Short 10 and Red Dot.

[Eric Johanen]

Today I made an exception to my rule: I do not shoot untested loads. I have been following the postings from those that have tried and are using the 19.0 grains of Red Dot with 1&1/8 oz. of shot. I have been using 1&1/8 oz. with 4&1/4 dram and 1&1/4 oz. 4 dram black powder loads and the factory RST 1&1/8 oz. Lite load using 7&1/2 shot. I really do like using a 10 ga. 2&7/8 inch 1884 Hammered W.W. Greener marked "The Trap Gun" with the London address. Gun and barrels are in excellent condition and I can shoot it well. To get more use from it I tried several loads using this data. I put them up with once fired RST Cheddite hulls and on Sporting Clays I could not tell any difference in perceived recoil, report or results breaking clays between them and the factory RST loads. I'll contact Tom and see about sending some for testing. I do believe this load is safe in the heavy barreled 10 ga. and I will give them a through try in the near future. This load seems to do everything well on clay targets and with larger shot would work well in the field. From the Alliant Reloader's Guide, it gives 83 to 9300 psi when using 19.0 grains of Red Dot and 12 ga. Cheddite and Fiocchi non tapered hulls and Cheddite and Fiocchi primers. I would expect a drop in pressure by running this load in a 10 ga. I would love to see this load drop into around 78 to 8400 psi.

[Mark Garrett]

I too do not shoot untested loads , I have been thinking about trying that load also but have been leery . If you do send it in for testing please share the results . I have been shooting a tested 1 1/8 oz 700x load and it shoots nicely .

[Bill Murphy]

Your 19 grains of RD and 1 1/8 ounces of lead shot should be very safe and have enough pressure to avoid off sounding loads. A little more shot would bring the pressure up to where the sound would be great.

[charlie cleveland]

i have shot lots of 19 grains of red dot and 1 1/8 ounce of shot in my differant 10 ga with no side effects...as bill stated even 1 1/4 ounce sounds good....this is possibley the best light 10 ga hunting load to ever been used...you could shoot these loads at skeet all day with no trouble atall....charlie

[Paul Harm]

If 19grs of powder is safe in a 12ga, you would only have less pressure in a 10ga. The chambers are a bigger diameter and that gives more surface area for the powder to push against - less pressure. Any 12ga load in the 8 to 9000psi range would be safe in a 10ga.

[Eric Johanen]

Thank you for the further information. Using a MEC Sizemaster with the Short hull reloading kit, the only change I have made is to replace the pre-crimp factory station with a Ballistic Products Super crimper 6 point. Most of the hulls I'll be using will be new trimmed factory hulls: Federal, Remington and Cheddite. I have not had to make any adjustments from the factory setting and shells load and crimp very well. I loaded up more Cheddite hulls with the 19.0 grain Red Dot and 1&1/8 oz. and a few using the trimmed Federal hull (replacing the Federal primer with a Winchester to lower pressure). The shot settled a little deeper in the Federal hulls and I believe they have a bit more internal volume than the RST/Cheddite hulls.. I have not skived the hulls after trimming and the crimps are factory perfect. With 19.0 grains of Red Dot, a Remington SP10 wad, 1/2 inch fiber cushion filler wad and 1&1/8 oz. shot and a 6 point fold crimp the shells look very good. I'll give the Remington hulls a try next time. I will be shooting them side by side with the RST load and if they work as well I think I'll be set for any short 10 shooting I may want to do. I plan on contacting Tom this week to see about getting the loads tested.

[Mark Garrett]

I made an exception yesterday and you guys are right the 19gr RD load is great load .

I decide to take my NID Grd 3 Super 10 dove hunting. Loaded some up in new Rem hulls with reclaimed shot to help get some spread out of the full and fuller chokes .

Let em tell you this load will knock em out of the sky , I made some honest 50 yard shots and manage get 14 Birds 1 short of a limit , lots of fun.

[J.B. Books]

I have been shooting 19gr of Red Dot with 1 1/8 ounce of lead in a Federal hull for quite awhile. It's a great crow swatting load in the short ten with #6 and a great clays load with 7.5 and 8.

Don't forget 19gr of Alliant Promo will work the same as Red Dot. You may need to use a different bushing with it but the 8lb jug of Promo I have loads identical to Red Dot i.e. same bushing for the same weight of powder.

[Mark Garrett]

Yes , promo is what I am using .

[wayne goerres]

With the 19gr red dot load I just change shot size and keep loading. Use it for everything.