10 gauge Punkin Balls

[CraigThompson]

Got my two new round ball mold from Tanner Moulds in the UK last week . Finally got around to casting some yesterday made fifty of the .775” and fifty of the .735” . The larger will work in my EH 28” and the 26” barrel was of my Grade 1 10 gauge two barrel set . The .735” should be safe in all of the tight chokes 10’s I have at the present . Today at the shop I loaded ten rounds of both sizes in brand new Cheddar Cheese hulls trims on the Robert’s Industries trimmer . Cheddar Right primers , 30 grains of SR7625 , a BPI wad with the petals removed , five 1/8” 12 gauge cards then a punkin ball after which a roll crimp . The larger ball did okay although POI could be closer to POA . The .735” balls however didn’t look decent at all .

[CraigThompson]

Hmmmmmm

[charlie cleveland]

will be watching this thread closely i like the idea of round balls in the ten gauge.....charlie

[CraigThompson]

will be watching this thread closely i like the idea of round balls in the ten gauge.....charlie

I think the smaller one thru the tighter chokes needs some masking tape perhaps .

[CraigThompson]

Yesterday I fired the guns from a sorta rest off the front rack of the ATV . Today I shot two pair offhand at the same target . But I think I can work with this .

[charlie cleveland]

look out deer.....those guys in englang make the best molds i know of.....charlie

[Arthur Shaffer]

[QUOTE=Finally got around to casting some yesterday made fifty of the .775” and fifty of the .735” . The larger will work in my EH 28” and the 26” barrel was of my Grade 1 20 gauge two barrel set .=======The larger ball did okay although POI could be closer to POA . The .735” balls however didn’t look decent at all .[/QUOTE]

Charlie- the larger ball likely did better because of the tighter fit through the 20 gauge barrels.
:shock: :corn: :rotf::rotf::rotf:

[Mike Koneski]

I think the smaller one thru the tighter chokes needs some masking tape perhaps .

Maybe a wrap of mylar around the ball will tighten it up enough?

[CraigThompson]

Maybe a wrap of mylar around the ball will tighten it up enough?

Mylar won’t stay with it that we’ll going down the barrel . I just loaded eight of the .735” balls four with two wraps masking tape and four with three wraps . We will see what results I get with that this evening or Friday morning .

[CraigThompson]

Just tried the .735” balls with two wraps of masking tape . Not horrendous but not great . Only three on the box , offhand btw.

[CraigThompson]

Then tried the .735” ball with three wraps masking tape . All are on the box again I can work with this .

[Jim Wescott]

I’ve had great success with 1 ounce Winchester rifled slugs

[charlie cleveland]

great way to take a moose with the good old slug.....was it taken with black powder i assume it was.....charlie

[Jim Wescott]

Yes it was. The left barrel of my 1880 “Space Age” Parker is surprisingly accurate. And the Winchester slugs perform very well. I use 3 1/4 drams of FF Goex topped by three fiber wads, the slug then roll crimped. Deer season starts Saturday and I’ll be toting the Space Age Parker

[CraigThompson]

Wanted to try the slugs and punkin balls in my factory original EH 10 gauge 28” that left the factory at about cylinder in the right barrel and modified in the left . I first tried the .775” 730 grain slugs in the right barrel and they’ll do , I then tried the .775” roundballs also in the right and they were quite satisfying . I then tried the .735” roundballs with three wraps of masking tape in the left barrel and nothing good could be said for them . So if I get around to hunting the short EH this year it’ll have 000 or 0000 buck in the left barrel . First pic is of the slugs and the second is of the .775” roundballs both from the right barrel .

[CraigThompson]

As it sits now I’ve got the 8 gauge ready to go with .775” slugs with five wraps tape in the right and buck in the left . The Grade 1 10 gauge hammer 26” with .775” slugs or punkin balls in either barrel . The EH 10 gauge 28” with .775” slugs or punkin balls in the right and buckshot in the left . And a Grade 2 top lever 10 with 32” Belgium fluid steel barrels with factory Federal buckshot and slugs depending on which chokes I have in the gun . Also have a Browning A-5 20 Mag with a 22” slug barrel shooting factory Brenneke slugs which has an outside chance of even getting in the rotation this year . And of course I’ve got five rifles ready to go . Now the major hurdle of getting myself to go is all that’s left :rotf::rotf::rotf:

[Daryl Corona]

Got my two new round ball mold from Tanner Moulds in the UK last week . Finally got around to casting some yesterday made fifty of the .775” and fifty of the .735” . The larger will work in my EH 28” and the 26” barrel was of my Grade 1 10 gauge two barrel set . The .735” should be safe in all of the tight chokes 10’s I have at the present . Today at the shop I loaded ten rounds of both sizes in brand new Cheddar Cheese hulls trims on the Robert’s Industries trimmer . Cheddar Right primers , 30 grains of SR7625 , a BPI wad with the petals removed , five 1/8” 12 gauge cards then a punkin ball after which a roll crimp . The larger ball did okay although POI could be closer to POA . The .735” balls however didn’t look decent at all .

