Surprising / interesting discovery at the range this month...have made many range trips for load development over the years, normally with 'magnum' hard lead shot, but also some old original Winchester Lubaloy real Copper Plated shot, and today's so called copper plated and nickel plated shot.
But I'd bought some real old bags of Chilled #4s/#5s/#6s a couple years ago, wanted to see how they'd do in the .62, and yesterday wrapped up 3 range trips that were dedicated to testing each different size 'Chilled' shot. I used various powder charges of Goex 3F & 2F, along with various wad & shot configurations, and the results were outstanding.
I'd previously had similar outstanding results trying some of the Chilled #5s in a 42" .54cal smoothbore but thought that was due to something unique about the particular load in that particular long 42" barrel, but now I think 'Chilled' shot may be the common denominator, as the results were also outstanding in the 38" x .62cal.
With only 2% antimony in Chilled shot instead of 5%-6% in Magnum lead shot, each pellet would not be as hard of course and I always assumed a lot of pellets would deform and fly out of the central core of the pattern.
BUT...a pellet of Chilled lead would would also be slightly heavier than a pellet of Magnum lead as the higher Antimony content of Magnum lead makes them lighter than Chilled lead...and my experience is that heavier pellets bore straight ahead a little further than lighter pellets and that may enter into the test results, not certain...but bottom line, in two different gauges/barrels now, Chilled lead has proven to be excellent in my tests.
No science, just actual hands on range results.
But I'd bought some real old bags of Chilled #4s/#5s/#6s a couple years ago, wanted to see how they'd do in the .62, and yesterday wrapped up 3 range trips that were dedicated to testing each different size 'Chilled' shot. I used various powder charges of Goex 3F & 2F, along with various wad & shot configurations, and the results were outstanding.
I'd previously had similar outstanding results trying some of the Chilled #5s in a 42" .54cal smoothbore but thought that was due to something unique about the particular load in that particular long 42" barrel, but now I think 'Chilled' shot may be the common denominator, as the results were also outstanding in the 38" x .62cal.
With only 2% antimony in Chilled shot instead of 5%-6% in Magnum lead shot, each pellet would not be as hard of course and I always assumed a lot of pellets would deform and fly out of the central core of the pattern.
BUT...a pellet of Chilled lead would would also be slightly heavier than a pellet of Magnum lead as the higher Antimony content of Magnum lead makes them lighter than Chilled lead...and my experience is that heavier pellets bore straight ahead a little further than lighter pellets and that may enter into the test results, not certain...but bottom line, in two different gauges/barrels now, Chilled lead has proven to be excellent in my tests.
No science, just actual hands on range results.
