12ga Black Powder OOOO Buck Shot Shells

[deerslayer303]

Hey Ya'll,
I've loaded and shot many no. 6, no. 8, and BB black powder shells. But I wanna try and load up some OOOO (.375") Buckshot. I already have the buckshot er. roundballs as that is the size I fire out of my Repro Cap and Ball Revolvers. If I did my math right. If I square loaded this OOOO Buckshot that is 6 balls and 83 grains of Black powder to get a square load. I would really like to try an 8 pellet load over a healthy charge of about 90. But I'm thinking of starting with the 80 grain load. My column would look like this. Charge, over powder card, 1/4" hard felt wad (by stacking two 1/8" punched felt wads), 6 pellets, Corn meal for buffer, another 1/8" felt wad, over shot Card, and a Roll Crimp. These round ball ARE soft lead as I said I shoot them from my Colt Repro. I've searched the interweb and there isnt much mention of B.P. Buckshot shot shells.

Thoughts?

 

[Fla_dogman]

Very interesting, I've never seen 0000 buckshot. How does it pattern? Any pictures?

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[deerslayer303]

Very interesting, I've never seen 0000 buckshot. How does it pattern? Any pictures?

I don't know yet. I'm going to load up one here in a few minutes so I can try it tomorrow. I'll report back with Pics. I was hoping someone here has done this before.

 

[DaleA]

I was hoping someone here has done this before.

Yeah, but it's waaaayyyy more fun to just wait till you report your results and then say, "I knew that would happen."

Seriously though, you're not giving folk much time to respond. I certainly don't have any experience to help you out.

Good luck and looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

 

[deerslayer303]

Yeah, but it's waaaayyyy more fun to just wait till you report your results and then say, "I knew that would happen."

LOL, very true. My old man raised me that exact way. From what I know so far about loading black. This should work. The weight is the same as shot really. I will let this thread simmer a bit, so there's no chance of me looking like Wyle E. Coyote and Acme Products.

 

[big al hunter]

With smokeless powder I use the same charge of powder for the same payload by weight for buckshot. If the load you are planning has the same data as others you have loaded, and it came from a trusted source, then you should be good to go.

Waiting patiently for your results....kinda patiently...sounds like fun.

 

[44 AMP]

decades ago when I was doing it, Black Powder shotshells were always loaded by drams, NOT weight.

A certain volume (in drams) for a given weight of shot. What the shot size was didn't matter. #8s, #4s, or buckshot, all the powder cares about is how much weight it is pushing.

measure the weight of how many 0000 balls fit in the case, plus weight of your buffer and use the proper dram equivalent of powder for that weight.

 

[deerslayer303]

Ok so I got impatient and loaded up three shells. All three got six .375" round ball or OOOO. I loaded one with 80 grains, one with 90 Grains, and one with 100 grains of FFg. All three were fired out of my H&R Single barrel Full choke Shotgun at 30 yards in the kneeling position. Distance was verified with a laser range finder. I must say I'm impressed to say the least. I really wasn't expecting much as far as a decent pattern. It seems this load liked the healthy dose of 100grains. That shot provided a 5 pellet hand sized pattern right at point of Aim. In reality all three would put meat on the table. I will do more research on 44 AMP's suggestion. I can't get pics to upload to the forum. I will work on that.

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[DaleA]

Thanks for the range report. It's always fun to get some real life report on these things.

1. I agree that would be a pretty "serious" load for putting meat on the table.
2. That size pattern at 30 yards once again demonstrates the myth that you don't have to aim a shotgun. For home defense I could clearly cleanly miss somebody and nowhere do I even come close to having a 30 yard shot in my house.

I can't get pics to upload to the forum. I will work on that.

You're not the Lone Ranger on that. EVERY time I've done it I had to go to the "Site Questions and Tech Support" threads and look up how to do it.

Last time I think this is the one I found helpful.

https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292842