Long barreled 20's

[Researcher]

I wonder what "dense powder" old Almo was using? The heaviest 20-gauge loads I've found our North American ammunition factories offering in 1908 and for a lot of years later was 2 1/2 drams of bulk smokeless powder or 20-grains of dense smokeless powder such as Infallible or Ballistite pushing 7/8 ounce of shot. Such loads only available in 2 3/4 inch or longer shells. The lighter loads offered in the 2 1/2 inch 20-gauge shell were 16 grains of Infallible or Ballistite pushing 3/4 ounce of shot or 18 grains pushing 7/8 ounce of shot. I'm thinking 17 grains pushing 1 ounce would be pretty slow.