Advantages/Disadvantages of 3f with Shot???

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The thread is 5 years old but what the heck. I’ve been working up loads for my 20ga and 16ga fowlers and have noticed 1f does seem to give better patterns with some loads but you sacrifice velocity. So is it the powder burn rate or is it because the velocity is slower, it will take more experimenting to find out. I generally don’t break the chrony out with snow on the ground so it might have to wait till spring to do real thorough testing . For me 3f gave the worse patterns but it was a small sample size so can’t say this is a true pattern yet. I have switched my wads to one over powder wad and an over shot wad and have found this to generally give good results with all my loads.
 
The thread is 5 years old but what the heck. I’ve been working up loads for my 20ga and 16ga fowlers and have noticed 1f does seem to give better patterns with some loads but you sacrifice velocity. So is it the powder burn rate or is it because the velocity is slower, it will take more experimenting to find out. I generally don’t break the chrony out with snow on the ground so it might have to wait till spring to do real thorough testing . For me 3f gave the worse patterns but it was a small sample size so can’t say this is a true pattern yet. I have switched my wads to one over powder wad and an over shot wad and have found this to generally give good results with all my loads.
Ya there’s lots of variations you can try and use one I found works for me is 3 f works in guns under 20 gauge ( 28/24 ) .Also most times two thin cards over the powder and one thin one over the shot works good once you’ve found the powder charge your gun likes .
 
I tested the 2 thin cards in my guns and found a big reduction in velocity, enough to mess with leads. If I ran thin cards and some wasp wadding that brought the velocity back up but was a pain to load. Then I tried the over powder with a greased felt wad combo and it did well but eventually just went with a single over powder wad. This limits your shots before fouling is an issue but then I just swab her out. Lots of combos to test yet.
 
I have tried that and it does give better velocity but it seemed to blow the pattern, maybe mine was a little too thick and heavy? You would find the leather wads almost 35 yards away in some cases whereas as the over powder we’re 10-15 and over shot was 5-10. But leather differs a lot so another type might work well.
 
There is an OLD article maybe on here, about someone’s grandfather in Canada that used thick leather wads in his shotgun. And it was deadly, but you need to experiment with different wad/ shot combinations to see what works. I’m thinking a leather overpower wad, shot/ cornmeal mix, and a skychief oil soaked thick overshot wad? I’d try it but I’m too busy now!
 
Hi folks... I am still fairly fresh to the Smoothbore game (couple years now) and am exploring advice as much as possible to help in my journey. I played around with a 20 ga French Trade gun about 20 some odd years ago, but was pretty seasoned with a 50 cal Flinter though. I am currently shooting a .560 Early Trade Gun and am trying to work up loads for various critters. I will have a new 20 ga Early Trade Gun coming soon as well...

This question is about "shot" for both the fur and feathered kind. I am swimming in 3f and not a single can of 2f right now. I have a large stock of #5 shot to play around with. So my question as in the title: What are the Advantages/Disadvantages of 3f with Shot? Is 2f the general rule with shot? Do any of you use 3f for primary shot loads out of your smoothbores? Can you use less 3f in place of 2f for pushing shot? Very eager to here from you "experienced" Smoothbore shooters about this subject, and certainly do appreciate your wisdom. Joel
I use 1-1/2 F OE in my 12ga Pedersoli/Ed
 
Never used 3F in my fowlers. I only use 2F and I have no reason to change. I can shoot all day long spit patching with ease of loading. Sometimes Depending if low humidity I will use a breach scraper if I notice crud building up on breach but thats it.
 


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