Converting "regular" loads to buckshot

[John in WI]

I have a couple of quick safety questions about converting a "regular" birdshot load to a buckshot load. A couple of books, and also Ballistics Products "Buckshot Loading III" say that you can safely convert loads with very little, if any change in pressure. But then it goes on to say that the problem is fitting the big pellets in the hull.

It sounded to me like the safety variables here are the primer and powder (type and weight), and the weight of the shot.

So you could use something like a Ballistics Products "Brush Wad" (short cushion section), a gas seal, teflon sleeve, and then whatever you needed to bring the shot to right level for roll-crimping. And you could safely put that over a powder charge/ primer for the same weight of shot (from a published recipe).

Does anyone have experience converting "regular" loads over to buckshot? What change in components cause dangerous pressure increases?

[beagle]

Unfortunately, it's not that easy. You'd think reloaders would have solved this problem by now but they haven't.

In loading buckshot, as you mention, the bigest problem is finding a wad that will hold the size buckshot in the quantity you want to load.

Then, you have to see if this column will fit the cases you have with the powder charge you're going to use and still leave sufficient case mouth to crimp.

Then there's the notorious "buckshot bulge" as many wads are too thick on the sides and cause bulges which result in hard chambering. Some folks remove the wad petals.

All of this was simpler back in the old days when we used paper hulls and paper and feltan bluestreak felt wads that came in various sizes. These came in various thicknesses and you didn't have to worry about wad side thickness. If you needed more crimp, you simply split the wad with a pocket knife. Those days are gone though.

Now, it's a matter of getting your cases and matching components. But, It's still fun./beagle

[nanuk]

Beagle: can one just measure the inside diameter of the existing wad, after you pour the shot out, and match a buckshot load to the diameter?

2x2x2x2 or 3x3x3 as long as they will lay flat in layers, and just fit?

[UNIQUEDOT]

Does anyone have experience converting "regular" loads over to buckshot? What change in components cause dangerous pressure increases?

You don't change the components if the buckshot doesn't stack well in the wad...You modify them. It's as simple as cutting the petals off the wad and just using the gas seal plus a thin teflon or mylar wrap. Some folks use no wrap at all, but lube the balls with alox. I have never had problems with unlubed balls and no wrap. All buckshot loads used to have "bare balls".

[John in WI]

Thanks!
I am going to have to do some more homework. I think I'm going to base my decisions on what the local reloading shop has on hand. If I can match those components to some published recipes, hopefully I can put something together. Otherwise the shipping costs are going to kill me.

[Four-Sixty]

Another way to approach this "problem" is to find a used press. I was able to buy a lot of 3 on Craigslist for $100. It took about $25 in parts to get two of them going. Since MEC supports their products with replacement parts so well, if you watch the used ads you may be able to get a used press on the cheap. You can then just scrounge hulls, buy primers, powder and wads. I know the point of this thread is to convert factory loads. I just want to throw out there that there are tons of used shotshell presses out there you can make use of. I use a Lee PPM to weigh and throw my powder charge. I don't use the charge bars at all.

[John in WI]

I have been doing a lot of looking on Ebay and Craigslist and haven't come up with many leads so far. I used to own a LeeLoader for 12 gauge, and I was suprised to see them bringing $40 on Ebay! They were kind of neat--but not $40 neat.

Anyway, I think I came up with something. I found out that I can stack 2 layers of 7 #F pellets under a layer of 4 #1 pellets, if I trim about 1/4" off the petals (so that I can fit the big .30 #4's in there).

I weighed it up today at work, and that payload comes out to exactly 7/8oz. My reloading reference has a recipe for a 2" shell that pushes that payload at about 1100fps with a shorty "Eurowad" from BP. I'm hoping that the wad cup has about the same internal dimensions as the one I have been playing with.

It would be a slick short range load I think--1100fps is nothing to sneeze at. And with 14 .22" and 4 .30" balls flying towards the target, it would be nothing to mess with.

[beagle]

You can do that and get by with it. You'll not get the "standard load" of pellets im it though. By that I mean not what the factory says a 00 load should contain and the payload will be lighter which should be safer.

But, that don't mean they won't be useable. I once got a box of Peters Victor 00 buck loads with low brass. I'd never seen any low brass buckshot loads. They were the finest shooting loads I ever used and we used them and a variety of other loads to break up a pack of feral dogs that hung near the town dump one summer.

