Shot loads

[Steve-ALA]

Does anyone here load equal amounts of shot and powder by volume ? How does these loads pattern for you?

 

[Sparkitoff]

I do that almost all the time. Same scoop for powder and shot. In my 24-gauge shotguns I am using 7/8-oz. 2 cards over powder ("nitro" or over-powder) and 1 over-shot card on top. One has zero choke in either barrel, but patterns like a Skeet choke and is very even and full pellet dispersion. The other 24-gauge has zero choke in one barrel and just .001/2 in the other. While it should hardly make a lick of difference, there is a little more than 5% more pellets in the pattern of the slightly tighter barrel. Both throw round, evenly dispersed patterns. One is my dedicated woodcock gun and this year I shot better than ever with about 1:6 hit to miss ratio. Last year and prior I used a cushion wad or 3/4-oz shot and the ratio was much worse. In the 12 and 13-bores I used either 1-oz scoop or 1 1/8-oz scoop, 2 over-powder cards and 1 over-shot card. Good, round stationary patterns and excellent field performance on flying game. I shot grouse, pheasant, sharptail, prairie chicken and quail this year and my effectiveness is as good as a modern cartridge/gun combo. One exception, I loaded 1 1/4-oz scoop of powder and shot for a crane/goose hunt. The gun has some choke, and for whatever reason, it patterned tighter with a heavier load of powder and shot. In that scenario, a little tighter pattern was welcome. The only time I used less powder, more shot was with decoying ducks. While that gun with #7 or 6 lead patterns great with 1 or 1 1//8-oz scoop of powder and shot, the pattern with #5 and 4 Bismuth were clearly tighter and denser with less powder more shot.

 

[IronHand]

When I was competing with BP trap I always used a square load, same measure for powder and shot. This was for safety and convenience. In a day I could easily shoot 60+ loads using 3 different gauges in 4 different guns. That means if I used different volumes for powder and shot I could have up to 8 different measures. Too much chance of a mistake.

I did pattern my guns and the square load patterned well. If you pattern your gun and you need separate measures, that's fine. A square load is usually recommended as a starting point and most people find that it works well.

The old axiom is, for more velocity (energy) load more powder than shot, for denser patterns load more shot than powder.

IronHand

 

[TCMonts]

I do for small game and birds. Keeps things simple, don't have to carry as much stuff in the field some nitro cards and overshot cards.
If you just want to carry over shot cards
Use 2 or 3 over powder and 1 over shot. Square loads work better for me with no cushion wads. Add an oil soaked cushion wad on topl and you have a "Skychief" load that works well for many people here. YMMV