Well I've got to say you are persistent with the slug thingy. I'm going to start a GoFundMe account for some new targets and masking tape for you.:):bigbye:

[CraigThompson]

Well I've got to say you are persistent with the slug thingy. I'm going to start a GoFundMe account for some new targets and masking tape for you.:):bigbye:

It kinda all started 55 years ago when I noticed the W&C Scott 10 in my grandfathers gun cabinet . When my grandfather passed in 2007 he left me his arsenal and as you might imagine I started loading for that Scott immediately. Shot skeet trap sporting dove and deer with that Scott . We also had a NID Grade 2 Super 10 I fooled with a bit as well as the twenty or so Parker 10’s with a couple other brands sprinkled in . I first decided to kill deer with 10’s using buckshot in all sizes from #3 all the way up to 00000 which was accomplished a couple years ago . Also acquired four or five 10 gauge compatible slug molds and I’ve done the same withi think all of them . So the punkin/round ball thing hit me :whistle:

[CraigThompson]

I’ve not been as persistent with the 12 , 16 and 20 gauges although I’ve used all of them to do in deer . Was planning on doing one or two in with the Parker VH 28 but never got around to it before the gun left my possession . Seems I prefer messaging BH with the8’s and10’s most now .:whistle:

[Alex Dawes]

I’m going to be testing some .750 round balls hopefully this week in an old lifter with 32 inch barrels choked about IC. I’ll be using 95 grains of 2F, 10 gauge nitro card, and 1.5 fiber wads. They look good at least!

[Mike Koneski]

I’m trying to convince Craig to do an article on loading buck and slugs. He has plenty of free time to do it!

[Daryl Corona]

I’m trying to convince Craig to do an article on loading buck and slugs. He has plenty of free time to do it!

This is where you are mistaken my friend.. Craig is retired. Once you retire you will realize just how busy you never were. Ask me how I know.

[Bill Murphy]

Craig, who was your grandfather who had all of those guns? He sounds like someone I may have run into over the years. I am in the stratosphere of age and may have known him.

[CraigThompson]

Craig, who was your grandfather who had all of those guns? He sounds like someone I may have run into over the years. I am in the stratosphere of age and may have known him.

All of what guns ? He had maybe a dozen . And if he were still alive he’d be 109 . So I’m about 200% sure you never ran across him , besides he was a very good rifle pistol shot but not to much with a shotgun .

[Arthur Shaffer]

I haven't worked with any of my 10's, but I have a couple of old ones which are cylinder bore. I may give them a try.

I have had good luck in 8 gauge. I have a high grade Webley & Sons single barrel light waterfowl gun that has no choke and has a standard bore. I bought some bore size cast balls and loaded them with a powder charge good for the same weight of shot and they shot very well at 30-40 yards. I used a cork under a cushioned shot cup wad with the cup cut off where it just contacted the ball. Roll crimped the case. made a couple with the case cut off and sealed them in with parafin, which works fine with a single barrel. Many of the old large gauge guns had cylinder barrels like a muzzle loader. The Webley is an 1872 gun. I believe there was a lot of reticence concerning choke boring in the initial days of breech loaders. I you have any choke free guns, try finding a true bore size ball. It may surprise you.

I also have a Sauer double that is a form of cape gun, but I hesitate to call it that. It has a 16 ga left barrel and a 20 bore right barrel. The right barrel is fully rifled, not a Paradox style choke. The barrels are identical on the outside. The right barrel was chambered to a 20 ga size with no forcing cone. Then it was rifled to a depth of a 16 gauge bore. I determined that it was actually a European shotgun based round that was made in several shotgun cartridge gauges and lengths (maybe Lancaster but can't remember without looking it up. A chamber cast showed it was a 20ga x 1-5/8". Rough measurement was that the twist was around 72" which should work with a roundball, which I believe was the intended loading. It shot quite well with the light loads I tried. A bore size ball was quite accurate with the rifling.

These things take a little work but are fun to play with. I would like to push the 8 ga ball and kill a deer with it. A hard ball with a max load would be fun to try for an elk in the woods.

[CraigThompson]

These things take a little work but are fun to play with. I would like to push the 8 ga ball and kill a deer with it. A hard ball with a max load would be fun to try for an elk in the woods.

