Improving Shotgun Pattern

[bladesmith 1]

I had shot muzzleloaders since around 1970. I usually shot pistol and some rifle on the national range. Then I made up a trap gun and we'd shoot trap at night under the lights, always using fiber wads. Down there they wouldn't allow plastic wads. Anyways, fast forward to around 2005 and my interest in old American made Damascus barreled SxSs. One time, maybe 10 years ago my friend and I decided to shoot smoke at an event- he with plastic wads, me with fiber. Well I must say his SxS looked awfull funny with all the plastic " snakes " growing out of the end of his barrels after a 100 shots. He had been complaining how it seemed to kick more. You couldn't hardly see down the barrels they were so full of plastic. All those little plastic worms wiggling around in there. Man, I bet his chokes really increased. He said it took him over an hour to clean them.
In that trap gun I made I jug choked it to shoot tighter patterns. I did it at work where I had the time, because it took plenty the way I did it. You want to increase the bore diameter. I did it with a split wooden rod and emery paper wrapped around the rod and spin it with a electric hand drill. You go back in about 7" and make it bigger coming toward the muzzle for 5", then it's back to bore diameter again. This gives the shot a chance to open up, then when it's forced back to bore diameter, it's like a choke acting on it. With a jug choke the bore isn't smaller at the muzzle making it harder to load. It may not work if you have chrome lined bores. First I'd try some home made paper unslit [ or just maybe two slits ] wads. Be a lot easier and less time consuming. Just how far do you want tight patterns, how tight, and what will you be shooting ? JMHO, but if you're gonna shoot plastic wads in a MLer, you might just as well shoot a modern gun. No offense mind you. Good luck. Paul

 

[bladesmith 1]

I think if you shoot very much at all you'll find that wool/felt/fiber wad doesn't completely protect the plastic shot cup from melting. Fiber wads let some of the gases and pressure leak around them and the HOT BP will melt most plastics. The reason I claim this is because back when plastic wads first came out the powder companies recommend a 10% decrease in powder if using plastic wads instead of fiber because they sealed better.
The newer plastic cups around bullets for inlines have been formulated after they first came out, so that wouldn't happen. I can still remembering when the inline/plastic cups first came out and guys would come out to the rifle range and after three shots couldn't ram them down the barrel without cleaning. I don't believe shotgun shell wad manufactures went to the same troubles seeing how they aren't made for BP, but nitro. It's up to you, but no plastic for me.

 

[Deltadart]

Bladesmith
Thanks for the info. I too have shot on and off with muzzleloaders since 1970. Never did much with shotguns. I have this Pedersoli which is a beautiful gun however the 20 inch barrels and cyl x cyl are pretty open at 25 yds. I don't know that a pheasant could get out of it, but a quail might. I was just trying to see if I could improve the range by 10 or 15yds. The LBC wads are very tuff plastic. They are uncut and require a cut of at least 3/4 way down the tube to open up at all. I have tried 4 cuts so far and have been using RS to shoot it saving my BP for the rifles. With no 4 buck it would be a mean home defense gun with felt wads. The weather has finally started to warm up so I will be playing around with it a lot more now. Always fun to find an excuse to shoot even if it does not improve still a lot of fun to try. Tried a couple days ago with one of the Remington NMAs and I could not feel my hands after about 30 minutes.

 

[bladesmith 1]

As Hawg said, try some home made paper shot cups. I would have to think something heavy like the cover on a spiral notepad would do the trick. Ya, the weather here in Michigan got kind a cold. If I wanted to, the local club I belong to is almost deserted with this cold weather. I could go down to the pistol building, which is heated, and if no one was there, load up my NMAs or MLing shotguns, step out back on the range [ up to 25 yds ], and test fire them. I'm already over there three days a week running shotgun, so I try and limit other days over there - the wife, you know.

 

[noelf2]

I think if you shoot very much at all you'll find that wool/felt/fiber wad doesn't completely protect the plastic shot cup from melting.

I mostly shoot without plastic at all, but when I shoot steel shot, I don't experience any melted plastic from the plastic shot cup I use. I think that modern plastic wads used in a 12 gauge muzzleloader are a bit undersized for the bore. They are made to fit tightly in a plastic hull, not an actual 12 bore. So, the bore size can have an effect on melting from excessive gas blow-by. My shotgun has a smaller bore, so the cup is actually a very tight fit. The felt wad and cup, in my situation, doesn't allow much if any gas blow-by. It depends on the gun. If yours works, awesome. If not, try something else. That's the fun in working up loads.

As a side note, I load 20 gauge magtech brass hulls using 16 gauge plastic wads. Magtech brass bulls have thin walls so 20 gauge plastic wads are way too loose. I do clean out some plastic with those, but not much (not a tough chore). I guess it gets scraped out with the successive shots, and the 16 gauge wad is a tight fit in the bore.

 

[bladesmith 1]

You're right about size. Circle Fly recommends 11ga wads for MLers. When pushing the wads down the barrel, especially the OP card, it will want to come back up because of the trapped air. You'll need to stop, let the air pass by, and push again, maybe two or three times. I then " throw the rod down " on the seated wad till it bounces off. I then know it's seated tight against the powder.
As a side note, my neighbor was sighting in his 72 cal rifle, left the ram rod on the seated ball and went for a phone call. When he came back the ram rod was about 8" back out the barrel. He pushed it back down, shot it, and reloaded another ball. As he sat there, he watched the ram rod come back up out of the barrel. That big bore was trapping air when he loaded. So, moral is always double check to make sure the ball doesn't come back up off the charge.
If shooting a SxS muzzleloader the first shot could loosen the wads in the unfired barrel. It's a good practice to check.

 

[Deltadart]

True, air is often under the wad. I drilled a small hole about .040 in the LBC43 wad to let some air out and also as a test to see how it would affect pattern. Wads went down much easier, and the pattern did open up. I also found the wads 75 yards down range stuck in the back stop berm. Pretty tuff plastic. Youd definitely want to check a SxS after the first shot to ensure the shot has not shifted forward, with the cap removed of course. I wonder if the hammer was down on an expended cap on the rifle when the ball was loaded? If the hammer was at half cock and no cap on the nipple the air may have had a chance to exit thru the powder and out the nipple.