shot cushioning

[acemedic13]

What material and what techniques are you folks using for shot cushioing? I have seen and read about different materials.



Also, what kind of results are you getting from these materials/techniques?

[Johnch]

Dose your load call for a filler or buffer ?

If not adding buffer especaily will cause the pressures to jump a lot ( a bad BOOM can happen )

If the load calls for a filler like a felt wad

I use a foam disk cut from 1/8 or 1/4 sheet foam I get as packing ( FREE!!!!)
Or just a part of a foam P nut

But again
If the load dosn't call for it ....DON"T

Shotgun loads run at a lot lower pressures than rifle or pistol loads and have lots less margin of safety for taking and handling overloads
Changing 1 thing from a printed load
Can result in being WAY over safe pressures

A freind has the stuff to check pressures
So I use it to work up steel shot loads
I changed from a Win 209 to a Fed 209 , that ran 9,000 PSI with the Win 209
The Fed 209 produced 13,700 PSI
Over a 50% increase in pressure with just a primer change
So please stick to printed loads / pressure checked loads

John

[tommygirlMT]

The spherical teflon buffer sold by Precision Reloading out of either SD or ND (can never remember which) is the best buffer you can have. The BPI #47 buffer is second best and everything else is behind that.

What the previous poster said about using buffer in loads that call for buffer is correct - with two exceptions IMHO. First, light for caliber loads that have both a low shot weight and a low pressure rating - Example: 12ga. 1oz. load listed chamber pressure = 9,000-ish. You can safely buffer that load and it will raise the pressure but not enough to push it up their to the point were it's not safe. Secondly - if you develop your own load from scratch you can incorporate buffer and configure the load to work with it. Note the second option is only for folks with a lot of experience under their belt and a good strong test gun (the 10ga. gun I use to develop my own loads from scratch is proof tested at 40,000) and know how to read pressure head expansion with a micro-meter.

[tommygirlMT]

By the way the pressure increase when changing to a Fed primer from a Win primer doesn't suprise me one little bit. I use Fed primers all the time for my 10ga. because they are so much hotter and ignite those big charges of slow burning powder so much better.

[acemedic13]

Great info. Thanks. I did a little charge experimenting before.......yeahhhhhh....I wont go over that again. I was thinking about going lower on my shot charges, hence why I was asking about buffering.

I noticed that when I made even a very small change in shot weight or charge weight, I had big differences in pressures. I had a long talk with a fellow member here and he helped me out quite bit in this area, but I have yet to try a reduced load. I have always(with one exception) stayed with all printed data. ......Again, Thank you for your time in making these posts.....Joel