Fiber Wads and Smokeless Powder for Short 10 Gauge

[Bill Murphy]

Mid twenties of Red Dot would be a very safe starting point. If heavy shot loads or high velocity are desired, a slower powder than Red Dot would be called for to keep pressures under control. The 12 gauge data you mention starting at 18.X grains is with good sealing plastic wads, not paper wads. William Davis is correct. 12 gauge data is usually, maybe always, safe in a ten gauge, but we're talking paper wad data from the sixties. Modern 12 gauge data is lighter than it needs to be if we're loading it in ten gauge cases. Red Dot data for 1200 fps loads in the paper wad era was 23 grains, gravitating to less than 19 grains today.

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by Alex Dawes

I agree. I would like to see the original as well. It was in the document Pete Lester put together and seemed a little off to me. 6 of the 7 loads are over 29 grains of Red Dot in the comprehensive list.

It seems like low 20s is the place to start. I appreciate all the help. My Remington 1894 and my Parker are some hefty 10s

If you check my spreadsheet you will see that is from published load data printed in the 1960's by Hercules Powder Company. If you look at my notes I cautioned that Red Dot powder may have had a change in formulation and I would start by reducing them by 25% if using in composite barrel guns.

[Mike of the Mountain]

I don't load Red Rot or WSF but I do load Unique in my Short-10. You can use nitro cards and fiber wads in the same loads as an SP-10 or other 10g plastic wads but you will need to play around with the size of your wad column to make sure your crimps will be good.

[24 grams]

Originally Posted by Alex Dawes

I agree. I would like to see the original as well. It was in the document Pete Lester put together and seemed a little off to me. 6 of the 7 loads are over 29 grains of Red Dot in the comprehensive list.

It seems like low 20s is the place to start. I appreciate all the help. My Remington 1894 and my Parker are some hefty 10s

Did you ever work up a 10 gauge load with fiber wads?

[William Davis]

The fiber wad has some advantages vs card wads as fillers. Buy 16 g fibers too big and split with a knife to suit. Often the split is half & you get two wads out of one. They also have some “spring” that helps obtain correct stack height .

Card wads most useful over shot were they can help with poor crimps in well worn Cheddites hulls. Otherwise Cheddite is a limited load # hull.

William

[Paul Harm]

Craig, you sure those 1 1/4 or 1 3/8oz loads aren't too light for clay birds ? Man, my shoulder hurts just thinking about them. I like 1oz loads in the short 10 for clay bird games. If my 12ga 3/4 or 7/8oz loads work just fine in a 12ga there's no reason a 1oz load won't work in a 12 or the 10. 20grs of RD, GD, or Promo all work. 17grs of 700x is also fine in the 10 with fiber wads and 1oz of shot. JMHO

[6pt-Sika]

The 1 1/4 7625 and Unique loads aren’t bad . Shot the 7625 loads at sporting clays last Friday and shot a mid 80’s score . The Tuesday before the Unique loads worked nicely at skeet even though I mostly shot backwards doubles at all stations . My 1 1/8 ounce Red Dot loads worked well for a friend last Friday at sporting as well . Sorry to say I’ve not tried any of the 1 1/4 with Universal Clays yet as I’ve misplaced the paper I had the load scribbled on .

[24 grams]

With 20.7 gr of WSH and the BP-1044, the top of the wad comes 0.84" short of the end of the hull.
The 1 1/8 oz. load of 7 1/2s comes about 0.33" short of the capacity of the wad.
Either I need a MUCH greater volume of powder or I need a shorter hull, AND I still need to add about 1/3" of fiber wad in the shot cup.
If the load works well, why not just cut the cartridges down?
That seems like the most efficient way to go.
I think I need to buy a "modern" 10 gauge to do some testing in