Patched Shot Revisited

[Eric Krewson]

I finally go around to unloading my 62cal trade gun yesterday. It had been loaded for two months, since the opening day of turkey season, no turkeys cooperated and offered me a shot.

I picked up an old target(already shot once with holes in the neck marked out), placed it a little over 20yds away and took the shot.I was very pleased with the result, 8 shot, circled in red, in the vertebra and head. The patching strips are what I recovered after the shot.

My load was 70gr of 2F, 3 over shot cards with random holes punched and offset, 2 crossed .018 patching strips 1 1/8" wide, 5" long, soaked in olive oil, 1 1/2oz of #6 shot and topped with one over shot card.

About 20 tests of this load always produced the same results, 5 to 9 shot in the vertebra or brain at 20yds. This load turned my cylinder bore gun into almost a full choke gun.

 

[BrownBear]

Note to self:

I gotta try those strips rather than cutting round patches!

Excellent, and thanks for the report. :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

Just wondering about something...IMO, 20yds is not all that far away...and it seems like 1.5oz #6s would give you multiple hits in skull & vertabrae at only 20yds without the patching strip.
Maybe not 8-9 hits, but if it consistently puts 2-3 in those same vitals, thats a dead turkey every time.

Have you tried that exact load at 20yds without the patching material?

 

[George]

Just wondering about something...IMO, 20yds is not all that far away...and it seems like 1.5oz #6s would give you multiple hits in skull & vertabrae at only 20yds without the patching strip.

Mine does. Twenty gauge, 46" barrel, cylinder bore, loaded with 80 gr. 3F, 1 hard card, 1 cushion wad and 1 5/8 oz. #6 shot, my average was 5-6 shots in the skull and neck bones at 25 yards. Worked in the field, too, I think I've taken 3 turkeys with that load in the 20-25 yard range.

Spence

 

[CoyoteJoe]

My thinking too, 20 yards is pretty close and it would be a poor load which was not effective from a cylinder bore at that range. A full choke would have obliterated the target.

 

[Eric Krewson]

You guys should see my my unpatched pattern at 20yds, well, here is a picture, same load with out the patching.

I am not a beginner at this but I have found my old Gustomsky trade gun doesn't shoot a good pattern with any shot, wad or powder combination and I have tried them all.

The only shot I haven't tried is modern heavy shot or bismuth and I don't intend to. I only use old fashion chilled lead shot.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Interesting pattern. I thought my 1 3/8th oz. with 65 grains was a bit much for a 20 ga.

I would like to see your whole pattern at 20 yards sometime. My problem has been a not to smooth pattern with any load/wad/cup combination I have tried. Too many holes.

I do believe you are onto something with your cross patches. More importantly it works for you.

Thanks for the post.

 

[BrownBear]

My problem has been a not to smooth pattern with any load/wad/cup combination I have tried. Too many holes.

That's the stinker with cylinder bore guns in my experience. I'm not chasing skinny turkey necks, so I'm more interested in how consistently and how far I can throw a smooth pattern. Since I use the edges of my patterns a lot to "fringe" rabbits, I'm especially keen for smooth edges rather than ragged. That's where I see the most potential for keeping shot from scrubbing on the sides of the bore, however you manage it. Really hard shot smooths the middles, but the edges suffer if you don't minimize bore contact. As dense as the core is on Eric's pattern I'd say the pattern would stretch to 30 and beyond for rabbits, but only if it was smooth out to the edges.

 

[Eric Krewson]

OOPS! I posted something that wasn't true, senior moment. Seems like a friend gave me some modern turkey loads with copper plated lead shot, I cut open the cases and used the shot for the crossed patch load. What I said about using only old fashion chilled lead shot was a misstatement. I did find I got 2 or 3 more shot in the right places with copper plated shot.