Hunting Squirrels with a smoothbore

[fvigo]

Hi

I have a 20 ga Tulle Fusil de Chasse that I want to hunt squirrels with. I have #6 shot and 2F powder. I also have all the wads and cards. I would greatly appreciate some suggestions on what type of load to use. Thanks

 

[Rebel]

Try 70-80 grs of powder, 4 thin overshot cards,
1 1/8-1 1/4 oz of shot, and another thin card wad or 2 on top.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Try 55 Grains of Goex FFg powder, 4 OS cards then 90 grains by volume of shot, and 2 more OS cards. All the cards need a pinsize hole poked off center in them, and then stack the cards so that the hole DON'T line up with each other. You can lube the barrel with a lubed cleaning patch after you seat the 2 OS cards over the shot. That will reduce or eliminate the leading of the barrel, soften the fouling, and make a slick surface for the shot to glide over. The result is nice round patterns. Keep your shots to 25 yds or less, and you will kill a lot of squirrels. That load is 2 drams of powder and 1 1/8 oz of shot, more than enough to kill squirrels at reasonable ranges, using #6 shot.

 

[roundball]

Hi

I have a 20 ga Tulle Fusil de Chasse that I want to hunt squirrels with. I have #6 shot and 2F powder. I also have all the wads and cards. I would greatly appreciate some suggestions on what type of load to use. Thanks

This is an excellent article written by someone who knows his stuff through real life's experiences...any of his suggestions that I've tried have worked as advertised...you might get some good ideas from reading it...
[url] http://members.aye.net/~bspen/SmoothboreLoads.html[/url]

 

[jethro224]

A load almost identical to Pauls suggestion works well in my GM .62 smoothbore. The only difference is I use 60 grains of powder. Kills squirrels dead! :thumbsup:

 

[paulvallandigham]

I got my suggestion for that 2 dram load from the article written by V.M. Starr, which you will also find at the Black Powder Notebook site by Bob Spenser. Read his article, than then read the Starr article. Between the two you will have a sound basis to begin a load.

You won't find anything in either of their works about lubing the barrel after seating the OS cards. And you won't find anything about using only OS cards. Give credit to Iron Jim Rackham, a member here for his advice on using only OS cards. Credit for the lubing of the barrel after seating your load goes to hundreds of chunk gun shooters and slug gun shooters. I just tried it out in my fowler, and my brother tried it in his, and it works. I think V.M. would be proud to know that others have continued to find ways to improve the groups of ML shotguns.

 

[jethro224]

I kinda discovered the lubing part by accident because I didn't have the proper size end for my rammer... all I had was a .54 jag end. Worked very well with a couple of lubed patches over the end and the lube really helped. :thumbsup:

 

[fvigo]

Thanks for the info. I am curious why the use of so many OS cards and no cushion wads. Is there some reason for this?

I look forward to trying out the suggestions. I am hoping the weather and my life cooperate with me.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Yes, the thin cards weigh almost nothing, and when they exit the muzzle and hit the air, air goes through the pinholes and separates the cards, so that they rapidly lose speed, and fall down away from the back of the shot column.

Most people don't know that a column of shot fired from any gun will remain mostly intact until its 9 feet from the muzzle, regardless of choke, speed, or gauge. Test this on paper to believe it.

That means that for that first nine feet, the column of shot is acting like a solid slug, with a vacuum trailing behind it. Heavier wads are " sucked " into the back of the column of shot, like bumper cars, and the result is the same thing that happens when a cue ball hits the rest of the balls on a pool table: they go all over. The usual result is a donut hole shaped pattern.

By switching to using OS cards, instead of the 1/8" thick OP wads, and a cushion wad that may be made even heavier if its soaked in oil or a water soluable solution such as Moose milk, the lighter OS cards will drop away and not bang the back of the column, allowing the pattern to form naturally and be round in shape. Greasing( Lubing) the barrel after seating the OS overshot cards( 2 of the OS Cards), you grease the barrel so that the shot on the outsides of the column slide over rather than rub against the barrel as the shot exits the barrel. That allows the pattern to be more round, and the shot evenly disbursed throughout the pattern.

Those are the reasons to use OS cards, and take the rest of the advice we have given. Of course, please do your own pattern testing. All we can do is tell you what has worked for all of us collectively. A couple of other members have recently tried the same advice and found that their patterns improved as predicted. They were kind enough to come back and report their results for other members to read.

Best wishes.

 

[fvigo]

I am going to definitely try your suggestions. What you said made sense. I don't have much experience with shot but have experienced the hole in the pattern in the limited shooting I have done.