FWIW I’ve used homemade six ought back , homemade roundball and homemade slug in the 8 to do in deer . This may not be agreeable with hi tech loaders but I found it best to put layers of plain old masking tape around the roundballs and slugs to closer meet bore diameter . It also helps cut down on lead smudges in the bore . I’ve not seen the need for a hard slug or roundball in any of the slugs I’ve cast 8 gauge down to 28 gauge . They’ll all pass thru on lung shots . My typical alloy is 50/50 WW’s and pure lead .

[Alex Dawes]

The .750 round balls did really well at 25 yards. I’m going to have to adjust the trigger pull on the left barrel though. If you breathe on it while cocked, it goes off. I shanked my last shot using that barrel.

I’ll be loading up some more and taking her out to 50 next time. I might have to get a .750 mold too…

Also, not sure why both pictures uploaded sideways:)

[CraigThompson]

I’ve gotten several single cavity no sprue cutter molds from Tanner Molds in the UK usually about $40 each . And they’ve worked pretty well in the 8 gauge and my 10 gauge . However I do not get molds to fit the nominal bore diameter I get them about 3/1000’s less then diameter at the muzzle and then I build up a bit with masking tape to fit . FWIW you might look on EBay few years back I got a copy of the Lyman Sabot Slug mold but for the 10 gauge . But it was made in Russia or the Ukraine I forget which so that might not be an option anylonger . I actually got them for 10-16 and 28 . My 12 is an NOE version and my 20 is an actual Lyman . But they all look like big air rifle pellets .

[Mike Koneski]

Also, not sure why both pictures uploaded sideways:)

Alex, I'm guessing you took them with your phone. Before posting on this site,
open the photo you want to post and then crop it just enough to see the size change. Then load it into a post. That's all it takes. For some reason photos get wonky (that's a tech term) when going from a phone to the forum if not cropped or edited.

[CraigThompson]

FWIW , from top to bottom . 1 small buck shot at 15-20 with handloaded 000000 buck from an PH 8 I used to own . 2 a spike shot at 12 yards with a .795” masking tape wrapped ball from a DH 8 . 3 a spike shot at about 20 yards with a .775” 730 grain hollow base slug also masking tape wrapped from the DH 8 . And finally #4 is a small buck shot at exactly 20 yards with the DH 8 shooting a circa 1930 Remington factory 8 gauge load of 0 buck again from the DH 8 . All four deer were on the ground within twenty yards of where they were shot the only one that hit the ground at the boom of the gun was the spike shot with the roundball , hit him behind the shoulder spun him around and dumped him right there . And that pretty much ends my “war” shall we say with deer using the 8 gauge .

[Mike Koneski]

The results speak Lima Charlie!! I see a slug and buck article in the near future. :corn:

[Mike Koneski]

FWIW, there can be multiple contributors to that article. Alex, Art and Craig can all submit data and photos and the "ghost writer" can put all your notes together and VIOLA!! A nice article on a different type of hunting with a Parker.

:bowdown:

[Alex Dawes]

Alex, I'm guessing you took them with your phone. Before posting on this site,
open the photo you want to post and then crop it just enough to see the size change. Then load it into a post. That's all it takes. For some reason photos get wonky (that's a tech term) when going from a phone to the forum if not cropped or edited.


That's probably what happened! I usually upload to Imgur and then use a link. I decided to try a more direct way. I'll crop them next time and see if that helps

[Alex Dawes]

I’ve gotten several single cavity no sprue cutter molds from Tanner Molds in the UK usually about $40 each . And they’ve worked pretty well in the 8 gauge and my 10 gauge . However I do not get molds to fit the nominal bore diameter I get them about 3/1000’s less then diameter at the muzzle and then I build up a bit with masking tape to fit . FWIW you might look on EBay few years back I got a copy of the Lyman Sabot Slug mold but for the 10 gauge . But it was made in Russia or the Ukraine I forget which so that might not be an option anylonger . I actually got them for 10-16 and 28 . My 12 is an NOE version and my 20 is an actual Lyman . But they all look like big air rifle pellets .

I got my .750s from Track and they use the Lyman mold. I know its discontinued, but I'll keep an eye out. Ballistic Products has a .750 mold, but it's a little $$$ The .750s I'm using are about a fews thousands less than the diameter of my lifter's chokes. The balls don't fit through any of my other 10s' chokes which I found interesting. I was thinking about using masking tape when reading your post because it reminds me of the paper patching I've done with 43 Spanish, but with the groups the gun is shooting, I may leave well enough alone!

[Alex Dawes]

I took the lifter out again and shot her at 50 yards. It took me a few shots to figure out where it was hitting. The last 5 shots I took are circled in the red. I’ll need to load a few more up now that I know where to aim:rotf:

[Alex Dawes]

I’m going to adjust the wads to something that doesn’t just blow apart like my current fiber wads, possibly felt. I’m happy with the pressure and velocity though