I'm not sure what is available in buckshot loads commercially right now but everything I've seen is hot loaded and you really don't need that much power or recoil for normal loads.

The only buckshot shooting I've been privy to was in NC when one of my dad's prison guards shot an escaping prisoner from a road gang. He got away through a corn field and he shot where the corn was moving at about 70 yards. One pellet of #4 buck hit him right above the belt and penetrated about an inch after plowing through green corn for that distance. He told dad it felt like someone had hit him in the back with a ball bat.

I've removed shot and substituted round fishing sinkers before and recrimped and they shot all right but accuracy was lacking. Same theory. Give a couple a try./beagle





Beagle: can one just measure the inside diameter of the existing wad, after you pour the shot out, and match a buckshot load to the diameter?

2x2x2x2 or 3x3x3 as long as they will lay flat in layers, and just fit?

[John in WI]

`Thanks Beagle. That's what I'm thinking. Since buckshot is not legal for deer here in WI anyway, I'm trying to come up with a decent, low recoil/noise round. Pretty much for blasting jugs and phone books.

My buddy gave me a coffee can about half full of .22 balls and another about half full of .30 balls. I think he used a Sharpshooter ball mold, and some unknown mix of wheel weight lead, some roofers lead, and a couple feet of solder. I like the idea--with a solid hit, it would be 4 .30 holes (at about 1000fps), and 14 .22 holes.

The other cool thing is that the shells would only be 2" long, so I could stuff an extra one in the magazine tube.

[x101airborne]

I have been using a lot of buckshot (mainly #2) for pest control. When I ran out of buck, I went through a couple boxes of rusted duck loads and recently I had to find a sub for that too. My solution is to use my 2 3/4 spent cases, a Win 209 primer, a 2.2 cc scoop of 700X powder (approx 18 grains), a harvester AA12 wad, 14 pellets of #4 buck, and another 2.2 cc scoop of corn meal on top of the shot vibrated down. Recoil is light, it is very effective on skunks and opossums, and the brass on my hulls does not hardly expand. These are shot out of my 870 upland magnum with a Primos Long Range Steel choke. I am getting 14 inch patterns on top of my bead at 50 yards. Extremely happy for the price and results.

[John in WI]

that sounds like a good recipe. So the corn meal is acting like a buffer for the shot? I saw somewhere on the web that one of the high-end manufacturers uses flax seed in the shot to bring it to the perfect volume for roll crimping. I saw some at the grocery store the other day and it looks like it would work great--they are tiny and really hard.

[beagle]

Man, back in the old days, we really got into things with paper hulls, paper and felt wads, etc. We'd split wads, cut the crimps off paper shells and glue in overshot wads and drive on. Some of you guys would gag at the results. Crimps not fully closed and shot dribbling out? Glue it.

Those were the days when berdan primers were available for about 1/2 the price of battery cups. Take a 1/16" punch and a piece of metal with the right size hole in and drive the primer out and replace the anvil and a berdan primer. Worked just fine too.

Use round fishing sinkers for slugs. Yeah man.

But, today I'm wiser ....and older./beagle

[John in WI]

Beagle--you would have made a good pirate I think! Didn't they load the old blunderbuss with a handful of powder, and whatever metal they could shove down the bore?

No--the goods from BP just came in. I have a real, published recipe, a real, high quality roll crimper.... The hulls are new and pre-primed, new wads...

I just thought of something though. The recipe is for a 2" shell, which would be great for my low-recoil 7/8oz load. But I never thought about it--it is safe to fire a 2" shell in a 2 3/4-3" Mossberg, isn't it? You run into problem firing, lets say, a 3 1/2" in a 3"?

[beagle]

John...It was almost a blunderbuss. I traded for an old single barrel 12 guage that had the barrel chopped to where it was barely legal. I was maybe 14 or so and dad wouldn't let me carry a .22 like the other kids so I fastened a strap around the barrel and stock and that was my fishing and rambling gun.

Dad worked for the prison department so when he replaced 12 guage buckshot at work for the guard guns, he brought it home and we'd cut open the bad ones for fishing sinkers and the ragged but shootables were mine for the old 12 guage. This was before the days of plastic shells and paper shells got beat up and required replacing about every three months because they got wet and were constantly handled every day.

I had a lot of stuff to experiment with and I did./beagle