Makin' "Punkin' Ball" loads in Magtechs w/BP

[litl rooster]

Thanks fer the pics 'n the post, pard.

Didja have fun? 

Enny day at the Range is better than WORK

[Delmonico]

I think most modern buckshot loads use the powdered plastic in around the shot, it improves patterns by keeping the balls from banging into each other and getting out of round.  Works good also with smaller shot.  (If doing this with Nitro powders, only use established loading data or at least loads that are way below max pressure for the gauge, it will raise pressure a couple tousand PSI, depending on the load.)

I think there is still a few rounds of #4 Buck in mag 10 cases in my ammo locker, 54 of them per shell, popular to some extent around here for coyotes.

[Silver Creek Slim]

All this talk about punkin' ball shooting got me curious about modern slugs. So I cut apart a Remington 3" and Federal 2 7/8" slug shells. The Remington is on the left. It weighs 438grs. The Federal weighs 435grs. I didn't realize the slugs were hollow base.




Slim

[litl rooster]

 The wad on the left does it have a hole all the way thru?

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Sure looks like it, don't it' pard.

Maybe so's they will will work in rifled barrels as well as cylinder choked ones.

Or mebbee they are hollow ta make you an' me ask questions.

[Silver Creek Slim]

The hole is only in the top black plastic wad which is about a 1/4" think. Under that is a 1/2" fiber cushion wad like ya use fer BP loads.

Slim

[Delmonico]

Well Slim, now you really opened a can of worms here.  There are at least two, maybe three reasons the things are hollow.  But first to them grooves that are called rifling.  They have been tested and retested over the years to see if the make the projectile spin or not, either by gripping the barrel and spinning or by working like a wind vane and spinning in the air. What happens if any thing at all seems to depend on who is testing and maybe the results they want to find. 

I read something some where, written by someone from the ammo industry who said they were there to let the slug swage down easier going down a choked gun.


Now of course the hollow base will make it easier to bump up to bore size to seal so hot gases don't go past, but the wads also do that.  The hollow also allows it to swage down easier going through a choke.  But perhaps the most important reason is that with the majority of the weight forward it tends to make the projectile fly with the proper end forward, kind of like a badminton shuttlecock.  This more than anything makes the projectile work. 

I'm lucky, I've never really felt the need to play with these much, living in a state that at least for the present will let you shoot deer with a bird gun if you really want to, but still allows you to use the proper tool.

[Hoof Hearted]

So if my bore is .728 and I have a mould that throws pure lead round balls at .735........would they create too much pressure in an un-choked, modern steel 12 ga barrel?

Inquiring minds wanna know

[Delmonico]

More than likely you won't even get the shell to chamber if you get the ball in the case with out ruining it, beyond that yer on your own, although an oversize ball is not near as likely to cause problems down on the breech end as it would when it suddenly slows down at the choke.  That acts more like mud or snow in the end of a barrel, something we all know is not a good thing.

One must remember a shotgun barrel, even a modern one is not designed to handle much pressure, max pressure for modern shot guns is still in the 12-13,000 psi range. 

[Hoof Hearted]

Delmonico..........

The ball actually is loose in the magtech brass!
And the loaded round fits in the chamber fine!
Now I just gotta "grow some" before I test fire the darned thing.............unless I get more feedback?

I am actually thinking about backboring to about .730-.732 so I can take advantage of this Round Ball mould!