Shot Cups

[Rebel]

With the choked barrels you may do fine without a shotcup of any kind. Try The Starr approach, 2 or 3 overshot cards, the shot and and overshot card, powder first of course. It may pattern just fine with no cup at all.

 

[jh2oman]

I've heard some people say they cut off the bottom cushion portion of regular shotgun reloading wads, (i.e. WAA12, Power Piston) and others mention nothing of removing this portion.

Indeed this was a great post -- lots of tricks here I need to try.

Regarding the removal of the cushion from a molded plastic wad, I've seen some reports showing how the wad then tumbled while still containing a significant portion of the shot.

Anybody ever try paper shot columns in a rifled bore as a foraging load?

JW

 

[16gauge]

I worked out a similar solution for my trade musket to what RussB did; instead of using brown paper, I used old index cards and the base wad was a 28 gauge wad. After filling these cups with shot, I capped them off with left over material from the index cards. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to test them yet due to the weather lately. I, too, am looking for a turkey load. I also plan on testing them with bismuth shot for waterfowl as well.
The nice thing is that when they are completed, the are just slightly undersized for a 20 bore, and should slide down the barrel nicely!

 

[Dave K]

I tried all kinds of shot cups, modern plastic, rolled index cards and post it pads. I ended up going back to just the standard old over powder card, cushion and over shot card. For some reason my shot cups would not open ( tried slits in the sides and everything in between) and I was shooting a solid slug of shot. I ended up with great patterns for turkey by just leaving the shot cushion out all together. What ever you do, spend time patterning, that is the proof you need to know. :results:

 

[wtilenw]

I ended up with great patterns for turkey by just leaving the shot cushion out all together.

I have heard this before. That cushion wad must act as a spreader wad. Ive heard that the saturated wads are heavy and actually pass up the shot coulmn for a short distance and open up the pattern. Some people are just using 1/2 the cushion wad and some are using the unlubricated ones and just putting a small amount of lube around the perimeter instead of saturating it.
:hmm:
Idaho PRB

 

[musketman]

Some people are just using 1/2 the cushion wad and some are using the unlubricated ones and just putting a small amount of lube around the perimeter instead of saturating it.
:hmm:
Idaho PRB

I have cut a lube groove in my 1/2 inch wads using my thumb-nail, like the lube groove on a maxiball...
I use a paste lube in conjunction with it and they seem to work great...

 

[Hoyt]

Caywood recommends using 3 or 4 thin overshot cards between powder and shot.

 

[Rebel]

Dave K, i have used post it notes in my .20 ga. and they split and opened for me. The main thing is to get the shot cup a little bit under bore size so they slide down easy and they split fine as they leave the barrel.

Bushwhacker, i use a half a cushion wad. Seems to work good. I have also started saving a loading step by gluing the overpowder wad to the cushion wad before i lube the cushion. The old time shotgun Guru V.M. Starr recommended using 2 or 3 over shot cards over the powder and no cushion wads.

 

[biliff]

One of the easier solutions is a Ballistics Products LBC wad. They're meant for steel shot so there's no cushion to deal with and they seem to fit down in the bore without too much difficulty. They do need to be slit before loading, however. They tend to improve patterns somewhat dramatically in my guns with cylinder bores patterning out closer to modified (this is with two slits on the wad). If you don't want this much choke you need to play around a bit. They also seem to be of a tougher material than the lead shot wads and don't seem to melt as much.

 

[Rebel]

I use them in my double .12 ga for waterfowl with an overpowder wad under them to help them seal better. Get hardly any plastic in the bore from them.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

I started using the slit plastic steel shot cup in my .62 (20 ga) fusil de chasse and it worked good for #4 steel shot. I then found the long steel shot cup holds exactly 1 1/4 oz. of #6 lead shot and throws a terrific pattern. If I am forced to use the plastic for steel shot, I really don't feel too bad about using it for lead. ::

 

[Rebel]

I measured the #5 lead shot out of a 3" steel shotcup and found that it was close to 1 5/8oz of shot.

 

[The Baron]

I just revisited this post, as I am heading out to try my T/C New Englander 12ga. for the first time tomorrow morning. My plan is to work up a good turkey load. The information in this post (especially the pics from you, Russ) were extremely helpful as reference. Thanks! :master: