My buck and ball load

[Ithaca Gunner]

I've admired buck and ball loads for years and even had a Harper's Ferry 1842 musket to play with at one time, but it wasn't until recently I tried it in a modern shotgun. The gun is an Ithaca '37 with a 20" smooth bore Deer Slayer barrel attached, range is 30yds, and the load consists of Remington STS 12ga. hulls, Winchester 209 primers, 23gr. of Unique, a "Brush Buster" wad, 3 .31 round balls cast from a 2 cavity LEE mold, a thin 20ga. nitro card, a LEE .69 round ball, finished off with a standard star crimp. I tried this in a standard shot cup wad with poor results, the .69 ball is just too big to use with a cup type wad.

At 30yds the .69 round balls grouped at 2.5" for 4 shots, ( all my testing that day was with 4 shots at 30yds) exactly half of the .31 balls hit the paper along with the .69 balls, (6 out of 12 on a 14X20" paper). I now have some nickel plated 00 buckshot and this should make an even more effective load.

70304

[OnHoPr]

Just a thought, have you ever considered trying to make the load with the .31's in front. I realize that it is a 20" true bore and to put half of the 31's on paper ain't bad. But, as soon as the big ball leaves the barrel it hits air and starts to slow down. It also possibly creates a draft and the smaller 31's that are in the draft along with less air resistance can catch up to the 69 ball and bounce off of the ball away from the initial path. I am referring to just the first short distance after leaving the barrel. I have seen this phenomena in slow motion film or high speed camera. Just a thought.

[Hogtamer]

That's pretty stylish IG. You might try a hard card under the buckshot and keep them from digging in the op wad and deforming.

[OnHoPr]

If your ball is .690 and your bore is .729 you should be able to use a wad with pedals that are about .020 thick. There are wads with pedals in that thickness. You could try WDWWs for your .31s, that will make them tougher.