Shot/Wad technique

[FlintlockHunter]

What is your prefered method for loading shot? Thanks.

 

[silverfox]

Depends on what you mean. For my 20ga I have some plastic capped viles that when dipped in a cup of shot will give me 1oz of shot when filled to the top. Same for powder and I get 80gr. of powder
Now if you mean what to load. I first load powder then over powder card,then a 1/2 of and overpowder lubed wad, Next shot and finally over shot card. Cap and fire. Repeat all over again. Your gun should never be more that 1 shot dirty so you should be able to shoot all day without cleaning.
This is what works for my gun but yours may be a little different. You will have to shoot it and find out what it likes.
Fox :hatsoff:

 

[Stumpkiller]

I generally take my time with shot loads. Pour the powder, fully seat an over powder wad. Lube and seat a fiber wad (or used a pre-lubed one). THEN pour the shot from an Irish shot shake and seat a notched overshot wad. I notch the overshot card and have a deep "X" filed into my rammer tip to allow any air to escape. Before I picked up that habit I had overshot cards "pop" off from the air compressed behind them.

Kind of annoying to lower the muzzle and have a bunch of shot pour onto the snow in front of you. :cursing:

 

[Britsmoothy]

I just pour powder into my antler measure to 3/4 full or a shade more,dump that. Then reach into my pocket grab 3-4 o/s cards and ram. Then pour shot into my measure and dump with a single card on top. Job done. I remember reading an old account about an English gentleman whome had forgot his wads for a partridge shoot but had with him a Times newspaper and so used thet and through the course of the day shot scores of birds so speed was of the essance. I have tried this method on pigeon and it works just fine :thumbsup:

 

[CrackStock]

Well, I depart on one area. I like a paper container for my shot so as to avoid leading the barrel and having shot spin out of the pattern from contact with the barrel on the way out. I have used various paper and card stock for various shot. I would suggest that you experiment with your gun, distance and shot for best results. I found that twice around a 5/8 dowel rod with paper bag from the store and bottom twisted with the top torn even with the muzzle worked well. Killed rabbits and squirrels. I am not much of a wing shooter.

CS

 

[FlintlockHunter]

Do you think a pre-wrapped paper shot bag or paper shot cartridge would be the ticket? I am currently only using Wonder Wads with 2 over powder and one over shot. It works but I am a bit worried about non-toxic shot damaging my barrels. Any thoughts?

 

[Joel/Calgary]

Do you think a pre-wrapped paper shot bag or paper shot cartridge would be the ticket? I am currently only using Wonder Wads with 2 over powder and one over shot. It works but I am a bit worried about non-toxic shot damaging my barrels. Any thoughts?

Bismuth/tin shot will not damage your barrel any more than lead. Steel and the sintered tungsten-based shot can, and need fairly substantial protection. Shot with tungsten-based materials in a polymer or a tin matrix is not supposed to, but I haven't seen any tested.

Cartridges can be a challenge to get to open consistently. Because of my fowler's rough bores, I tried a variety of things for shot protectors when I first got it. I settled on a 2-petal shotcup design like the Alcan Shot Protector, because it is simple to make, easy to use, reliable, and also makes efficient use of materials. For my 16ga with a bore circumference of just a hair over 2", drywall spark tape happens to be a handy material - inexpensive, convenient dimensions (exactly twice the width I need), and tough enough when used with lead shot.

The basic shape is a rectangle, with a width of 1/2 the bore circumference (or just under) and length of the bore diameter plus twice the height of the shot charge, possibly with cuts or cutouts around the "base" in the centre of the rectangle to make folding easier. With heavy paper (spark tape or construction paper) or some light card-stock, you don't even need the "base" elaborations - just wrap it around the "former", even it up, and fold the "corners" under the base.

To load, after I've rammed the over-powder cards then inserted the cushion wad in the muzzle, I fold/wrap it longways around the end of a 5/8" dowel (sort of like a musket-cartridge "former" crossed with a short-starter, slightly smaller than bore diameter) and square it up, insert it on top of the cushion wad, and push it down far enough to hold the shot. I've never had these fail to open evenly.

Because Bismuth shot is somewhat harder but more brittle than lead, I usually use a light card stock (business-card weight) rather than the spark tape to give it a little more protection from the rough bores. If you make the shot protectors 1/4" or so wider than 1/2 the circumference, the edges overlap when you load them, so there's no chance of shot touching the bore.

A really interesting material is the slick shiny clay-finished 7-10 mil card stock used for phone book covers, some advertising flyers, and laser-printer photo paper (*NOT* the plastic-finished ink-jet photo paper). I've started working on steel-shot loads and on alternatives to the requisite heavy plastic wads. None of the materials were tough enough in any reasonable number of layers until I tried the phone-book covers. This was the last thing I tried and I need to get out again to test some more (can't shoot steel shot at my normal range), but used with the slick/shiny side out, even the outer layer had no holes scrubbed through with 1.1/8oz Fe#5 over 3.1/2dr FFg. Even with my rough bores, it looks like I'll only need at most 2 of the 2-petal shot protectors nested at right angles to give adequate protection with steel shot, and 1 with the overlapped edges might be enough. I don't know about how they would work with the extra abrasion of chokes or with the irregularities of Hevishot.

I don't think I'll ever have a steel load I like for geese, but lower-cost duck loads, and maybe even a somewhat elaborate cartridge for a swatter speed-load, seem prospective.

Joel

 

[FlintlockHunter]

So if Bismuth won't harm the bore then can I load it loose like lead?

 

[Joel/Calgary]

So if Bismuth won't harm the bore then can I load it loose like lead?

Yup - lots of people have.

Joel

 

[16gauge]

Kind of annoying to lower the muzzle and have a bunch of shot pour onto the snow in front of you.

It can also be kinda expensive if your loading bismuth for waterfowl!