12ga and 20ga Active Hull Reloading Data

[copdills]

Thanks for the offer, but I kind of like them too ,now that I have loaded and shot some LOL

[ASSASSIN]

Understood! I hope you enjoy them and get several good loadings from them.

[longbow]

A bit of thread drift here...

ASSASSIN:

What is your load recipe for two 0.690" RB's? If you don't mind sharing that is. I'm actually more interested in two 0.662" RB's which I tried with moderate success but need better wads. However, I have a 0.690" RB mould so will try that as well.

I'm also planning on ordering a Lee 0.600 RB mould when they are next available. I want to work on some Tri-Ball loads too. I have some 0.600" RB's Hogtamer sent me but I'll be wanting the mould anyway.

Too many things to try but too little time! (and money!)

Longbow

[ASSASSIN]

Longbow,

the only size round balls I have ever had any good luck with, was with pure lead .690 diameter RB's.

HULL: Activ 12 ga. 3"

PRIMER: CCI-209

POWDER: Blue Dot / ** grains / not listed because powder charge is a little higher than what you normally see listed.

WAD: X12X gas seal from BPI / "2" or "3" 12 ga. Nitro Cards sitting directly on top of the X12X gas seal. The exact number of Nitro Cards used will depend on the powder charge, and weather or not your Round Balls have sprues.

MYLAR WRAP fully encircled inside of hull / sitting directly on top of the Nitro Cards.

"2" .690 Round Lead Balls / the first RB is sitting on top of the nitro card, with the sprue facing straight down, and resting on top of the Nitro Cards.

The second RB is sitting on top of the first ball, with the sprue also sitting directly on the top center of the bottom RB.

The hull is then roll crimped with a tapered roll crimper.


Now for the accuracy of these loads!

I tried 15 different smooth bore guns in different barrel configurations, before I found "1" gun that gave me the performance I was looking for. This gun happened to be a beautiful wood stocked Remington 870 with a vent rib and 30" plain full choke.

Accuracy testing started at 50 yards, with boringly beautiful groups from those 2 big chunks of lead. Every round fired would put those Round Balls 2" or less from each other, and shooting at a 3" stick on target, there was ALWAYS one Ball that hit the target, with the other Ball usually hitting the very edge of if it.

Using a 10" paper dinner plate for a target at 100 yards, once I got the proper load developed, I could shoot either 5 or 10 targets at 100 yards, and every single time, there would be "2" holes in the target, with the holes very seldom ever being more that 7 inches apart, and at least a few targets with the two holes as close as 3" or slightly less.

I hunted with nothing but these loads for about 8 years, and killed no less than 2 deer a year with them, with the proverbial bang-flop with maybe a kick or two and then it was lights out!

When I finally got to go on my first hog hunt in the Mississippi river bottoms and swamps, I literally watched guys put "5" 200 gr. bullets from various 30-06 rifles into a single hog at less than 100 yards, and it usually took another hunter to put a couple more rounds into the same hog before it took a permanent dirt nap.

I never told the guys what I was shooting, but when they say that beautiful stocked Remington 870 with it's long 30" vent rib barrel, they just laughed at me and said that I would never be a able to kill a hog with a "dove gun". Well, a big black boar was slipping along a ditch where we were sitting, and it had no idea we were anywhere in the area. I asked Mr. Charlie P how big he thought it was, and he said it stood a better chance of going over 400 pound than it did going less.

Now the moment of truth. That big black boar came out of the ditch, rolled in the mud for a few seconds, got up and stood there perfectly broadside at 62 yards. The second Mr. Charlie P said shoot, I pulled the trigger, with the front shotgun bead centered on on that massive front shoulder. At the shot, that hog let out a very low grunt, and was thrown on it's side, then slid a good 2 feet, grunted a few more times and it never moved a muscle.

When we got this big hog back to camp, the rules were, that whoever did the killing, they just got to watch as other camp members did the skinning and processing. Those two Round Balls centered the front shoulder and were exactly 3" apart from each other, and both Balls actually went through that massive thick shield, broke both front legs, damaged the heart, and stopped on the inside of the hog after bruising the shoulder shield on the opposite side.

Needless to say, me and everyone else there was highly impressed with the performance of this load, I let either 6 or 7 of the guys shoot a load through their shotguns, using a paper plate as a target, at 40 yards, and not a single one of those guys, with their guns, could put more than a single Round Ball in a paper plate!

