If you shoot enough of those Packets of shot, you will get a slug- a packet that won't open within 25 yds. The other hole is being created by one or more of those thick wads.
MY suggestion: Buy some over Shot Cards, which are .010" thick. ( made from the same cardboard from which shirt backs are made.) They have a smooth, slick, surface on both sides.
I would load your gun as follows:
Use the OP wad- that thick, grey wad you are now using-- but if you intend to use that thicker brown wad, then lube the outer edge of it, to help soften your fouling. I like to put a OS card down on top of this softer, " cushion " wad, in order to keep small shot from imbedding in the softer wad. Keep the Brown wad thin by cutting the cushion wad in 1/2 or 1/3s. That lightens the weight and keeps it from following the shot column when it leaves the muzzle. Don't soak the cushion( brown ) wad in oil or a water based oil/cleaning solution, as that makes the wad way too heavy, and it will follow the shot column.
Then put the shot load in the barrel. I would tear off the front of that paper cartridge in actual use, even with the muzzle, so that the shot will separate from the paper cup easily. Then put a OS card( or 2) on top of the shot load.
I also grease the bore after seating( or while seating) the OS card on the shot, by greasing up a cleaning patch, and running it down the barrel. It protects the bore from rusting on rainy hunts, and allows the shot- and shotcup here-- to slide down and out the barrel faster. The remaining lube softens the fouling that comes behind.
The reason for using these wads is to: 1. Provide a good gas seal between the powder and shot; 2. To provide a firewall to protect the shot from being cut, or disrupted by gases; 3, to provide a flat slick surface to push the entire column of shot out the barrel evenly, so you get good shot separation at the muzzle, and 4. To hold the shot column in the barrel(s).
You can accomplish all these things simply using the same loading procedure, but using OS cards ONLY. The OS cards should have an off-center hole poked into them with an awl, or nail, to let air pass through the hole, and protect the all-important edges of the cards. Simply align the cards, in use, so that no two adjoining cards have the holes lined up with one another.
A BP shotgun is a 25-30 yard gun for killing birds, unless the barrel is choked. You extend killing distance by using larger shot sizes, and a higher volume of shot to keep the number of pellets in a pattern close to what you get using smaller size shot.
You reduce the powder charge when loading MORE shot, in order to keep the pattern tight, when you don't have choke in the barrel to help. Larger shot sizes weigh more, and carry pellet energy further, than smaller shot.
For instance, with my modern 12 gauge shotgun, with its choked barrel, I am quite happy to shoot 1 1/8 oz of #6 shot for pheasant hunting. But, with my 12 ga. MLer, without choke, I use #5 shot and load 1 1/4 oz of it. I have killed pheasants at a paced off 33 yards with this load.
The purpose of a " cushion " wad is to do just that: to cushion the shot when the powder charge is first ignited. The lead pellets are soft, and want to remain in place. The Back couple of rows of pellets are being pushed harder on ignition while the remaining pellets in front of these rows still want to remain in place. That causes the back row pellets to be made square, and they lose their Ability to fly through air as well as a round pellet does. This results in these back rows of shot dropping out of the load and pattern in the first 20 yds.( Try shooting a load of shot through paper at 10 yds, and you will see the pelles as they are falling out of the main pattern.)
The Cushion wad tends to reduce this damage, giving you more shot in your patterns.
Choice of powder also will help- often more than using any cushion wad. For instance, a shotgun can easily ignite 1Fg powder, or 2Fg powder. A lot of shooters like using FFFg powder in their shotguns, because of the sharper "crack " they hear at the muzzle when the gun is fired. There is NO DOUBT that FFFg powder burns faster, and gives faster velocities to your shot column. But, that extra velocity comes at a price of MORE bottom row pellets being distorted, and your pattern spreading faster in the air.
This is great for Skeet shooting, but not very good for shooting Trap, or hunting most flushing birds. Pass-shooting birds, like waterfowl, and dove, can be taken with both kinds of loads, and powders, provided that you recognize the limitations and wait for the birds to come in close. :hmm: :thumbsup:
I met a man at Friendship who was shooting a big 10 gauge shotgun at the trap range. His loads were 1 1/2 oz, or more, of shot. He was using Fg powder, because it smacked the shot less on ignition while all that shot was being moved out of his barrel. He got much better patterns using Fg powder than if he used FFg, much less FFFg powder.
If you are shooting small bore shotguns, on up to about 20 gauge, choice of powder is not going to make much difference, considering the small amount of shot normally shot in these guns, and gauges. However, when you get up to shooting more than 1 ounce of shot in a load, its something to consider and test. Its the total weight of the column of shot sitting in the barrel that provides the inertia and force that distorts the back rows of shot when fired. Reduce the total weight of the shot charge, and there is less distortion of shot. :hmm: :thumbsup:
