I have a Pedersoli front loader 12 ga. with 20 inch tubes, both cyl. bore. The coach gun. It has been a safe queen and now I am going to start working with it. Naturally it has a very wide pattern at 25 yds, so I am looking to constrict that to increase range. Has anyone done any work like this to tighten the pattern of a shotgun by changing the wadding? I have had some success but I am wondering if someone else has already been down this road.
Improving Shotgun Pattern
- Thread starter Deltadart
- Start date
Oliver Sudden
New member
I use Remington RXP shot cups (wads) with good success.
Oliver Sudden
New member
I’ve heard many people say they don’t think a plastic wad would be good in a muzzleloader but having used them for hunting and trap since around 1975 I can’t see a reason not to continue.
Thanks Hawg, I did not know that. Plastic in muzzleloaders is not my first choice, however it seems plastic is the most available, certainly right now in this country. I tried the limitied bore contact 43mm/12 ga. cups. with 70 gr. R/S. The first 4 shots just put a 12 ga. hole in the paper at 25 yds. with the entire shot string remaining intact in the cup. In the old days of my youth we called those "cut shells" pattern from the paper cartridges. By drilling a 1/16" hole in the bottom of the cup, a little gas pressure was vented into the shot cup and the over shot wad was blown off at exit from the muzzle. Pattern with the 7 1/2 shot was about modified at 25yds. All of the plastic cups were recovered 70 to 75 yds down range.
I didn't say they wouldn't be good. I said I wouldn't use them. Using plastic in a muzzleloader just goes against the grain.
I am going to try more shooting this week, yesterday's was cut short due to the 24 degrees, then wind kicked up a lot so it was just unpleaseant. The LBC wads need to be cut quite a bit to adjust the pattern. I had started with a partial cut with the intention to work my way down, but did not get that far. It seemed the over shot wad was being forced into the cup and did not seperate. Will look for some paper egg cartons, but right now we take what we can get.
I have. A patched .690 round ball in front of 100 grains of powder out of an older Pedersoli. It's quite a thumper out of a shotgun weighing less than 6 pounds. I would have played around with some lighter loads but only had a few round balls.
How was the accuracy? I was thinking in timber at short range it would be a light weight fast great hunter. Pedersoli does offer a S x S slug gun in 12ga with 25 inch barrels and sights. MY gun is the 20 inch barrel so a little lighter might bounce a little more. Also It says max load is 89 grains of powder so about 75 grains of R/S if you go with the 15% drop for using Pyrodex.I have loaded many LBC wads for black powder cartridges and found that if you make two slices 3/4 of the way down the shot will stay in the cup long enough to give you at least a modified choke pattern from a cylinder bore. Since the cup holds the shot together a higher charge will not blow your pattern. However each time you fire it some of the plastic will be scraped off the cup by the BP fouling and melt into the fouling. After multiple shots you will get a lining of black plastic in the barrel. In a break open cartridge gun this is no big deal as it will come out with spraying in some BP solvent, let it soak a couple minutes then punch out the bores from the rear (using a wadded up 1/2 sheet of paper towel) and out comes a black plastic "snake skin". In a muzzle loader this snake skin might be more problematic to get out without clogging things up.
Oliver Sudden
New member
In my experience with plastic wads in a muzzleloader the plastic that Hellgate so clearly describers washes out easily with normal soap and water cleaning.
It wasn't very good. There is no 15% reduction with Pyrodex. It's a volume to volume equivalent.
I wonder if 12ga slug like the Lee 7/8oz would be any better than the PBR. I often try to match black powder ballistics with Pyrodex by reducing the charge by 12 to 15%. In this case around 1060 fps for the 1 1/4 oz shot. Fully aware of the 1 to 1 ratio of black to Pyrodex for a safe substitution, and appreciate the claim by them that you get as much as 20% more shots as the Pyrodex has more loft or fluff to it for the volume measure. I am also trying to stretch my powder as far as I can as it is very difficult to get in our neck of the woods and black powder is as rare as a truthful politician.
For steel shot I use a 1/4 inch felt wad with one side dipped in a melted beeswax/olive oil lube. I use a plastic wad on top of that with the cushion part cut off. My felt becomes the cushion instead, and the plastic is just a shot cup. My pedersoli 12 gauge is also an older one with bores slightly undersized, probably so it could use modern shotshell wads. I don't get any melted plastic issues because the felt protects the plastic and the plastic cup fits tight in the bore. With lead I just use over powder and over shot wads. No cushion at all. You just have to experiment with loads for your particular gun.