 

[roundball]

An Oxyoke 1/8" prelubed wool 'wonderwad' is excellent as a light weight overpowder wad, provides some cushion for shot at setback time, adds lube to the bore, and doesn't blow any patterns...proven in patterning my .28ga and .20ga Flint smoothbores.

Unless you just want to bother counting out os cards, putting pin holes in them, etc, etc...the Oxyoke 1/8" wads are far easier to deal with...

 

[Britsmoothy]

Personally I find ramming 4 cards down a doddle with no pin holes in them. Trapped air escapes through the powder/nipples. The last one over the shot is the problem one, well it ,s not a problem as long as you forceably ram it to the point that the air is forced to break the seal and escape. Sure is good when wanting a swift reload to not have to fiddle geting differant wads out :shake:

 

[roundball]

Guess I've been spared all that trauma...never missed getting a shot ready when I wanted it because I had to "fiddle" with anything

 

[paulvallandigham]

YOu don't want to curl the edge of these cards, as that defeats the purpose of using them. With the pinhole off-center in each card, you can load them easily, and the air is either pushed out the vent, or nipple, or comes back up out the barrel. The OS cards that are run down last seat much easier and provide a good seal if they have pinholes to allow the air that would be trapped under them in the barrel to get out through the pinholes. That also leaves those edges in tact, which first contributes to keep the shot column in place in the barrel if you are shooting a DB shotgun. Then, it provides even resistance so that the powder burns more efficiently, and leaves much less residue. Finally, if you lube the barrel after seating the last OS cards, the edge seals scrap and distribute evenly and excess lube in the barrel in front of the load, so that the barrel is evenly lubed, and any real excess is shoved out the muzzle so that it does not affect the shot column's performance in the air. (3)Three good reasons to put pinholes in the cards, and (3)Three good reasons to lube that barrel( prevents rust, allows the shot, or cup to slide down the barrel rather than rub against it, leaving lead that will ruin future patterns, and give you something else to clean out of the barrel, and give you better, rounder patterns.)

 

[slowpokebr549]

I recently joined this forum with much the same questions. I have found that Paul's advice will yield the tightest patten,ie.overshot,peirced cards, and a lubed barrel.But, as I discovered on my own and Roundball will back up, lubed felt wads used as overpowder and overshot will work nearly as well.I lube them with wonderlube or my own mix and they seem to keep the fouling soft.It is up to your gun though, they are all individuals and will tell you what it likes on the patterning board.

 

[roundball]

I recently joined this forum with much the same questions. I have found that Paul's advice will yield the tightest patten,ie.overshot,peirced cards, and a lubed barrel.But, as I discovered on my own and Roundball will back up, lubed felt wads used as overpowder and overshot will work nearly as well.I lube them with wonderlube or my own mix and they seem to keep the fouling soft.It is up to your gun though, they are all individuals and will tell you what it likes on the patterning board.

Correct...VM Starr's findings about stacking several thin OS cards over powder have their roots back at a time before "thin prelubed wool wads" like Oxyoke's wonderwads were manufactured and available...wonderwads produce the same result plus the other benefits you mentioned.

Its understandable that people who buy into a certain system want to advocate that system, however, the issue is that a single system or methodology is rarely ever the only system or method...and sometimes not even necessarily the best system depending on a circumstances.

Those who choose to use several OS cards over powders should continue to use them...it's simply not the only choice currently available...a single Oxyoke wonderwad is outstanding...as are Circle Fly 1/2" prelubed cushion wads sliced into halves with a razor blade.

Conversely, a full sized cushion wad in a Jug Choked barrel actually has the opposite effect...tightens the pattern instead of blowing it..so across the board statements are tough to force fit everywhere.

:thumbsup:

 

[paulvallandigham]

I agree. There are more than one system that may work. The Wonderwads just cost more than the OS cards. In guns with muzzle mounted chokes, or screw in chokes, they MAY be harder to push through the choke undamaged than the OS cards, which are thinner. That is the reason to consider using the OS cards if you have a choked gun.

The cushion wad works better in a Jug Choked barrel, and Roundball describes, because the length of the cusion wad, holds the powder gases back while the shot enters and begins to exit the choke area. By keeping the gases back, so that they can't get around the cushion wad and disrupt or blow through the shot column, the column gains the benefit of the jug choking, and gives good patterns.

If I had a shotgun with a jug choke that was long and tapered, I would look to using more than one cushion wad, to match the length of that long choke area, to get my best patterns. I also would use an OP wad under the cushion wads. to do the job of sealing the gases behind all the wads and shot. And, I would continue to lube the bore after seating the shot, so that the shot slides over the barrel, rather rubbing lead off on it.