12 gauge "Economy RB" test with Mihec .680

[Petander]

User Gamsek sent me some 12 gauge Mihec RB:s to try, thanks a lot!

My good success with similar 20 gauge loadings got me interested,I have used Lee RB:s for that.

Right now I'm loading,this is very easy: Take a factory trap round,cut the crimp,pour out the shot,put in a felt wad and a round ball,roll crimp tight. Done! (A nitro card under the ball might be better but I don't have any. I use 13 mm cork for 20 gauge.)



A range report will follow.

[Petander]

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Greetings Petander, looking very nice and I can't wait to hear how it works out for you.

Best of luck.
Regards,
Ajay K. Madan
Super Blazing Sabots

[Mr_Sheesh]

Fun indeed - I've seen them made by opening the crimp by cracking it open, then remove the shot, plunk the round ball in the wad, and then force the shells' wad petals down against the ball (They will form an open bottomed "V" with the lead ball showing. I believe we were using .690 round balls back then (In the late 80s or so) - Called them "Pumpkin ball rounds". Turns your 12 Ga into a "Brown Bess", sort of

Didn't have PC back then, that wasn't even a gleam in anyone's eye - yet!

[Petander]

A good start,slow fire standing 25 meters. Benelli M3 Open sights which are good.



Power is on the edge, to self load or not. Luckily M3 has the pump option so after some pistol shooting I fired fast 1+8 to the same target:



Some other trap ammo brand may or may not cycle more reliably. Might be a lubing question,too,I don't remember the last time lubing this...

.

I obviously have to buy the mold now.

[bikerbeans]

I am sorry you have blue balls.

BB

[Markopolo]

lol at BikerBeans...

that brand low base shells cycle ok without the rb thing??? diameter with round ball ok? they look a little swelled on top but could be the camera angle..

[centershot]

Petander, did you shorten the wad petals?

[Mr_Sheesh]

Oh. Obligatory note - Don't use these in a full choked shotgun, 0.729" bore less 0.040" for full choke = 0.689‬" and the wad petals might not like it - I only shot them in an Imp. Cyl. as that's 0.729" - 0..004" which is OK.

We never shortened the wad petals, with the fiber wad they probably didn't have to either.

[bikerbeans]

I've shot .690" round balls loaded in a fed 12s3 wad through a full choke 12ga. Eats up the petals but no damage to the shotgun.

BB

[Gamsek]

Petander, nice results! And great info on how you prepared them. A obligatory photo of “your” mould...

[Petander]

No shortening of petals. Very simple operation.

This is a cylinder gun - I have tested 20 gauge RB:s even with full choke using soft lead.

20 gauge is pretty good when we hunt with shot,especially with tungsten I feel no handicap... But with slugs,a 12 has a huge advantage. A 12 gauge RB weighs twice the 20 RB.

A short cylinder gun is kinda nice,I get tight enough tungsten patterns for normal hunting and now this...

[longbow]

I was going to ask the same question regarding shortening the petals... or raising round ball so the equator is at the tips of petals but that would likely make the payload too long to crimp.

I have done much the same and oddly find that the wads seem to survive opening the crimp. Sometimes with excessively long petals I have seen folded/wrinkled petals on recovered wads but generally unless they are very long it isn't a problem. Still, I tend to trim petals back some or use a wad with appropriate depth shotcup. Not something you can do easily when adding a RB to a factory loaded shell.

But they work and seem to shoot pretty well for you so all good!

I was hoping that the 0.678" RB woul dbe a better fit in my shotcups. I had a bunch of old Pacific Verelite wads at the time and they fit well in those in my gun but I ran out and now have Winchester wads which have thinner petals. I find one wrap of printer paper as an inserted cylinder into the shotcup makes for nice fit to bore with the Winchester wads. I'm sure a donut wad would accomplish the same but have yet to try it out. Something to think about if accuracy is not as good as it might be with your economy loads. Donut wads are pretty easy to make if you can't buy them.

As always, Mihec's moulds are beautiful! Makes me want one but I have a Lyman 0.678" mould so hard to justify buying a beautiful brass double cavity Mihec mould... wait a minute... I think I need one!

Longbow

[Petander]

I didn't examine fired wads at all but I think I saw a couple,looking fine. I was too surprised about instant success.

Here you can see the ball,sitting on top of the wad. It's not a tight fit with petals. I picked a felt wad for no special reason.

Ball gets pushed a tad deeper when I roll crimp it,creating a compressed,pressure seated round. That machine is one of my best reloading purchased ever, I get uniform crimps.

9

[dverna]

I like simple.

Your group is more than adequate for close range work. The lighter loads make a lot of sense, at least around here where the biggest game is a 300 lb bear.

Not sure if you have “light handicap” loads in Finland. They have more power than regular trap loads used for Singles, but are still comfortable to shoot. They might cure your cycling problem.

[Hogtamer]

Very nice. So are they .678 as stamped on the mold or .680? I had decent results with .678 but .680 would be better.

[Petander]

These are average .680 with powder coating so it must be really close to 678 plain cast. I don't know Gamsek's alloy but it looks soft:



I'll do proper bench tests of course. About cycling,yes we have a huge amount of different trap ammo to choose from. This particular "Nobel" cycles my M3 with Lyman 525 pellet slugs loaded the same way except no additional felt or anything. Pellet is like 10% heavier than ball.

But lubing and warm weather may help,too. And besides,the pump function is there for this kind of situations. I'd be using it as a pump in a zombie situation anyway. These are reliable but still... I used to have a M1 Super 90 for 15 years. Fed and shot everything. But I still always wanted M3 with the pump option.

[Petander]

As always, Mihec's moulds are beautiful! Makes me want one but I have a Lyman 0.678" mould so hard to justify buying a beautiful brass double cavity Mihec mould... wait a minute... I think I need one!

Longbow

I find myself weaker and weaker to resist any mold I like... I mean NEED. I just customs cleared an Ideal 38 Special mold online, I need that mold, The Real Thing, to try a classic "Super Police" 38 Special 200 grain load in a -72 Mod 14. A new mold won't do.

Don't need much reason for NEED these days oh boy...

[Petander]

DHL just interrupted my breakfast. They also called beforehand,twice.

I placed my Mihec order on tuesday at 4 pm. It's friday 11 am now. This is a very good show indeed.

[Petander]