2 1/2" 12 ga loads

[Harold Pickens]

What load do you shoot in your 2 1/2" 12 ga. I have plenty of Cheddite shells I can cut down and also AA's and Gun Clubs. I have plenty of CB 1078 wads, the gray 7/8 oz. I have Red Dot, Green Dot, Universal, International, 7625, and Unique powders.
I have been loading 2 1/2" 16's and 20's, and thought I might just load short 12's also. I can get other wads and powders if necessary. I will be shooting these in my WW Greener sidelever circa 1875 and in my Fox pin gun( don't have a Parker 12). I have been shooting 7/8 0z, 2 3/4" low pressure loads thru them.

[OH Osthaus]

we have had a couple threads on this

here is one

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1589

and the Hodgdon site lists some 2 1/2 inch loads

plus some Cheddite 2 3/4 loads i have found fit into 2 1/2 hulls

[Bill Jolliff]

Harold,

I load 2 ½” 12 gauge shells using RST hulls that I scrounge from the hull buckets at the NE Shoot at Ernie’s in Friendsville PA in June plus from the guys I shoot with. They are straight walled hulls with 6 point crimp and I think they may be Cheditte’s (sp?).

I use Clay Buster CB6100-12 wads that are for 7/8 and 1 ounce lead loads and use Alliant Extra Lite Powder. I only load ½ and ¾ ounce loads.

My load data:
½ ounce: RST 2 ½” hulls; Winchester 209 primer; 14.0 grains of Alliant Extra Lite powder (MEC #26 bushing); CB6100-12 wad; 0.125” card wad in bottom and ½ ounce lead shot.

3/4 ounce: RST 2 ½” hulls; Winchester 209 primer; 14.3 grains of XL powder (MEC #27 bushing); CB6100-12 wad; no card wad in bottom and 0.72 ounce lead shot from a MEC 302 75 Charge Bar.

I use a MEC Sizemaster for my loading and for the crimp start and final crimp stations, all that I did was use a 1/4" thick wood spacer at those stations to raise the hull to the 2 3/4" height. (In the pictures below, note that I have my MEC Sizemaster sitting in a low walled box to contain those inevitable lead shot spills.)

I get those 1/8” thick card wads from Craig Smith who operates Circle Fly wads in PA. Cost is about $15.00 per 1000 including postage but Craig sometimes shoots at the NE and if you pre-order, you can pick them up from him there and save the postage.

Those CB6100 wads are just a little long for 2 ½” hulls so I trim a little bit off the end of the petals. Probably not necessary tho.
I have not tested these but I load basically the same load in 2 ¾” hulls and had Tom Armbrust test them. For both ½ and ¾ ounce lead loads, they run around 5000 – 6000 psi at about 1300 fps.

Sorry about this long winded response but I hope you find it helpful. And if you have any questions, just let me know.

Happy New Year.

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[OH Osthaus]

And Bill's little loads bust a clay bird very nicely when he points that old Fox in the right direction

[Harold Pickens]

Thanks Bill and Rick, looks like some good info. I also found a couple pounds of Win AA Lite that I forgot I had, and there are some nice soft loads listed for that. I may see if they will fit in the 2 1/2" RST hulls I have, plus I have a lot of once fired Herters and they are both cheddite hulls.
I have a short kit plate for my 16 Mec 600, and it fits just fine on my 20 ga Mec, and bet it will fit on the 12 also. Might play around with it tomorrow.

[Paul Harm]

I use Claybuster wads and CB-1138-12 is meant for a 1 3/8oz load so the cushion height is shorter - what you're looking for. Any low pressure 1oz or under will work with the 1138 wad. At one time I called CBers and ask about subbing wads with low pressure loads [ 7500psi and less ] and they wouldn't give me an official ok, but he said if it was him, he wouldn't worry. The 3/4 through 1 3/8 all have the same skirt so the pressure isn't going to change because of a different wad. The ones that do have a different skirt look different - like a figure 8. Anyways, that is the way I load and get everything to fit with plastic wads. The shot will set down in a bit but the wad fingers will fold over with the crimp. If you're going to use fiber wads to get the correct pay load height you'll need .125 hard OP card and some 1/2" cushion wads you can cut to the correct thickness. Good luck - Paul

[Gary Laudermilch]

Harold, before they discontinued it I used AA Lite for 7/8 oz loads. I liked it a lot. However, after I could no longer get it I switched to Alliant Extra Lite and I think I like it a bit better as it seems to burn somewhat cleaner. Pressures are similar between the two and the powder bulk is also similar. Currently loading 14.7 gr of XL in 2-3/4 hulls using the grey Claybuster wads. For 2.5 you will have to find a wad with a shorter cushion section.

[Mike of the Mountain]

Harold, I use the BP short shell wads for the 2 1/2" hulls. I also use the BP spreader inserts to make my short spreader shells. You can also make built up wad columns that don't use the plastic wad.

[C.O.B.]

Harold I used International clays or clays powder when I was loading the 2 1/2 in 12's but to be honest I can buy factory shells from B&P or Cleaver so cheap it just doesn't pay to load them.

[Harold Pickens]

Thanks Rich, I have heard of, but not seen any of the cleaver products. I will check Cabelas to see if they are carrying any 2 1/2" BP's. May need to make a run to Dawson's in Massilon, Oh, a great place for reloading suppliies