Bess shot loads

[Shine]

What are your best loads for an 11 gauge pedersoli Bess. I'm killing mostly snowshoe hare and ruffed grouse up here.

 

[tenngun]

When I had a bess in Wyoming and Utah I loaded 80 grains and equal volume of shot, I think it's 1 1/8 oz. rolled bunnies well did a few prairie chickens and my quail . Used greased blanket scraps as wads.

 

[nwtradegun]

my Dixie trade musket is a brown bess rework. I use 85 grains 3t a fiber wad, 85 grn., no. 5 shot for small game. the wads are circle fly fiber.

 

[BrownBear]

I use two loads for mine when hunting snowshoe or ptarmigan. For open country snowshoes and ptarimgan I'm using 1 5/8 oz of shot and the same measure of 1f. For work in tight cover on snowshoes I'm using 1 1/8 oz of shot with the same measure of 1f. If I'm low on 1f and have to switch to 2f, I drop the powder charge about 10 grains in both cases. For snowshoe hare I use #5 shot and for ptarmigan #6.

 

[Rifleman1776]

The beauty of a 'Bess is that it is not fussy. I am a low to moderate charge advocate. My BB, with shot usually had 1 1/8 to 1 /1/4 oz. of #7 1/2 shot and 70 (or less sometimes) gr. real bp. Nice groups and easy on the shoulder.

 

[RP3543]

1 1/2 oz of #6's with 80 grs of Fg (or 70 grs of FFg)
No fiber wads, just one over-powder wad and one over-shot wad. Patterns well in my Trade gun version.