.62 caliber loads

[CoyoteJoe]

I'm with you except for the tin can bit. Turner Kirkland first published that bit of advice about forty years ago and he probably got it from some even older old timer. Tin cans used to be a lot thicker and tougher than they are today. I know my dad used to say that a black powder .22 short from a rifle would not penetrate both sides of a new tin can. That was a new tin can circa 1915.
I think a much more realistic test is to fire a modern shotshell of known performance into an old phone book and note how many pages it will penetrate, then do the same with your ML load. :grin:

 

[CoyoteJoe]

You've probably noticed that not much of this has anything to do with your original post requesting loads for a cylinder bore 20. :haha:
You can safely load a 20 bore up to maybe 1 1/2 ounces of shot and so long as you don't drop too far below an equal volume (110 gr.) of 2f you should also have penetration comparable to modern loads of the same size shot. That is assuming you have good wads, at least two hard card over-powder wads and a thin overshot card. I haven't played with hornet's nest (seems a lot of people read Sam Fadala) but I like the assurance of good, tight fitting card wads.
You'll have to adjust your loads for good pattern but don't stray to far from the equal volume measure or your velocity may drop way down. A load of 3 parts powder to 4 parts shot by volume is about as slow as I'd go and even that is probably under 1000 fps, equal volumes loads run 1000-1100 fps and modern shot-shells run 1150-1350 fps for comparison.
Good luck with the turkey hunt and I hope you do keep your good record! :hatsoff:

 

[Itegorm]

Good point on the tin can quality being differnt at differnt times. That being said I still find it to be a pretty good judge for me (incidentally I picked up the idea several years ago from a guy who taught me to reload shotshells). I do like the phone book idea though, I shall have to give that a try. Thanks.

 

[Itegorm]

Wow, the deer and turkey record is pretty impressive. Persoanlly the only guns I hunt with anymore (outside of a bit of pest control) are smoothbore and blackpowder. Over the last few years I have taken several deer and turkeys with them as well as uncountable small game. In fact the last three years my turkey has been taken with a matchlock caliver.

 

[Ridge]

I load mine with 70 grains of 2f and an equal amount of 4's and 6's all mixed together.

I use the card's but no wads.

It's hell on rabbits but I don't see where a 20 gauge gets much range.

 

[The Baron]

I load my .62 Caywood Type "C" with 90gr. FFg and about 1 1/2oz. #6's. I tried a heavier powder charge, but I didn't care for the big blast part of it and figured it wasn't necessary anyway. I also tried heavier shot charges, but 1 1/2oz. patterned just as good as the heavier shot loads in my gun, so I opted for the less shot/higher velocity loading (as long as the patterns are the same, I wanted to keep all the velocity I could get). I also tried 4's, but my .62 liked 6's more (my 12ga. New Englander likes 4's). I plan to try some loads with 3F, becasue I really like the idea of same powder for load and prime (seems more convenient, to me).

I have shot 2 Toms with my New Englander (90gr. FFg and 1 3/8oz. #4) and 1 Tom/1 Jake with an old 11ga. Percussion fowler, but I have not proven my .62 on a Tom yet becasue I just got it last spring. In my 12ga. I use a plastic shot cup, but in my .62 I want to be more PC. I tried paper shot cups, but I just couldn't get any consistency with them. It was probably just me not folding them correctly, but I got frustrated and gave up. :cursing:

So, my .62 loading is an overpowder card, I pre-lubed wad, shot and then 1 o/s card. Based on the turkey patterning target, it looks like the load is only a certain thing to about 25 yards. I plan to try a bit more patterning with 3f and also maybe try some shot buffer (corn meal) as I read that might help.

I used to find patterning my "modern" shotgun was a chore, but every shot with my flinter is fun, so patterning is a good excuse to make smoke. I still have the "first time flinter" stars in my eyes when I shoot. :haha:

 

[roundball]

And here's a good read on turkey hunting with a .20...
[url] http://members.aye.net/~bspen/TwoToms.html[/url]

 

[The Baron]

Thanks for the link, roundball! :hatsoff:

In that article, it is interesting that the author "missed" his first try on a turkey at 30 yards. With a 2oz. load ahead of only 80gr. powder, I wonder if his problem wasn't partly due to the load being too slow and getting insufficient impact/penetration. He did better with 1 5/8oz. load - which would certainly be much faster. Interesting... :hmm: