[James Gates]

While we are on specialty shotshells....How about this baby!!!
Fiocchi high brass (16mm) hull with a fio616 primer + 3-.570" round balls (833.5 grs) in a Ballistic Product's Turkey Ranger wad With 25 grs of buffer) + 28.5 grs Blue Dot + X12X over powder wad and rolled crimped over a Wanda pointed OS wad
for a velocity of 1050 fps @ 10,500 psi!!!!!!!
Most full choke guns will keep this load in a 18" circle at 50 yards. Recoil?? You guessed it!! That load will put most anything's (blank) into the dirt!!!!!!
Best Regards, James

 

[Bill Lester]

Now that's a shotgun load!

Any field experience with this one? It sounds like a real winner on black bear, especially if we could get plated balls to resist deformation.

 

[MikeG]

Sounds complicated.... how do you get 3 pigs to line up in a row before you pull the trigger....?

 

[James Gates]

Bill......Other than tearing up some wet phone books, we haven't put it on hogs yet. However I did work up a one ball load for my nephew in 20 ga. using a WW AA case and a 1 ounce AA wad. You can run it through a full choke barrel. He killed a nice hog at about 30 yards. The pure lead ball penetrated to the opposite shoulder and look like a silver dollar. Tore the lungs and heart to pieces.
I would recommend that anyone serious about this load, buy a cheap mould and cast them out of bullet alloy and heat treat them. The sprue can be rolled off before heat treat.
The one thing I failed to mention in the load....that Turkey Ranger wad comes unslit. The best arrangement is four slits 3/4 down the wad for release. I might add that this load runs between a 1 7/8 oz and 2 oz shotshell load. Recoil is the same.
Most people do realize how potent this load is with soft lead balls, or otherwise.
Best Regards, James



<!--EDIT|James Gates|Feb. 10 2002,15:38-->

 

[LIB]

Here's another way to a shotgun for more than feathers. Take a Savage 210 bolt action rifled barrel,take cast of chamber then turn 360 alloy brass shells. Mine came out 2.910 long with.035 sidewall.Bullets need to be .732 dia., one route is the Lyman 69 cal. mini in jackets made from copper plumbing caps run through a simple bumping die.The lead mini has to be sized in a push through die, sort of like a Lee. Case capacity is more than enough, haven't had much luck with smokeless so have gone the charcoal route. 275 grs. of 2f one nitro card and one old Alcan cushion wad shoots as close as I can hold out to about 175 yards. Recoil, yeah it's there;but if you want a 22/250 shoot that instead. Good hunting.  Lynn

 

[James Gates]

Very Interesting, Lynn....Have you tried any Clean Shot with your combo.
Now for some revised data on the three ball load....In the past we have had a few failures of the lower ball leaving the wad. When this happened the ball/wad turned around and went elsewhere. By using two oposite slits in the wad (down to the base of the wad), we did away with that problem. Release is now smooth and it reduced the avg. spread to 4 1/2" at 35 yards. With our guns, it shoots to point of aim at 35 yards (as does birdshot and buckshot). With careful chronoing we got an avg. of 1275 fps.
As always, care should be used in selecting the firearm used with this load. It is within the 11,000 psi set for shotguns, but I have no control over what it might be shot in.
Best Regards, James

 

[Ralph McLaney]

Dixie Hog Cruncher Load - Wanda OS Wad?

James

I was looking back at this post. Where do you get the out of print Wand Over Shot Wad? Are there any alternative over shot wads usable in the Dixie Hog Cruncher Load?

Have you done any experimenting with a .490 triple ball load for the three inch 20 gauge?

Can you provide details on the Single Ball load for the 20 bore?

Thanks for your input.

Ralph

 

[James Gates]

We are now using a standard .135" nitro card (not the standard over-shot wad) over the balls in the "Cruncher", with a rolled crimp!
As for the single ball load in 20 ga.......In Federal, Activ, and Fiocchi hulls......25 grs Hi-Skor 800X - one Federal 1 ounce wad - 1/2" ga. wool wad pushed down inside the plastic wad - one .570"/575" pure lead round ball - rolled or folded crimp.
Velocity @ 1650'/" - 9,300 psi - Lyman data
In Win AA & Rem hull.........27 grs. Blue Dot - one Rem. 1 ounce wad - 1/2" wool wad pushed down inside plastic wad - one .570"/.575" pure lead round ball - rolled or folded crimp - Velocity @ 1525'/" - 9200 psi - Lyman Data
We tried some 2 and three ball loads, but none proved out to be much in the 20 gauge.
If you like these specialized loads....read my posts on the "Dixie Terminator " and "Thoughts on Slug and Ball Guns"
Best Regards, James Gates

 

[Ralph McLaney]

James,

Thanks for the quick reply. The triple .58 load sounds interesting. I'm going to put this in my list of upcoming loading projects. I will be using a Remington 870 Super Mag with 26" Remchoke. Any thoughts on the effect of the long chamber? Also which buffer product do you use and what are the chamber pressures running with this load?

Ralph

 

[James Gates]

Ralph......This 3-ball load weighs a liitle under 2 ounces. It runs about 10,500 psi. when buffered and less without buffer. I started the load using buffer and then dropped it. Be extra sure to cut the wad all the way to the base so it will release the bottom ball. I would put the load up in the long case by adding another filler wad. The load would pattern even better with hard cast .570" balls from a Lee mold. For all practical purpose, any non-buffer lead shot load having 2 ounces of shot will work good for the 3-.570" balls. A full choke tube works good with this load, but try various tubes to see which you gun throws best.
Note........The first loads were with the wad cut 3/4's of the way done. The final load has two cuts all the way to the base of the wad. This gives a better release!
Best Regards, James Gates