Shot shell loading

[Montana Slim]

Mr. Ketchum,

I figure your load must have blown a hole down the centerof your pattern....those KDs where some of the easiest to put-down (& reset) as I've encountered.

I suggest increasing the shot to 1 1/8 oz, using the same amount of powder. This will increase the resistance upon ignition (better pressure / velocity) fill-out your pattern & put more goodness downrange. To pattern, how about some cardboard cut to approximate the size of typical KD targets and place at 15-25 yds.

I don't believe you "missed" the target by not aiming correctly, but I'll share for the benefit of pards reading along & might need some additional tips:

You also may want to find the POI of your shotgun vs. your aim. Do this with a larger piece of cardboard or sheet of paper. Make a center mark on the target stand 10 yds back & fire standard commercial birdshot loads. The wad will hit the target & make a hole (repeat for the other barrel....this is the POI for each barrel. Try this several times to see if it is the repeatable & on-target. This is similar to finding out whether your rifle/pistol are "zeroed"...Consistently shouldering the shotgun, head placement, etc are key to shotgun shooting as your dominant eye is the rear sight.

I know your not a big fan of the shotgun, bit shooting it will help your score.

Slim

[Dick Dastardly]

Here's a trick I learned from hard hitting duck and phesant loads.  I took apart some of the shells just to see why they patterned so tight.  What I found is that the shot was buffered.  So, I tried some of that same buffer, Ballistic Products has it, and my patterns really got religeon.

Since I roll crimp all my bp shotshell ammo I can write on the over shot card.  I simply put a "B" on the buffered ones.  From my lil 20ga, they're a death ray out to 40 yards.  Last weekend at Hang um High I consistantly took down knockdowns that many others had trouble with.  I was shootn' a lil 20ga and others were shootn' 12 ga.

DD-DLoS

[Delmonico]

Buffering is a wonderful thing, it dates to at least the middle 19th century, of course they used ground bone meal instead of that plastic sawdust we use today.  One caution, it does raise pressures a bit so use caution when working with this and Nitro loads, never bed a load that is close to maxiumum pressure. 

Another item I picked up that helps patterens is to take a bit of 220 grit wet and dry sand paper and right at the end of the muzzle put this in and turn it enough to put a few spirals at the end of the muzzle, but not enough to remove any metat.  The wads will hit this and slow down a fraction, this keeps the wad from hitting the back of the shot string.  The shot flies truer because of this.

Shot with higher antiomony will also help, the best shot one can buy is the high antimony shot that is nickel plated, this comes from Italy and can be bought through Ballistic Products.  It is a bit expensive for CAS?WAS but is worth every penny in the hunting fields.

One other note, the high antimony shot will also have more of a chance to bounce off of steel targets.

[Delmonico]

Almost forgot, Will are you using the same wad in the brass shells as the plastic ones?  If so the larger id brass shell might not be sealing as well as gas may be leaking past the was and disrupting the shot column a bit.

[Paladin UK]

Sunwapta Haze ........

Use a larger shot size or 2) use 1/3 more shot than powder. Either will tighten the pattern somewhat but doing both tightens the pattern the most

I could not agree more my little ol 16g (Sarah to her friends ), wuz givin my terrible patterns till I added more shot and that cured my little prob!!

Paladin (What lurvs his scatterguns ) UK

[Will Ketchum]

Almost forgot, Will are you using the same wad in the brass shells as the plastic ones?  If so the larger id brass shell might not be sealing as well as gas may be leaking past the was and disrupting the shot column a bit.

No I'm not.  I use 12 gauge Alcan wads in my plastic hulls but 11 gauge over powder and cushion wads and 10 gauge over shot cards in the brass.  I am going to try more shot.

Will Ketchum

[Dick Dastardly]

Ho the fire,

It's the number of pellets on the steel that pushes it over.  No matter what, ya gots to put a lot of pellets on the steel to make it die.  I jest shot "Hang um High"  and there were a couple of tough poppers.  My lil 20ga laid 'em down pronto.  Many big testostrone twelves couldn't get the job done.  So, I'm tellin' ya, it's the total mass of lead on the target that makes it tip over.

DD-DLoS

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I agree with DD.  I never understood the facination in CAS for sawed-off's.  Better to keep it full length, and use it often, like hunting or on clay bird ranges.  Actually, the one club match I won top overall, was the one I used a 1953 vintage mod 97 with 30" full choke.

[Will Ketchum]

I pulled the over shot cards and added as many 7 1/2s as I could fit in and still seat the card.  Most of them took a full Lee 1.3cc dipper.

Last weekend I usd them and I knocked every knock down shotgun target offered.  I even got 4 out of 5 on the shotgun poppers (which I normally miss)  I must admit one was a "volunteer" in that it broke off the tosser.

Thanks for your help.  Next time I'll use more shot from the start.

Will Ketchum

[litl rooster]

 Will, I may have missed it some where.  Are you lubing the fiber wads? If so you may want to place a card over the wad before loading shot. However a shot cup would do the same thing. I found on a couple of occassions the wad was blowing thru the shot. I would agree with the others extra shot. One other thing I found on Knock downs, I aim for the center downwards towards the base on the target. This seems to get them for me.