2 7/8" 10ga Reloading Data
 

Attached is a PDF copy of the spreadsheet for loads I have been able to find so far for the short ten. The loads are exclusive of the Sherman Bell data many of us our familiar with. Please note I have given credit to the person who started the spreadsheet and shared it with me as well as citing the source of the information, some of it from the 1960's. Not all components are available today but I think the data is interesting and useful. It is obvious a variety of Alliant and IMR powders will work in the short ten. I thought it was interesting Hercules (forerunner to Alliant) did not bother to list hull type or primer type nor chamber pressure in the 1968 guide. You will need to zoom this to 200% to read it easily, I had to shrink it to keep my format in tact.

If you run across any other published loads please let me know about them and I will update this. Enjoy.

im printing it off rite now or i should say my wife is... thanks pete... charlie

boy thats a pile of reloading...5 pages worth it took me awhile last night to read all these recipes...there now in myreloading book theres some good stuff in here....thanksfor the info charlie

thanks for sharing that!

Very interesting information and a lot of work to compile. Thanks. There probably isn't anything in there that will blow up a good gun. However, we sure don't need any 1285 or 1300 fps loads for any reason I can think of. Try to avoid those loads or back off the powder if the pressure is high enough.

Thank you Bill, it was kind of a fun task and didn't seem like work. PDF is great but Excel is very powerful tool and lets me sort the data how I desire, say by powder type or pressure or any combination. You are right when you say we don't need any 1285 to 1360 fps loads, 1150 to 1200 is where I want my loads to be. As you can see pressures were not given by Hercules in the 60's and early 70's. In spite of the lack of Rem SP hulls, 57 primers and the convenience of the SP10 wad vs card wad columns I think this gives a good idea of the powders that will work and idea of how much of them to use. If I find additional data I'll update this sheet and repost. I wrote to Alliant about loads for the short ten and my use with some of their powders, as yet no response. In the meantime I plan to use my head and play with Green Dot and Unique loadings. If they shoot consistently with good results over time I will probably send them off to Precision Reloading and get the velocity and pressure data from a 5 shot string.

Pete, nice work - thanks - Paul

Attached to this message is my original spreadsheet with 6 additional loads, lead and ITX shot from info published by Ballistic Products. Again you will have to zoom this to 150 or 200% for easier reading, I had to make it small to keep it on a single page across. The new loads are in yellow highlight.

Here is a revised and updated version of my 2 7/8" 10 gauge reloading data spreadsheet. There are 10 new loads (highlighted in yellow) since the last time I posted it including some ITX, Steel and Bismuth loads. The Fed Hull with 40gr of Blue Dot and 1 1/2 ounce of Bismuth looks like a very promising goose load and it is less than 8000 psi.

All Non-Tox load recipes are in bold green font.

I have also added/incorporated all the Sherman Bell recipes so this can be a one stop shop comprehensive short ten reloading guide. Enjoy.

If Only
 

Great stuff, if only you had some for 2 5/8".....:(

shane you can use all of the above loads listed for the 2 7/8 in the 2 5/8 you will have to adjust the wadding on some to get a good crimp or roll crimp... charlie

RST hull
 

Pete
I didnt see the RST hull listed. Is it the same as Federal?

A call to RST will answer that question. Be quick about it. Alex and dogs will be at the Vintagers and on out of town hunting trips soon.

George I have picked up a few empty RST 10ga hulls and I am sure they are Federal hulls, I found there is no difference in how they load compared to any other Federal 10ga hull.

Pete, They are Cheddite hulls but for all intensive purposes they load the same as Federals.

Dave the empty RST's I picked up were from a couple of years ago, I'm quite certain they were Federal hulls. I am pretty sure I asked the folks at the RST tent about the hulls and they said they used Federal hulls for 10ga and Cheddite in smaller gauges. If Cheddite makes a 10ga hull that would be a fairly recent development and maybe RST switched?

Thanks Pete
The reason I asked was the look damned identical to my Federal 3.5 inch 10 ga hulls- even same color.

Thanks Pete,

Current RST 10 gauge shells are loaded in cut down Federal hulls, with Federal primers. I recently shot a round of sporting with Dave and Mark who operate RST's loading equipment and they confirmed that. Also told me they are looking at alternate hulls, but no decision as yet.

Frank

the federal hulls sure load good for me in the short ten... charlie

Greetings All

It has been awhile since there was a post to this thread but since my question pertains specifically to the Sherman Bell recipes I thought I would revive it rather than start a new one.
I recently acquired both a Winchester 1901 shotgun. As this is a 1906 manufacture I want to keep the pressures low. Therefore I am looking to reload 2-7/8" shotshells. In looking at the data sheets I have two questions:

1. IF the recipe calls for a 6 point fold crimp and I roll crimp will that impact the pressure and if so up or down?

2. Many of the recipes call for a Federal 209A or CCI 150 or Rem 57. All I have access to in my area is Win 209. As I understand it the Fed and CCI are hotter primers so would I be correct in assuming that the Win 209 would work but it would result in lower pressure and velosity?

thank you for your help.

Ray

Hi Ray,

1. Normally a roll crimp will lower peak pressure. Be careful not to make the roll crimp too strong since that may raise pressure higher than a folded crimp.

2. A Win 209 substituted for a Federal 209A will normally lower peak pressure. Since the powder still burns and produces roughly the same units of pressure but over a longer period of time the velocity will only be reduced slightly.

