Questions about shot loads

[Kev308]

Hello all, today I tried skychiefs loading process in my smoothbore. I have a 62cal flint fowler straight bore no choke.
Shooting between 20-25 paces from the target, loading 80 gr 3f and #5 shot. As I said I was trying Skychiefs loading. I notice that I had a hole in the center of the pattern. Years ago I tried shot loads and pretty much had the same results. I see from other posts most everyone is using 2f I use 3f for pretty much everything so I stuck with that. The photos show the board I was trying to hold 6 oclock on the bull. I reveresed the bull so the shot holes would show up better.
any suggestions? Is 3f too fast?

 

[Gun Tramp]

any suggestions? Is 3f too fast?

Change only one thing at a time during your load development. Which is almost impossible for me to do.Maybe try gradually lesser powder charges to see if the shot column is being overpowered?

 

[Kev308]

This load was 80 grains. I gues I could cut in five grain increments? This is for small game only, squirrels, rabbits.
thanks, Kevin

 

[smo]

Definitely try lower charges with fffg.

You should get good penetration for squirrels & rabbits with much less powder... depending on the distance being shot .

 

[Carbon 6]

How much shot are you using ?
3fff is what I typically use from .410 to 12 gauge.
Haven't tried the the sky chief load, Not a fan of fiber cushion wads. I prefer leather and an overshot card.

 

[Kev308]

I used the same measure for powder and shot
I think I saw a chart somewhere that said 80 gr is equal to 1 1/4 oz of shot

 

[Gun Tramp]

I used the same measure for powder and shot

A "square" load, often recommended as a good starting point. For my shooting, a ratio having a lesser volume of powder or a greater volume of shot (if possible) performs better.

 

[Brokennock]

Too much powder to start with. I'm loading 60 grains 3f under a 1oz. load of shot. And only going up to 65 or 70 for my 1 1/8 oz. turkey load.

You are sure you are loading the right components in the correct order? The only thing between shot and powder in the true Skychief load is one nitro card, nothing lubed, nothing heavier than that.

 

[oldwood]

Years ago I experimented w/ a 12 ga. had same problem of big hole in shot pattern . Eliminated all wads except one 1/8" card wad on top of the powder. used half of 1/8" card for the over shot wad. The favorite shot was #5 , 1 1/4 oz. and powder ffg same measure as shot by volume. Shot pheasant , grouse , rabbits , and squirrels w/o problems..........oldwood

 

[Kev308]

Too much powder to start with. I'm loading 60 grains 3f under a 1oz. load of shot. And only going up to 65 or 70 for my 1 1/8 oz. turkey load.

You are sure you are loading the right components in the correct order? The only thing between shot and powder in the true Skychief load is one nitro card, nothing lubed, nothing heavier than that.

Yes, I made sure the loading was done in proper order. I’m going out today I’ll try cutting back on the powder amount.
thanks!

 

[toot]

THE DUELISE 1954, uses a SQUARE LOAD. equal load of shot and the same load of powder.

 

[oldwood]

Wad column is paramount to keeping the shot cloud together. What you don't need is a thick wad column tumbling around mixed in w/the shot cloud. This scatters the shot and makes a hole in the pattern. Thin wads , like one .125 , or thinner 1/8 " do their job and drop out of the shot cloud more quickly , thus less likely to cause a hole. Spent a lot of range time to understand this. My previous expertise was with modern cartridge shot shells. Starting from that knowledge , and loading and shooting thousands of rounds of modern , I tried all there was as far as wad science that worked in modern shells and powders. Black powder pressures develop more slowly than smokeless powder pressures . With that in mind , there is a balance needing to be struck between not using less powder and shot , so the pattern is perfect , or using less wad density and equal shot and powder by volume, so killing power is maximized , and pattern is w/o holes. One other item I came across is use one shot size larger w/ black powder , than recommended for modern shot shell science. Hope this info helps....oldwood

 

[Kev308]

I tried cutting the powder charge back today, I didnt have time to really work it like I had hoped to. That will be another day. I used 65 gr 3f and the pattern shot lower on the board, it was better but a fair amount of shot failed to penetrate the board! We use homasote backers on our target boards amd the pellets were right on the surface!
I plan to get out this week and work on this in more depth. I’ll post my results when that happens
Thanks, everyone for your help!
Kevin

 

[TreeMan]

I never could get either two of my shotguns to pattern using 3f. I had some 2F on hand I tried and it was an immediate improvement. Most people seem to have good luck with 3F but I did not.

 

[Daryl Crawford]

With my 20 gauge smoothbore, I haven't tried 3f. That said, I found a 10 grain difference between powder and shot to help with my pattern. As I worked my load for pheasant, I loaded 70gr 2f, an over powder card, 80gr 5-shot, and an olive oil soaked fiber wad. This held my pattern pretty well. As I worked my turkey load the variables seemed to be 80gr 2f and 90gr of shot. I was really good at 20 yards, I was acceptable at 25, but would not push it past 25 yards.

 

[toot]

remenber that the critter doesn't know what shot it was that hit him / her. and I like SWAN SHOT, the little tail that hangs off of it rely plays hell on them.

 

[oldwood]

Daryl.........Just concerned ??? ............you said 80 grains of shot , or did you mean an 80 grain DIPPER by volume of shot ???? Huge difference in meaning of things which might confuse some folks new to the discussion???.........oldwood

 

[George]

remenber that the critter doesn't know what shot it was that hit him / her. and I like SWAN SHOT, the little tail that hangs off of it rely plays hell on them.

Swan shot is a molded shot, not those with the little tails. Those are poorly done Rupert shot, and a modern day misunderstanding of the history.

Spence

 

[toot]

if SWAN shot doesn't have little tails that are showed, then what is the shot with tails / tear drop shaped? how would one mold SWAN shot?

 

[toot]

would you please show a picture of Rupert, shot as I have never seen or heard of it. thanks'?