Skychief Smoothbore Load Recipe........

[Skychief]

Having been asked about the load and its makeup enough times, I will list the recipe here for reference sake.

I'm ignorant in the the ways of posting a link to some of the older threads regarding the load. If any of you are willing and able to do so, all the better. Some are a couple years old, maybe older. It seems some members are having difficulty finding them.

Powder charge
Nitro (hard) card
Shotload
Thin overshot card
Full fiber cushion wad*

*The cushion wad needs to be SATURATED (the wetter and heavier, the better) with oil. I like to use olive oil.

The load seems to shine best when used in cylinder bored guns.

Best of luck to all, Skychief.

 

[Britsmoothy]

How are the turkey shivers chief?

 

[Skychief]

I'm getting along pruudy good Nate. It's jost mine ovr mattter. If I tri hard, I can cosuntratee on mosst thins well enuff to get buy. Grammr and spelleng includddedd.

Bess regaard, Sykchief.

 

[Britsmoothy]

I'm getting along pruudy good Nate. It's jost mine ovr mattter. If I tri hard, I can cosuntratee on mosst thins well enuff to get buy. Grammr and spelleng includddedd.

Bess regaard, Sykchief.

Lol

 

[Darkhorse]

Sorry to hear about your emergency surgery Skychief. Getting old ain't for sissies.
Posting a link from an older thread is a piece of cake. Load that old thread then go to your browser, this is the very top line of your computer screen, above the website, where it shows the address of the page you are looking at. Put your pointer on that line and right click, it will turn blue and a little square drops down giving you several choices. Left click on "Copy", now go to the page you want to add the link to and put your pointer where you want it to go, right click and a box appears with more choices, put your pointer on "Paste" and left click. It should be there.

 

[stewart.leach]

Just making sure I understand- the thick wad goes on top of the over shot wad?

 

[hinamanra]

Skychief,
How did you ever come up with this load process, was it a theory you had thought of or were you just tinkering around with loads?

 

[Skychief]

Stewart, the sloppy cushion wad is the last thing to go down the pipe.

Hinamamra, I found it while trying everything I could think of for better squirrel hunting loads. Believe me when I say that a LOT of shot was sent to the patterning boards. I kept tweaking things until I was satisfied that I was out of practical ideas.

The squirrels and turkeys have hated me ever since.

Best of luck, Skychief.

 

[Brokennock]

Having been asked about the load and its makeup enough times, I will list the recipe here for reference sake.

I'm ignorant in the the ways of posting a link to some of the older threads regarding the load. If any of you are willing and able to do so, all the better. Some are a couple years old, maybe older. It seems some members are having difficulty finding them.

Powder charge
Nitro (hard) card
Shotload
Thin overshot card
Full fiber cushion wad*

*The cushion wad needs to be SATURATED (the wetter and heavier, the better) with oil. I like to use olive oil.

The load seems to shine best when used in cylinder bored guns.

Best of luck to all, Skychief.

It would be great given the frequency that this load gets mentioned, and the question gets asked, if @Zonie would make your post a sticky, and/or add it to the section of, "How to articles, charts, and technical references."

 

[Brokennock]

Just making sure I understand- the thick wad goes on top of the over shot wad?

Yes, yes, yes. This is what makes the load so unique, and that said thick wad is as saturated with oil as it can get.
Many theories abound on why it works. But, does the why matter?
Many naysayers, have posted that it can't work,,,, but haven't tested it, or tested it with with parts of the load missing or incorrectly placed, then claimed no improvement. Those who have tested it as written have said their patterns improved.
I have not tested it with my paper shot cartidges/cups, but, that is my goal in the next couple weeks, weather permitting.

 

[Eric Krewson]

If I had known about this load back when I tried to hunt with my cylinder bore Gustomsky trade gun there would be 6 dead turkeys to my credit. Man, that gun shot a terrible pattern except with a paper shot cup, it seemed like almost every time I took a shot at a turkey the dang thing would slug. The shot cups would fail to open more than 50% of the time.

With the Skychief load in the same gun a turkey wouldn't stand a chance at 20 yards, no shot cup involved. I just found this out a couple of weeks ago when I drug out my old trade gun to test it.

The bad patterns at the time did inspire me to build a really nice jug choked English fowler turkey bun, I lost my best turkey hunting land years ago and haven't had a turkey in front of my new gun so far. I am limited to public ground now, there is a hunter behind every tree during turkey season.

 

[jrmflintlock]

The turkeys where I hunt curse the Skychief special out of my 20 gauge Fowler!! Bang flop!!! A little over a month to the opener!!! Woohoo!!

 

[Zonie]

I revised the title a bit and made this a "Sticky".

 

[Skychief]

Thanks Brokennock and Zonie.

Hope this will be a handy reference for anyone looking for the load. My bigger hope is that they find success with it.

Best regards, Skychief.

 

[Britsmoothy]

I tested it too. Years ago now and yes it does work. Photobitchet won't let me have my pictures but they don't show it up much any way.
Think I tried it with a ball too but can't recall the results.
It may not be as much an advantage for wing shooting as it is for stationary targets and it could be argued that comment is baloney. What I mean is a fibre wad, any wad that is designed primarily for a cartridge suitable for a breach loader is simply not needed for a muzzloader so by rights I don't have any wads for my muzzloaders except what I can carry over from reloading 12g and 20g hulls.
Would I buy conventional wads for use by Skychiefs method for shooting rabbits and pheasant on the wing, flushed and close by, probably not. Would I if I had to wait months for a chance at a turkey or two? Or serious about high up squirrels. Most definitely!

 

[Brokennock]

Thanks Brokennock and Zonie.

Hope this will be a handy reference for anyone looking for the load. My bigger hope is that they find success with it.

Best regards, Skychief.

You're welcome.

If by chance you have a powder scale and have time, could you weigh a few of your soaked wads when they are saturated to your satisfaction?

I soaked a few the other night and it didn't seem to take long before they weren't obviously absorbing more oil. I am now wondering if I got impatient and pulled them too soon.
I would soak them again, but, as part of a test to aid in transporting them, I quickly gave them a thin coat of melted beeswax that I had already melted for another project. Hoping to seal in the oil, without them being so sloppy wet that I need a special container for them.

Thanks.

 

[Skychief]

Interesting Brokkenock. I know that Spence and I were comparing notes on how much my wads weighed versus those he was soaking. Let me see if I can track those weights down and get back to you here.

Best regards , Skychief.

 

[George]

Skychief soaked his wads in olive oil to a weight of 38 grains. I use Circle Fly 20 gauge cushion wads which weigh about 20 grains dry, I soaked some of them, the heaviest I could get were 35 grains.

Spence

 

[Skychief]

Thank you Spence. I just woke up (darn recliner!) and was going to try to find this information. May head back to the recliner now...

All the best, Skychief.

 

[Brokennock]

Skychief soaked his wads in olive oil to a weight of 38 grains. I use Circle Fly 20 gauge cushion wads which weigh about 20 grains dry, I soaked some of them, the heaviest I could get were 35 grains.

Spence

Thank you both.

I hope to hit the patterning board tomorrow and try the soaked and waxed wads over a paper shot cup.
I might try and soak a few in coconut oil instead of olive oil as it solidifies when cooked. Looking for less mess than the drippy olive oil wads. Otherwise I may see about making a bamboo/cane, or birchbark tube, container for them. I have been trying to reduce the amount of stuff I carry overall, and the number of hard bodied separate containers specifically.