Pattern experiment challenge...

[hogdogs]

Well a few years ago I posed a challenge to try air rifle pellets in a shot shell...

Now I have a new challenge....
Would any of you comfortable with reloading or modifying factory shells be willing to a take a "customized" shell to the pattern board?

Particularly in mind is 00 buck but feel free to try it with other pellet sizes.

I wondered if filling the shot load with parrafin wax would greatly decrease the spread for further range.

it could increase the spread and erratically at that as pellets holding wax as it breaks up may be flyers...

Brent

 

[Lee Lapin]

Brent,

What range are you tying to achieve here? I'd suggest you try some Federal LE-127 00 (9 pellet, 1325 FPS) with the Flite Control wad- it gives very tight patterns out of most open bore riot type shotguns. My favorite 870 with a factory 18" CYL bore will deliver 4" patterns at 25 yards/75 feet with this load with boring regularity.

lpl

 

[zippy13]

Humm… Doesn't paraffin get pretty soft at warmer temperatures? Consequently, wouldn't any loads buffered with paraffin be very heat sensitive? The first one outta the pipe might perform one way, but the next ones, from the warming chamber, may be totally different.

I hate to think what a mag full of these loads would be like after a sitting awhile in the summer's sun. Don't shotguns have wood on their forearms to insulate your hands from the heat? For pattern control, I suspect you're better off using conventional buffering materials and special purpose wads.

Brent, did you get any meaningful results using air rifle pellets in shot shells? I ask 'cause I bought a junker Chinese air rifle a while ago along with a quantity of pellets. The air rifle's harsh trigger pull makes it virtually useless. The pellets are soft lead and I'm contemplating casting them into balls for my BP revolvers, but...

 

[hogdogs]

Zippy, the fella that fired the pellet loads found fliers and key holers proved the forward heavy "mini-slug" concept wasn't gonna work.

As for the heat, you may find the shells hold up pretty well. My father used to pour hot wax on the tops of paper shells and plastic reloads to seal them and I remember seeing this wax years later and they were not stored in climate ideal conditions and often in hot homes with no A/C...

Brent

 

[zippy13]

Brent,

I guess the Chinese pellets are off to the lead pot for a bit of post consumer recycling.

I'm probably you father's age, and I still use hot wax to seal bad crimps. Don't have as many paper hulls as I once did. Anyone else still have a couple of red 20-ga Double-A hulls in circulation?

Pete