20 bore BP shot shell pressures?

[Longknife]

Hello guys, as title says, I am looking for a 20 bore BP shotshell pressure chart. I can find 16, 12 and 10 ga, but no 20. Any body have this info? Thanks, Ed

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Hello Longknife, can you please post what you found the BP shotshell pressure chart for 10, 12 and 16 gauge so as to give us some idea what it looks like !

Thank you.
Best regards,
Ajay K. Madan
Super Blazing Sabots

[Longknife]

Sure can! here is the complete article, very interesting, Ed


https://www.shootingtimes.com/editorial/blackpowder-shotshell-loading/361504

[longbow]

Well, that was interesting!

I was going to type that as far as I know 20 ga. shotshells really didn't get much use, if any, before the use of smokeless powder. 10. ga., 12 ga. and 16 ga. were the common big bores and 28 ga. and 32 ga. were the common small bores... not that I am a reliable reference source, just what I've read over the years.

So, I did a search to try to find when 20 ga. shotshells became common, looked for "vintage" BP 20 ga. shotshells, shotshell history, etc. I turned up amazingly little on the history of shotshells. Even my copy of Cartridges of the World doesn't have any significant info on shotshell history.

Certainly .62 cal. muskets and 20 ga. fowlers were common in muzzleloading days but 20 ga. cartridge didn't seem to be common during the early BP cartridge days. According to Cartridges of the World 20 ga. became much more common after smokeless powder and the 3" chambering because it could duplicate most 16 ga. loads but in a somewhat smaller/lighter package.

So, not a lot of help here! But now I am curious as well so will be interested to see what info you get on this. I am sure someone here knows and has some history.

Good luck!

Longbow

[SuperBlazingSabots]

Great, thanks for sharing that.

Best regards,
Ajay K. Madan
Super Blazing Sabots