20 gauge pumpkin balls

[gunauthor]

I have a CVA Hunter 20 gauge with a rifled barrel. I am looking for a light, plinking load using a .600 lead ball (Lee mold). I would like to use Remington Gun Club hulls and a brush wad from Ballistic Products. Plan to use a fold crimp. Any ideas would be appreciated and thanks in advance for your help.

[W.R.Buchanan]

my 12 ga Pumpkin Balls are loaded in used up Win AA's I use my standard Trap Load of 18 gr of Green Dot a Claybuster AA clone wad a .662 ball with a 16 ga. 1/4" felt wad below the ball. The felt makes a pocket that centers the ball up pretty well.

The operative point here is the 1/4" felt wad under the ball. It should work exactly the same way in 20 ga. No need to push these hard for plinking but they are still a pretty formidable round if needed. Getting hit by 3/4 to 1oz. ball at 1100-1200 fps is going to hurt.

I suggest shooting some common things with some just so you can get a feel for what kind of power you have access to.

Randy

[toallmy]

I’m playing with the lee round ball In a rifled 20 but it’s smaller . I drop a 5/16 hard 28 gage card in a clay buster wad with a 1/8 felt on top of it , the ball sits on top . All this is on top of my for fun charge of 16.6 unique . But as mentioned earlier the ball im using Is the .575 I believe.

[richhodg66]

My problem with a .600 ball is it's too big to fit inside the wads I had and still undersized when I cut the petals off, but still grouped well enough from a smoothbore that I feel confident I could deer hunt with it under the conditions I usually hunt.

I have since gotten a .62 ball mold I'll try eventually in my rifled H&R, but haven't yet.

[longbow]

You should do a search for "Petander" a frequent poster here from Finland. He does a lot of reloading factory shotshells with RB's in both 12 and 20 ga. (mostly 20 ga. IIRC). Not sure if he has posted much if any on handloading from scratch or just dumping shot and adding round ball but there should be some useful info on RB sizes, fit in shotcups and performance. Good reading regardless and lots of pics.

Also, I think he mostly shoots smoothbore but there should still be some useful info.

Longbow

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Greetings Gunauthor, even tho I did a lot of 20 ga RB load testing but none with the odd size .600 RB which is good for 12 ga Tri-Ball loadings. If you were to buy a Lee .575 RB mold for some $20 from Mid South shooters you will have great fun for the whole family from light to Heavy loads quite capable of taking down almost any North American game. Most components are not made to cater to our Heavy Nitro Express Loads so we need to help the components with .125 nitro card of 28 ga in the base of OP cavity and two .125 nitro card of 28 ga below the .575 RB in Commander wad.




Be sure to use fold crimp and good 50 to 60 lbs wad pressure.
Those .125 nitro cards are from Circle Fly at double the quantity at half the price mean't for only this purpose as filler up.
The first picture shows a heavy bullet of 450 to 455 gr bullet a Lee bullet for very heavy game capable of harvesting any game in North America and even Africa at 1800 fps. Yes what you have is a very powerful .620 High Power Nitro Express, I simply love mine !
Watch out for these are Very Heavy loads, use caution by cutting down 10% of powder charge and then gradually come up 1/2 gr at a time while watching for pressure signs and extraction marks:

Its a good idea to cut open commercial rounds to just to see:

Good idea to learn to read pressure signs and extraction marks therefore when load developing always use brand new hull and the same brand !



What a mouthwatering treat for High Power 20 gauge Nitro Express loaders.



Have fun cooking your own loads for pennies, cast them from WW.
Best regards,
Ajay K. Madan
Super Blazing Sabots

[longbow]

Now how on earth did I forget to mention Ajay!?!

Ajay has done a lot of RB testing in both 12 and 20 ga. but of course you know that now. Lots of good info and pics in his posts! Its worth looking back at the SuperblazingSabots thread for sure!

Longbow

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Greetings my friend Longbow, we face tough challenges specially these days trying to learn to survive this unknown virus that mutates in to the unknown, some are worried what if it mutates with the seasonal Flu virus ! Its Ok my friend. I admire your work like many of us here !
I wanted to give a rating but could not, ** Ok, *** should be considered Good **** should be considered Very Good and ***** should be considered Excellent ! !
Just my opeanion, thinking out loud.

Best regards,
Ajay K. Madan
Super Blazing Sabots