#1/2 buck

[megasupermagnum]

I'm in line for a .310 buckshot mold and was looking for some possible loads. I'm thinking both full power and reduced load. It looks like they should be right around 10 pellets per ounce. To those of you currently loading .310 buck in 12 gauge, does it stack in 3's in wads? How about 4's without petals? I would like to load these in 2 3/4" federal hulls, and use both 700x and Bluedot.

[GhostHawk]

My #1's which are .300 self stack in 3's with no issues, room to spare.

Have not tried 4. I suspect you would need no petals/gas seal and that would open up patterns.

I don't think you will have much luck trying to get stacks of 4.
Mine all went into new Rio or Fiocchi hulls which I found very reasonable over at BPI.

Most of them got a scoop of buffer, corn meal in my case. An overshot card punched out of milk jug, then a crimp. The over shot keeps things sealed and tight and gave me just a little more height I needed for perfect factory looking crimps. They lock down tight and hard. Maybe 2 in 25 would try to come up. I soon found if when I finished 25 if I just left them in the loading block. Walked away for an hour. When I came back any problem children were quite obvious. Take the shell, tap it on the bench a time or 2 and recrimp. Done deal.

I'm using promo myself. Works fine for the essentially light tactical load of buckshot.
For heavier yes I would look at Blue Dot or Longshot. Both of those do go through the powder faster though.

[megasupermagnum]

That's good to know. In that case, I have a good idea what to expect for my low recoil load. I'm thinking 3x3 in a federal S0 wad with 16gr 700x. For the full power load, I'm not sure yet, probably just getting ahead of myself. I have both federal 12S0 and 12S4 wads, but there doesn't seem to be a good way to stack 1 1/4 or 1 3/8 oz. 1 1/2 oz would be perfect, but I don't see any load data with the 12S4 wad in a gold medal hull. I definitely want to use Bluedot. I don't like longshot, I shot a whole pound of it, and wont buy it again. Way too much BOOM, and I've had strange pressure spikes with it in both heavy shotgun and handgun loads. I'm thinking there must be a load with the gold medal hull, bluedot, BP12 wad with gas seal, and 1 1/2 oz shot (15 pellets)

[Hogtamer]

I've reposted this a number of times and just can't offer any better suggestion. Look at that target and that pretty much says it all, 50 and 62 yds. All components are listed in the thread.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?313695-Buckshot-PERFECTION They did not do well in son's 3 1/2" chamber.

[megasupermagnum]

Ballistic products advantages manual has 81 pages of data for 2 3/4" 12 gauge. Not a single load uses the BP12 shot cup, one of their longest standing products still in their lineup. They are really getting stupid recently with their data. I wish I had more data from the 90's. I did find what I was looking for in their 1984 buckshot manual, but that was the days of Hercules Blue dot. Still, they list 34gr Blue dot with 1 1/2 oz shot in the BP12. That doesn't sound too far off.

I didn't realize lee made a 6 cavity .311 ball mold. I'm in line for an 8 cavity, and that lee is half the price. I may just have to get one of those.

[Cowboy_Dan]

I have the Lee .310 mould and load them in my 16 ga. Easily stacks up in threes in the wad. Still working on a load for them, though.

[megasupermagnum]

If you can get 3 to a layer in 16 gauge, then I don't see why 3 wouldn't fit in a BP.

[megasupermagnum]

I was playing around with #2 buck today. I found 16 pellets fits perfect in a Federal 12S4 wad. Unfortunately, I could not find any data with buffer, so I loaded it without. The exact load with my adjustments are as follows...

2 3/4" Federal gold medal
Federal 209A
16 grains 700X
Federal 12S4 + 1/8" 20ga felt wad (under shot) + 1/8" 12ga cork wad (over shot)
16 pellets #2 buck (just under 1 1/8 oz) stacks in 4's
fold crimp

listed as
1,100 fps
7,900 psi

I'm thinking the exact same load with buffer would be safe, but I am not confident enough to try. Hopefully the same load with 9 pellets of .310 buck fits well in stacks of 3, although it would be closer to 7/8oz.

The heavy load was more challenging. I found 24 pellets of #2 fits well in most shot cups, stacked in 3, which is just under 1 5/8oz. I was unable to find exactly what I needed, but I did a ton of cross referencing, and loads with buffer were running in the 34 grain range with 1 5/8 oz of shot. Un-buffered were up around 40 grains. The closest load I found was in the BPI turkey ranger manual.

3" Federal PB
CCI 209
34 gr Bluedot
BPGS + Turkey ranger wad
1 5/8 oz lead
buffer
fold crimp

I found that it will not fit with the BPGS, even when I dropped powder down to 30 grains. Instead of using the turkey ranger, I used the Ranger Plus, which is basically the tougher clone for steel shot. Both the Ranger Plus and Turkey ranger are discontinued and replaced with the Ranger elite BTW. With a bunch of trial and error, I found one that fits well.

3" Federal PB
Federal 209A
33 gr Bluedot (I shoot this identical load with 1 3/4 oz #F buckshot with 32 grains)
Ranger Plus wad *80 pounds wad pressure*
24 pellets #2 buck stacked in 3's (705 grains) I'm hoping 16 pellets .310 buck stacked in 2's fits
buffer
overshot card
fold crimp


I was also turned onto Precisions Reloading spherical buffer. That is what I used today, and I have to say it is by far the best buffer available. I used BPI buffer for years, but this PR buffer just falls into the shot. Hardly any taping or vibration is needed at all.