Plastic shot wads

[Jim Seaman]

I try really hard to stick to the writings of V.M. Starr for my smoothbore shooting. Even so far as using overalls so I can put shot flask in one hip pocket, powder in the other one, caps in a front pocket, wads, only overshot ones, in the other pocket. I use 2 OS wads for my OP wad, it certainly worked for him.

Thank you

 

[Jim Seaman]

I use the wads from BPS that are for steel and tungsten shot. I use these for bismuth and lead shot using 1 overpowder 1/8 nitrocard 1 half inch felt wad then the bps cup with shot then 2 overshot cards. Sometimes I use buffer in the shot and have never had any issues with melting. This I use in a Pedersoli 12 double, TC Treehawk 12 and a TC New Englander 12. Hope this helps, Reds

Thank you

 

[Jim Seaman]

I try really hard to stick to the writings of V.M. Starr for my smoothbore shooting. Even so far as using overalls so I can put shot flask in one hip pocket, powder in the other one, caps in a front pocket, wads, only overshot ones, in the other pocket. I use 2 OS wads for my OP wad, it certainly worked for him.

Understood. Thank you

 

[Jim Seaman]

Early 1970's when I got bored w/ shooting modern competition trap , bought a 12 ga. and 10 ga. Pedersoli sbs double. Had a quantity of modern shotshell components left over from reloading thousands of modern trap shells , so just started experimenting , and using the modern wads in the Pedersoli 12 ga. Far as I could see , most every wad worked well , except for one brand. Still remember this failure......Put up a patterning target to test some George Leonard Herter , World Famous shotgun wads. I laugh.....At the 20 yd. target patterning paper , the wad and shot made a perfect key hole , with no shot pattern. I still laugh out loud. , My immediate reaction was , from knowing almost nothing about this subject , was , "could this be used to kill a deer? I'de just never experienced anything like that. l However , learned something from this event. Don't use any of the old school , thicker plastic wads , as the initial pressure spike in a modern shot shell would be high and abrupt enough to cause the old type plastic wads to open on firing , whereas black powder builds pressure more slowly. My favorite wads turned out to be the thin winged plastic wads from Balistic Products. This wad could be used in any smooth bore from 14 ga. , to 10 ga.. Don't know why , but never had problems w/ plastic buildup. Also , never used any plastic wads in m/l shotgun competition shooting just hunting.

Good information. Thank you

 

[Eterry]

Thank you

Here's the link
http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/starr.html

 

[TCMonts]

Just remember there are no absolutes in this sport. they may work for you, and they may not. You'll never know until you try them in your gun.
I would add that V. M. Starr's loading was intended for choked shotguns. It's the easiest way to deal with chokes and tends to give a good pattern. With shot cups (plastic or paper), lubed cushion wads, Sky Chief loads etc. it's sometimes possible to outshoot a fully choked gun with a cylinder or IC gun. My own go to load is The V. M. Star load 95 % of the time because 1. most of my guns are choked and 2. I like to only carry one or two types of cards. I'm seriously considering cutting down to just thin card wads. Never thought when I was paying more money for choked guns that one day i would be wanting some cylinder bored guns to play with.

 

[Jim Seaman]

Just remember there are no absolutes in this sport. they may work for you, and they may not. You'll never know until you try them in your gun.
I would add that V. M. Starr's loading was intended for choked shotguns. It's the easiest way to deal with chokes and tends to give a good pattern. With shot cups (plastic or paper), lubed cushion wads, Sky Chief loads etc. it's sometimes possible to outshoot a fully choked gun with a cylinder or IC gun. My own go to load is The V. M. Star load 95 % of the time because 1. most of my guns are choked and 2. I like to only carry one or two types of cards. I'm seriously considering cutting down to just thin card wads. Never thought when I was paying more money for choked guns that one day i would be wanting some cylinder bored guns to play with.

More to ponder. Thank you.

 

[TTT]

I tried it today with my cylander bore 20 ga. The first pic is my normal load. 60gr. 3Fg, over shot card, 1/4" fiber wad, 1 1/4 oz #6 shot and topped with full 1/2" fiber wad.

Pic #2 is the same load except with a shot cup on top od the 1/4" Wad. Both with and without the wad over the shot card. Every attempt left a hole in the center of my pattern.

 

[Jim Seaman]

I tried it today with my cylander bore 20 ga. The first pic is my normal load. 60gr. 3Fg, over shot card, 1/4" fiber wad, 1 1/4 oz #6 shot and topped with full 1/2" fiber wad.

Pic #2 is the same load except with a shot cup on top od the 1/4" Wad. Both with and without the wad over the shot card. Every attempt left a hole in the center of my pattern.

Thank you for the info to include photos. Very interesting. What was the distance?

 

[Justin.P]

I tried it today with my cylander bore 20 ga. The first pic is my normal load. 60gr. 3Fg, over shot card, 1/4" fiber wad, 1 1/4 oz #6 shot and topped with full 1/2" fiber wad.

Pic #2 is the same load except with a shot cup on top od the 1/4" Wad. Both with and without the wad over the shot card. Every attempt left a hole in the center of my pattern.

I should maybe try for a pattern with a hole like that........... I always seem to lead just a little to much, or not quite enough.
That might work out perfect for a guy like me.

 

[TTT]

Thank you for the info to include photos. Very interesting. What was the distance?

I was shooting at 20 yards. Now I did not try other over shot materials so that may change things.

 

[Jim Seaman]

I was shooting at 20 yards. Now I did not try other over shot materials so that may change things.

Got it. I’m a little surprised that the shot cup didn’t perform better. Looks like it had a bit of a hole in the center of the pattern. Very educational.

 

[Trigger]

That's cool.. the shotcup was no good there.

I didn't think it would do allot. But I though it wouldn't be worse

 

[TTT]

I tried both with the cushion and cutting it off so it was just the cup. I will try the same load but with a regular over shot card or nitro card. I'll note also that when I used a nitro card over the powder, I got the simular donut effect.

 

[User_Dan]

Try a smaller powder charge, that should not blow out the center of your pattern

 

[TTT]

Try a smaller powder charge, that should not blow out the center of your pattern

If I don't run the plastic wads the pattern is good! With this load the hole appears only with the plastic cup.

 

[ZUG]

I reload for modern shotshells in both 20 and 12 gauge so I have a bunch of each (thousands of them). I use a stiff heavy paper wad (about 0.020" thick) over the powder then I smear some Crisco on the base and side of the plastic wad before I push it into the bore then I add the shot and an overshot wad. Seams to work well for me.

 

[Jim Seaman]

I reload for modern shotshells in both 20 and 12 gauge so I have a bunch of each (thousands of them). I use a stiff heavy paper wad (about 0.020" thick) over the powder then I smear some Crisco on the base and side of the plastic wad before I push it into the bore then I add the shot and an overshot wad. Seams to work well for me.

Lots of good info coming through on this thread!

 

[Old Shepherd]

After you have done your due diligence, and get your gun to pattern, you may find that the combination you used for one size of shot may not work well with another size. I have an acquaintance who's shotgun likes #5 shot. It patterns well and carries well to his happy pheasant distance, but won't perform well at all with #7.5's for trap or light upland. This isn't a bad thing. Just make sure you record your loads so you can do different things with that gun.
I use plastic shot cups for steel shot but not for my trap or barnyard loads.
I just learned how to make my double barreled CVA 12 gauge shoot well with #4 buck shot. That was way different than the other loads I use and I tried plastic wads and several different combinations to get there.
Have fun figuring it out.
Old Shepherd