Missing targets with black powder

[Paul Harm]

I don't think you got Craigs nose out of joint. Because of his use of the word " vile " to describe BP just goes to show he'll never understand the joy of shooting the way our forefathers use to shoot. Everyone one else just made comments to try and help Andrew. I also use it in my revolvers, trade gun, fowler, pistols, rifles, matchlock, and my cartridge shotguns. And yes, the clean up isn't all that much trouble.
As Eric said, DON'T use plastic wads. In your brass shells make sure the .125 nitro card is a 10ga. You want a tight fit for a good seal. Those brass shells [ magtechs ] have a 11ga ID and 11ga wads will just slide in with a loose fit. I've found too thick a OS card will give me a hole in the pattern. Just use the .028 card. Your square load will give you velocities just over 1000fps. It is a bit slower, but not enough to notice on a skeet field. I've shot a lot of 1oz/ 75grs of 3F and had in the mid to high 20/25. For SCs I use 1oz/75 or 80grs of 3F. In paper or plastic shells all 12ga fiber wads. I load em on a Mec single stage press. A 46 bushing is cut in half to throw 80grs. Then either finish them or pull em out and roll crimp with the .028 OS card. A couple of friends and I shoot BP in SxS events. I know what you're going through. You want to blame the misses on the BP. Check your pattern and once you're satisfied they're good you can start your shooting on a positive note. If you don't feel good about shooting BP loads, you won't shoot good scores. Once you see and know the patterns are good you can say to yourself " I'm ready to start breaking some clay birds". It sounds like part of your problem is the pattern if you can't hit low 7 on a skeet field. Good luck.

[Kingston Wulff]

All of the suggestions so far, I think, are on-the-money. I shoot the black stuff in a number of calibers plus 12 ga. and I'm always curious about the velocity. I break clay like no tomorrow but the recipe books say that my velocity is only about 1000 fps. It may be that your eye-hand coordination to velocity may be "off" when shooting the BP. Missing at stations 1 and 7? Man, that is hard to take. Especially the low house at st. 7! I'm shooting 2F Elephant BP in brass hulls, lubed wads, without a shot cup. It works fine; don't see any reason to change.

[Andrew Sukel]

I’m going to get out this weekend, between cutting the wads in half and adding a OTS card under the shot I think it’s going to make a big difference, I took advice from everyone here, loaded a couple different loads and going to test them.
I learned a lot here. I’ll post back how I make out

[Andrew Sukel]

Well I did reduce the power charge and split the fiber wads in two plus adding a over the shot card to the top of the wad. I did not have a chance to put on a patterning board yet but did break a lot more targets with these loads.
Can you pack black powder too much?
Overall I think I’m on the right track, just need some time to put on a board and experiment. Thanks for all the help.