Not me! Just trying to figure out how to print this for future reference.
I think what has come out of it is the fact that if you are deviating from the norm at all, eg; using fibre wads, black powder, etc, you really need to test if those pretty little smooken boomers that you have loaded actually perform worth a spit.
Thanks, great post.
4 Fingers, think on this a while, please.
Mako is dead-on. No dispute.
We're talkin' Old West type shooting, NOT clays which require the most performance from the shotgun, ammo, and the shooter. Most of the time you'll have to clang steel or perhaps knock down a target. For the most part, a BP shooter wanting to use a modern style shotgun can "get by" using brass shells. What I'm saying is give it a try ... you might be surprised how well that Stoeger works with a brass shell loaded with a good charge of Gunpowder and using card wads. As Hellgate mentioned and as the man at Circle Fly who took my order some 7 or 8 years ago specified, use the 11 ga. over-shot and spacer wads (lubed is MY preference) and then a 10 ga. over-shot wad. You'll get the best brass cased, BP powered, card wad shells made. Shot
placement is so very vital and seems to get forgotten in technical discussions of guns and ammo, so
practice can certainly help ANY shooting situation. Everybody who has joined in this discussion is an experienced shooter and I trust all the knowledge flowing from these shooters. Just don't get caught up in the technical details of weapon and ammo performance and then forget about putting the round, or in this case shot, where you want to hit!
Just give that Stoeger and brass BP shells a "shot," so to speak. You might find that the simplest solution works fine. I was very apprehensive when I first started loading my brass shotshells with BP. I had loaded cartridges for 30+ years and been shooting BP nearly as long, but I'd never put the two together, nor had I ever loaded a shotshell of ANY type. Yes, it still takes me about a half-hour to load a box of 25 which is a lengthy process, but it's VERY simple the way I do it. I have
zero specialized shotshell tools. I deprime with a decapping rod from an old Lee handloading set for 8mm Mauser. I did a 10 minute modification using my Dremel tool to my Bonanza (now Forster) Co-Ax press to use the priming feature built onto the press. I use a Lee dipper for both powder and shot and, because I actually was given a quart of Sodium Silicate, or waterglass, I seal the shells and I shoot those shells from an older (pre 1989 fall of the Iron Curtain) Tula hammer-double shotgun. 1oz. (by volume) of powder propels 1 1/8 oz. of shot. Works for me, and it fits my K.I.S.S. lifestyle. (In case you didn't know the acronym, it's
Keep
It
Simple,
Stupid)
Have fun!!