need recipe for 20 ga VH

[Kyle Ramage]

Hello All,
With the end of bird season, I am going to reload so I can shoot and get used to the gun. The kids and I have shot a box of RST #8's that Garth gave me. I searched the reloading post, but did not get any recipes. This is brand new to me and I received a MEC jr. 600(I believe that's the model). My son and I punched out a few primers but that is it. The gun's first 3 serial numbers are 148, it's choked cylinder/cylinder. I hunt mostly wild quail. I have obtained shot(#8, that's all I could find, I would prefer #7), hulls-that I shot, winchester and Federal from Wally World, and wads for 3/4 loads, I forget manufactorer, but seem to remember they were produced in KY. I have yet to buy powder or primers. I will be traveling thru a few big cities in the next mo and will be looking for recommended material. I am a visual learner, so if anyone can send me a video, recipes, and recommended materials I would greatly appreciate it. I want to hunt with it next year and will be shooting clays and various pigeons around our barns. Thanks, Kyle

[Dylan Rhodes]

I spent several hours browsing around the reloading section here for a Fox I recently obtained. attached is my summary of findings....

Note these are copy and pasted from various posts. I havent had a chance to test any of them yet.

[Kyle Ramage]

By the way, I finally got a lady on the phone from RST and she said that it's looking very bleak for shells, maybe not good till 2023. She said she gets some supplies in but they are gone to the top of the waiting list as soon as they are boxed up. I've been calling that number every few weeks since this summer and she finally answered. A very nice lady, but no shells.

[Kyle Ramage]

Gracias Dylan, this gives me a start.

[Harold Pickens]

Kyle, your VH 20 will handle Win AA/ Gun Clubs/ Feds just fine for the 7/8 oz loads you shoot at quail. I have good loads using 20/28 powder and claybuster 1075 and 1078 wads for 3/4 and 7/8 oz loads.
I just picked up 2 flats of Win Universals that I will be shooting thru my cyl/cyl VH 20.
I'll look up those loads when i get home from work.

[Kyle Ramage]

Thanks Harold, I've had conflicting opinions regarding this. The main concern is that the barrels would be ok, but that it might be too much for the wood. But if you have the same gun as mine then you've got experience. My daughter bought me a couple of boxes of win AA for my birthday. How long have you shot these thru your gun?

[Dylan Rhodes]

Originally Posted by Kyle Ramage

Thanks Harold, I've had conflicting opinions regarding this. The main concern is that the barrels would be ok, but that it might be too much for the wood. But if you have the same gun as mine then you've got experience. My daughter bought me a couple of boxes of win AA for my birthday. How long have you shot these thru your gun?

If your worried about the barrels take it to someone who can measure them and give you an assesment on them. Let me ask this question a different way, at what pressure are you no longer worried about the barrels? This seems almost like an all or nothing question to me every time it comes up to me. If i'm skeptical of them i'm skeptical of shooting anything in them.

The wood is rolling the dice every time you pull the trigger no matter what. your odds improve as the condition of the wood does and the recoil decreases. you can crack stocks with 2.5" Ultralites....

[Kyle Ramage]

Are these ok?

[Kyle Ramage]

Dylan,
I'm not worried about the barrels. The gun to my limited trained eye is good. I am happy enough to put Wally World loads thru it. I just don't want to damage the wood. The gun is in great working shape. I want to use it and not be limited to reloads or RST rounds. I want to learn to reload, but I'm a railroad contractor and my time is really limited sometimes. I've hunted birds since I was a kid and have never stopped-with a Browning BPS mostly and now have a Benelli, but I have decided to acquire a new shotgun every two years and I'm super excited about Parkers. I don't want it to hang it on the wall, I want to use it. I know birds, pointers, back roads to coveys around here, but I don't know anything about reloading and/or pressures. Like I said before, when i brought the gun home last summer, my 13 yr old son held it for an hour. There is something special about these guns and I want to leave them to my daughter and son and want me and them to be able to use them. I am a pure rookie, not to be confused with bush league, when it comes to the reloading/barrel pressures. So much easier for me to grab loads at a Wally World when we get the chance to shoot.

[Andy]

This is the load I use, mostly because of stuff I had on hand. Sorry if it's not helpful, but used it for a grouse load with the brush wad. Was a little hot but birds died.

Rio Hull Rio 209
3/4 Oz #9
BPI Brush Wad
20g Herco
#31 Bushing on MEC 600Jr

8200 PSI 1295 fps