Start with the lowest pressure load you can find. That way if you make a slight mistake you will be safe.

Load safely,
Mark

he s tellin you rite... also look at pete lesters loading of 19 grains of red dot its a low pressure load and will kill a squirl clean at 50 steps ever shot... i wish i had a lod lever 10 ga... charlie

Charlie

I see a couple of recipes for 29 grains and 31 but none for 19grains. Is there another thread I should look at?

thanx

I would stay away from those Red Dot loads with 29 and 31 grains in the short ten, they would ROCK your world. Although they were published loads from 1968 by Hercules I put a note next to them that I would reduce the powder charge by 15 to 20%. Now that I have started using Red Dot I would make that a reduction by 30%.

19 gr of Red Dot with 1 1/8 ounce of shot is a tame and very effective load on clays and crows. It also stretches a pound of powder which in these days of hard to find gun powder is a good thing too. Try it you'll like it.

The 19 grain 1 1/8 load is not published, it came from experimentation and it seems like Charlie and I arrived at that charge weight as being ideal about the same time. I have also shot a lot of 1 1/8 ounce loads pushed by 22 grains of Green Dot so if you can get that powder it works good too.

thank you for the information. What shell, wad and fillers are you using with these loads. I know that locally there is Blue, which I have, Green and I think Red Dot.

Great stuff cannot thank you all enough. I cannot wait to shoot the 1901.

ray you will like the red dot load of 19 grains and the 1 1/8 ounce of lead.. ray i used the winchester and federal hulls cut to 2 7/8 inch used a winchester 209 primer 19 grains of red dot a sp 10 ga 1 5/8 ounce wad..now you will have to kinda play with a filler over the lead you can use various things a dried pea a grain of corn some people use rice krispies me i use a little toilet paper..this will make your crimp come out rite...i use a 6 point crimp on these loads or you can use roll crimp if you want to but then you will need a over shot card to make things look good..you will have to play around with the filler first few shells to get a nice crimp fold or roll crimp but want take you long to figure it out and make some nice looking crimps.. good luckand heh you can just use thick card wards over the powder i forget how many at the moment but you get good patterns even with no plastic wadding used...charlie

Federal Hull, cut to 2 7/8", Wind 209 or Fiocchi 616 primer, 19 grain Red Dot, Remington SP10 Wad, 1/2 inch fiber filler wad, 6 point folded crimp.

I found the Red Dot load above to be an easy to reload load as I can use a 1/2" fiber filler wad with no adjustment.

The Green Dot load requires that I tear a small sliver off the 1/2" wad, to get a proper crimp. Both loads work well.

The filler wads go in the plastic wad first, then the shot. A 16ga cushion wad works in the 10ga, a 20 in the 12. Ray, if you think about it, any 12ga medium to low pressure load would be safe in the 10ga. Because of so much more volume in the 10 over the 12, you're gonna have lower pressures.

Hi J.B. I want to say thanks for posting the spread sheet. i did notice what appears to be an error in the amount of Herco used. I think the numbers must have about 10 grains added to the correct amount. I was using Sherman Bell's loads of 30 grains Herco and 1-1/4 oz. I might see going to 33 or maybe even 35 grains but 45 grains-29 grains Unique sounds right and Unique in a 10 gauge is right around the Herco range.

You are welcome, I just double checked the spreadsheet against my cited sources of that loading data, the 1968 and 1970 Hercules Reloading guides. The amount of Herco stated is correct as published in those guides. I believe those powders have changed since that was published and I put a note in the sidebar in red advising that I would reduce these charges by 15 to 20%. Perhaps advising a reduction by 25% would be more prudent.

Those sound like some pretty hot loads! I remember loading 31 grains of Herco in a 12 gauge M12 when I was 16 y.o. and that was what I had read somewhere. 1-1/2oz. shot for a 2-3/4" baby magnum. Those were some mean loads! I notice others are using 30 grains with Unique and PB, 2 of my favorites.

Those may be perfectly safe loads for all I know though. I'm with you on the reduction in charge to start with though.

Once again, thanks for getting all this stuff together. I'm going to be using at least one of these in 1-5/8 oz. this spring for my turkey hunt.

Hey has anyone tried the 33.3 gn longshot load with SP10 and nice shot or any other longshot load with nice shot? I want to load up 10 of these and try them on waterfowl. They said pressure is 8780...it's a bit hotter then what I wanted....suggestions please...all comments are very welcome...

I am asking about longshot as I have an entire container begging to be used.

I use that load with 1 3/8 oz Nice Shot. The #2's are devastating on Canada geese well past 50 yards!

Mark

managed to get my hands on a supply of Federal Hulls and have loaded some of these, now all I need is geese

Fantastic.. already cut my 10 gauge federal halls this evening I'll start loading them tomorrow. Any recommendations to roll Or crimp? again, I am using the SP10 wads

This is what I use. I just wish I could get more Longshot powder. Echoing what Mark said, this is a great load. Load them up, you will be happy. The pressures are fine. Use the fold crimp and I put a 1/4" cork or fiber wad below the shot to raise the shot column. I have no hesitation to use them in all my 10's.

The other issue is the nice shot itself. Wonder when or if they will return to production

Now, I am really starting to get excited.....:)

Heavy Shot + wad recommendations
 

I wanted to load up some of those Sherman Bell Loads but have Heavyshot. I didn't want to wipe out the barrel and also don't see any loads listed in the Bell loads for heavy shot. This is for a 10 ga. 2-7/8 Remington Double.