Advice on powder for 12 gauge brass shells

[bigpete]

I'm tossing up whether to buy an old sportco bolt action the local shop has,that way I only have a single barrel to worry about but I don't really want to buy another gun after inheriting 5 in the last 6 months,and I'm not sure about the adjustable choke on the end

[bigpete]

Ooh I know where one of those is too ! You and I must have similar tastes ! What sort of barrel do you have for it ?

[bigpete]

What's the twist rate on one of them? You wouldn't also happen to be on nitro forums would you ?

[bigpete]

No worries, I only asked as I had seen a thread on there discussing almost the exact same topic concerning a martini and a pacnor barrel

[bigpete]

Ha ha not really I don't have the technical skill to do that ,plus for some reason nitro forums has closed its doors to non members so you can't read any of its threads. Pain in the arse really

[bigpete]

Let me know how you go. I tried but gave up once I saw the questionnaire about why you want to join nitro forums and what credentials you have at least that's how it came across

[bigpete]

OK so I tried to shoot a group today with my last 6 round ball loads from 25m using both barrels. Here it is

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I'm pointing at the point of aim as you can see they're shooting way high and I need to file the rear sight down more

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three out of 6 balls hit here but they were out of both barrels so its not like one barrel shoots good groups,more like they both shoot crap

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here's my hunting knife and pouch with my double gun lol

[bigpete]

Actually a couple of shells have kinda had a hangfire , not sure why but if anyone has any ideas feel free to pass them on.

[bigpete]

Well I learned something today. I'd loaded some 8 ball buckshot yesterday which is 8 .38 80gn balls total 640gn on top of 22gn Trailboss figuring I needed to drop the charge a little to compensate for the extra weight. When I got around to trying them I got 2 fizz pops in a row,exactly what was happening when I first tried trailboss at that amount of charge. But when there's 25gn they go off fine,with maybena slight delay occasionally. My theory is that in this large a diameter case maybe the depth of powder with the lighter load is shallow enough that the primer spark blows through the powder column too easily and only lights a little bit of powder before the pressure from the primer itself pushes the load out ?

[bigpete]

Hmmm that's an idea, I was just thinking increase the charge back up to 25gn but your idea is definitely worth trying first. Cheers !

[Baronvonrort]

Well I learned something today. I'd loaded some 8 ball buckshot yesterday which is 8 .38 80gn balls total 640gn on top of 22gn Trailboss figuring I needed to drop the charge a little to compensate for the extra weight. When I got around to trying them I got 2 fizz pops in a row,exactly what was happening when I first tried trailboss at that amount of charge. But when there's 25gn they go off fine,with maybena slight delay occasionally. My theory is that in this large a diameter case maybe the depth of powder with the lighter load is shallow enough that the primer spark blows through the powder column too easily and only lights a little bit of powder before the pressure from the primer itself pushes the load out ?

I just had a look at the ADI reloading data they have nothing for Trailboss, I would try a different powder.

Cool thread great pics.

[bigpete]

Yeah adi don't have data for it

[bigpete]

Pretty interesting , I might have gone that way if I hadn't bought 50 magtech cases already. Pretty sure they will last me a long time,some I would have reloaded 4 times already and there's no signs of stretching or any form of deformation yet. But as you say, I'm not trying to overload them

[bigpete]

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here's s round ball I dug out of the tree as you can see it flattened out considerably

[newsteadvic]

Great fun thread, lovely photographs bigpete.

If you want to get really silly, have a google for the 12GA FH (12gauge From Hell) and the 24ga FA (.585 calibre). An american fellow who uses turned down 50bmg brass to make his brass 12ga cases for large slugs in very strong actions:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthr ... lug-Tester
http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/ ... res-81692/

Neat how he turns off the BMG rim then threads the case and screws on a rim.

[bigpete]

No I haven't tried that yet mate to be honest. I was actually thinking the other day I could just use a leather over powder wad with a hole in the centre to achieve the same thing but on a more permanent and easy to apply scale. I've run out of round ball for now though

[bigpete]

I think I may have had a good idea for a large bore rifle based on the shotgun case/round ball idea. Seeing as the internal diameter of the case is around .75"/11 gauge,hence why I'm patching my .725 RB,why not load them with 75 cal RB for the old brown Bess musket and fit a slow twist 75 cal barrel ?

[bigpete]

Better brass doesn't necessarily solve the problem of inner brass diameter vs true bore diameter,although I could make a.sizing die to shrink the case down enough to hold a .725 projectile properly

[bigpete]

Ha ha no worries mate you might be waiting a while
Another failure this morning this time 25.5gn tb and 8 balls still fizz popped so its some other issue I guess

[bigpete]

I'm using CCI 350's already. I think I'll just stick with the RB loads

[Baronvonrort]

Another failure this morning this time 25.5gn tb and 8 balls still fizz popped so its some other issue I guess

ADI have trail boss data for .223/.243/7mm-08 yet they have nothing for shotguns, it's around 16 gr max for the 7mm-08.

I would try a different powder, still enjoying this thread an pics

[bigpete]

I believe I've worked out what the problem is with my 8 ball load. To fit the extra 2 balls in the case I've had to ditch the fibre wad I was using with my 6 ball load. I reckon that was helping the powder ignite properly by providing extra pressure. All the loads that haven't worked have been lacking the fibre wad ,while every one that does have them works fine.

[bigpete]

I would try a different powder, still enjoying this thread an pics

Yeah but wouldn't it just be the ducks nuts to find one powder that would do everything.
Trail boss works in pistol and rifle, if Pete can get this sorted he's hit the trifecta

Exactly what I'm trying to achieve

[Baronvonrort]

I would try a different powder, still enjoying this thread an pics

Yeah but wouldn't it just be the ducks nuts to find one powder that would do everything.
Trail boss works in pistol and rifle, if Pete can get this sorted he's hit the trifecta

Exactly what I'm trying to achieve

I suspect ADI have tried it, I am getting too old to reinvent the wheel so I prefer to let others do all the hard work.

The pop fizzes would s**t me to tears.

[bigpete]

Alright went out this morning with a batch of test loads both had 25.5gn Trailboss,Styrofoam over powder wad,then one had 1 half inch cushion was and 505gn size 4 shot,the other had 2 half inch cushion wads then a patched round ball.
First load pop fizzed,but cleared the barrel better than previous loads. Second load shoots great ! Think I'll just stick with loading round ball in these brass cases , or use black powder for my shot loads.

[bigpete]

The sportco 81 is a good thing, apparently if you shoot slugs out of it the multi choke will come flying off lol.
Try to find a greener martini shotgun, I love mine, and I've got a heavy rifled barrel to get fitted to it once I scratch up some spare cash.

I know where one of these is for $250 if I was to unscrew the full choke section and just shoot thru the half choke do you reckon it would be alright ?

[bigpete]

Hmmm maybe I'll go put a deposit on it save you some money

[bigpete]

OK so I did a big bunch of shooting with these Tuesday with a mate and accuracy was less than stellar especially once the barrels warmed up. I managed to recover a couple of balls and there ate definite signs of them tumbling in the barrel. I've done a bit of research and found that some people use what they call donut wads to help prevent this , so I guess I'll be making a bunch of them to try out. Experimentation is the key ! ( especially when you can't really afford a rifled shotgun ).

[bigpete]

[bigpete]

On a roll !

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