SAAMI Specs.jpg
Several of the heavy 12-gauge smokeless powder loads (3 1/2 drams of bulk smokeless
Fred Gilbert Winchester Leaders.jpg
or 28-grains of dense smokeless powder,
ARROW 12-gauge 28-grains Ballistite.jpg
Leader 28-grains Ballistite 1 1-4 ounce #4CH.jpg
RECORD 12-ga 28-grains Ballistite.jpg
such as Infallible or Ballistite, pushing 1 1/4 ounce of shot) available from our North American ammunition companies from the late 1890s into the 1920s were higher pressure than today's SAAMI specs. We
know the North American Nimrods tendency to shove the heaviest loads he can find in his gun!!
The real issue is not that the metal of these vintage guns, in proper condition, won't hold the pressures, but that the heavier payloads and higher velocity made possible by modern powders create much higher recoil forces which are harder on hundred year old wood and seventy year old shoulders.
Threaded Mode