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 Lee 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]

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.

[Andrew Sacco]

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

[CraigThompson]

In the three 20 gauge Parker’s I posses at this time I shoot most any “normal” factory 7/8 or 1 ounce load . Everything I load is 7/8 ounce although I have the correct wads for 1 ounce 20’s as well . I fully understand the thoughts about wood split/crack and yes it’s most likely a valid point . I just don’t worry about it a lot .

[Bruce Hering]

I acquired my VH 20 ga. (SN 192.***, mfg.1922) late this past summer. After examination I was satisfied that the Vulcan steel barrels and the wood were very shootable. I have shot about two flats of ammo (mostly Fiocchi and Winchester AA skeet loads) through it and have had no negative results.

I have a Mec Grabber multi stage loader set up for 7/8 oz. skeet loads with a slightly lower velocity/pressure set up. I have tons of AA and Remington 20 ga. once fires hulls and some wads but now lack powder, shot and primers of any quantity to load. I do have several flats of factory skeet AA's as well as some Fiocchi so I should be good. I personally need some loaded 2.5" 12ga and 16ga stuff however, for my Damascus guns.

I will continue to check the status of the wood.

[Daryl Corona]

Kyle:

3/4oz. is all I shoot through my 20's. Go log on to the.. ShotgunWorld site and look under reloading/20ga 3/4oz thread of justice. Lots of info there.

[Jay Oliver]

I load 20ga. 2 1/2" Cheddite hulls with 3/4oz. using the Gualandi wads and 14.8 - 15.2 grains of Unique. It's a great load I use in both my fluid steel and composite barrel 20s.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

AA or Gun Club Hull
15 gr 20/28
Claybuster 1078 wad
7/8 oz shot
will get around 1200 fps @ around 7500 psi

drop to 14.5 gr 20/28 and CB 1075 wad for a delightful little 3/4 oz loads that I use alot on grouse.
And yeah I would shoot those Rem game loads, but would prefer lower velocity

[Kyle Ramage]

Tomorrow or Saturday, me, the dog(Bert), and the Parker are going quail hunting. I'm going to take the RST shells that Garth gave me and go to my secret covey. Hopefully we have success. I'll keep y'all posted. Thanks for all the input!

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Found this load in my reloading notebook--cant remember where I copied it from, but it basically matches my other loads with 20/28.
Cheddite 2 1/2" hull
Win 209 primer( I would also use a cheddite primer here)
14.3 gr 20/28 powder
Claybuster 1078 wad 7/8 lead--could sub 1075 wad and 3/4 oz
1200 fps @ 7200 psi.
I may load a box or 2 of this tomorrow and see how it goes.

[Keith Doty]

Harold, I just had tested a very similar load BUT paper hull.
Cheditte 2 1/2,
Ched primer,
14.5 of 20/28,
7/8 #8,
Sporting 20 wad.
Came in at 1216 FPS and 10,395 PSI. I'm trying to get to 1200/8500 in paper for my 20s. Interesting, same load in plastic is significantly lower PSI. I gotta do some careful hull examination, not sure where but there must be serious volume difference plastic vs. paper, both Cheditte.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Yeah, surprising. Mine used a different wad. I will try and find where the load came from.

[Kyle Ramage]

Saturday’s bounty. 2 scalies. Bert pointed both. I missed about 5 before bagging these 2 with the Parker and RSTs-#8’s from Garth. I need more practice with it.

[Mike Koneski]

I shoot a Trojan 20g and a VH 20g and use factory shells in both. Fiocchi, Nobel, Remington, RST, etc... I also reload 20g, both 2 3/4" and 2 1/2" and have some good loads that I've used and never had any issues with factory or reloaded ammo.

[James L. Martin]

Here's a load that's listed on the Hodgdon website. It's for 20ga 2 3/4 " Cheddite but I use it for new Cheddite 2 1/2 " hulls with a roll crimp. It all fits in perfectly. 20ga 2 1/2 new Cheddite hull , Cheddite 209 , Fed 20s1 ,Universal 17.0 grains , 7/8 oz , 20ga overshot wad , roll crimp , 1200 fps , 8900 psi.

[Terry Schneider]

https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/default.aspx

Look here for loads.

[Mike Koneski]

If you remove your stock, properly and carefully, and check the inletted head to see if it's good wood or if it's soaked with old gun oil, that will give you a good idea on the condition of the stock. You can always do a glass bed reinforcement or have a smith/stocker do it for you if that would alleviate any concerns you may have.

[Mike Koneski]

2 1/2" Cheddite hulls
13.2g Green Dot
SW 20 or Sport 20S BP wads
3/4 oz shot

for a spreader load I use the BP Brush Wad and you can add an X-Stream Spreader insert on top of the brush wad to really open the pattern up for close work.