%) antimony lead. Long story short there was no combo out of 10 that gave me satisfactory results from 3" hulls. I don't care a whit about a 30" circle, my standard is how many pellets in an 8" circle and 3 out of 12 (1 1/4 oz.) is the best I could get at 40 yds. As is often true, less turned out to be more.

New cheddite 2 3/4" primed hull, 35 gr. Lil' Gun, BPI gas seal, 1/8" hard card, 2-20 ga felt wads 1/8", enough buffer to cover felt and 5 x 2 stacks pellets plus .30 os card, 6 pt crimp. From BPI load data "homestead load" the only difference my wad column instead of csd20 wad and my pellets instead of #4 buck. 1350 fps, 5 pellets in 8" circle at 40 yds. 22 grns Longshot was close second same configuration as above. Steel distant 3rd.

This from a 28" mod barrel. A full choke with those pellets in 20 ga was plywood size. Keeper load, any deer in Ga. with that, and another good use for a good mold. BTW, fully buffered load, thin mylar wrap all a no-go. Da paper don't lie but doesn't always tell the story I THINK it should!

[jmort]

That is a fantastic mold
It will probably remain my favorite until Miha comes out with his version
Have not forgotten
Has some serious issues on my end.
It will happen

[Blood Trail]

I need a .310 mold.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hogtamer]

BT,
The above mentioned mold is far and away my buck mold of choice. It produces remarkable consistent size and weight pellets with no tedious sprue cutting. I use hard 7.5% antimony lead, cast enough for 25 shells or so, then put the pellets in an old 1lb powder container with a hundred or so regular BBs and when I'm in the car shake vigorously. About 15 minutes of actual shaking time over several days produces excellent shot. I don't like any little nibs or sprues on my pellets as they become flyers. Here's a pic of results from above load at 30 and 40 yds. Acceptable at 40 yds, very good at 30. That's an 8" circle.
The second pic is my 12 ga 2 3/4" 12 pellet load at 50 yds out of full choke. Best I've ever seen out of many different buck loads, factory and recaps.

[dverna]

Hogtamer,

Testing is the only way to know. I have done some and it is time consuming.

One of the ranges I visited had a steel plate covered with grease. A roller was used to refresh the surface after every round. It is nice not having to bring and staple up sheets of paper but a camera is needed to record results. We used it for Trap loads and I am not sure how it would hold up to buckshot. One Darwin candidate shot a slug through it.

[hunton35]

Thank's for sharing this. I am new here and have been looking all over for some 20 ga 31 cal buckshot data. this helps a lot. I will be developing a load using longshot in 2 3/4 Rem hulls and sp20 petals removed and win aa once fired hulls sp20 wads with petals intact will post another thead with my findings.

[Hogtamer]

Welcome hunton. If your AA huls are the newer HS forget about them. You won't get the wad pressed evenly down past the clear plastic cup near the bottom of the hull. I loaded lots of buckshot and you won't get the best patterns without using Hard lead. Oh, and I don't think you will get stacks of 2 in the wad cup. Hope this saves you some trouble and good luck.

[hunton35]

Yes they are the new hs hulls. any advice is much appreciated. I won't bother with the wins then . I have more rems anyway. if I find some cheddites laying around on the dove field this year I will try your load as well. I cast my buckshot in a doit 1/8 oz jig mold that throws .310 round head jigs but I have to cut all the stuff off each pellet which is a pain , water quenched ww. not shure the hardness. just waiting on powder now.

[Hogtamer]

Thought I might save you a little trouble so went to the shed to see what I could come up with....The wads are too tall with petals cut off in Rem hulls. And stacks of 2 are really too tight. So I tried gas seal, hard card and 1/2" felt with 20 gr longshot using 8 pellets (7/8 oz). Ok with crimp but seal bulged the hull more than I like. It's gonna take a straight wall hull like Cheddite or Fiocchi to use the .310 pellets. They are cheap right now @ bpi.
http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Che...tinfo/1392070/. So are these seals. http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Gas-Seals/products/97/ You can find the felt, hard cards and OS cards there too. Don't mean to discourage but what works is what works for certain sizes and charges. There are plenty of shot loads for your components just that buck size is not one of them.

[hunton35]

I just received my powder, so you did indeed save me the trouble. Thanks for that. are you using the red seal (low profile) or the obturator? I will try to get some chedites and just go that way. my load all instructions say to only use plastic wads but I will give it a try. worst case, I can roll crimp them. thanks again for your help.

[Hogtamer]

The red ones. But they have to holes in them (no idea why) so I use a 1/8" hard card over that. The load all works fine these with 6/pt crimp on the new cheddite hulls (front starter crimp station) with the OS card. It does not like longshot powder though as it reacts with that kind of plastic. I hand weigh all my buckshot and slug loads on electronic grain scale anyway.