This was several years ago, but I can still remember it like it was yesterday. But, after shooting several more hogs with my Wingmaster with it's fixed full choke barrel, a big hand full Ben Franklins won me over, and I begrudgingly sold that gun and 100 rounds of ammo to go with it.

Now, Many years later, I am on a quest to try and duplicate an identical load that was equal to what I was shooting back then.

Last I heard, Santa said I was on the good list, and I had a mold and a pile of goodies to go with it, so only time will tell if I can match my old loads, or even if I can find a barrel worthy of shooting them with the type of accuracy I am expecting from them. This may be a long drawn out process, but I am sure going to give it my best shot (pun intended) and see what I can successfully accomplish this nest Spring. I'll post my results if anything looks promising along the way, and let you guys follow along with me.

[longbow]

Thanks for that! Pretty good accuracy for a two ball load... and even compared to many slugs!

I'm thinking, like Tri-Ball, recoil is probably pretty fierce and terminal performance more than is needed for most use. That's why I'm thinking two ball load with 0.662" RB's or maybe even 0.600" RB's. Either way there should be less punishment when the 0.690" RB's are not required or the lighter payload can be driven faster (if the accuracy doesn't deteriorate anyway).

I will have to give the two ball load with 0.690" RB's a go though.

Thanks again.

Longbow

[ASSASSIN]

If you go with a .600 or .662 Round Ball, are you going to use a wad with them to help take up some of the extra space?

Tri-Ball load! I don't believe my old bones could handle that much recoil! It would definitely be a close range hog stomper load though, for sure and for certain!

[longbow]

Yes. If I load Tri-Ball I'd plan on using the same wads that James Gates recommended from Precision Reloading. He said no other wad would stand up to the stress. I believe him because I tried some two ball loads using 0.662" RB's in CSD steel shot wads and the wads failed miserably.

Same or similar wad for two ball load ~ cut petals back or space balls up on card wads if a shorter cup isn't available.

There are also some ball sabots available from SIARM:

http://www.siarm.com/product_info.ph...oducts_id=2038
http://www.siarm.com/product_info.ph...oducts_id=2037

I e-mailed them and while ago to see if they ship to Canada but no response. I'll have to try again.

Not sure what size the "12 ga." balls are though. They list two 12 gas. balls ~ 16.8mm (0.661") and 17.8mm (0.700"). Both seem a bit large for 3 ball loads.

I'd have to think your two ball load with 0.690" RB's would be pretty similar to the Tri-Ball load for recoil... depending on powder charge of course but payload is almost the same ~ 2x495 grs. (0.690") = 990 grs.; 3x325 grs. (0.600") = 975 grs.

Yeah... I worry about my old bones too! I've been recoiled pretty much senseless over the years!

I don't have Activ hulls but I'll make do!

Longbow

[ASSASSIN]

Those are some interesting Round Ball sabots, and something I have never seen before.

Their Gualandi wads are what BPI sells as their CLBC wads and are my favorite steel shot wads for duck and goose hunting. I run a 7/8 oz. load of buffered BBB steel shot, or unbuffered T steel shot at 1,650 fps. and it hammers big mallards and all geese species out to an honest 60 yards and with relatively mild recoil, so they are a very comfortable load to shoot all day.

[trapper9260]

I had used the data from Fed when I load the 12 ga ones I have , now I see the data for the hulls posted on here I have save it to use later on , love those hulls too bad they stop make then like they use to.

[longbow]

Okay then... let's try this!




Holy cow! it finally worked!!!!!!!!!!!

Not sure just what is going on as usually I don't have trouble posting pics but this time... YIKES!! That was painful and so slow! It took several attempts for each pic to get them to upload.

Anyway, enough whining about posting, its done! The sideways files are from my BPI slug handbook and the upright pics are from the BPI buckshot reloading manual... both a kind of old now (like me) but the load data is all good. I should spring for some new editions I guess.

I e-mailed all tis to copdills so he's got it but now everyone has it too.

I worked up a sweat doing that! I need a beer!

Longbow

[copdills]

We all knew you could do it , Good Man
Thanks

[ASSASSIN]

Your time and patience in downloading all of that information is appreciated longbow - THANK YOU!