10 gauge Punkin Balls

[ArtS]

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.

[6pt-Sika]

Originally Posted by Arthur Shaffer

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

[6pt-Sika]

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 .

[Alex Dawes]

Originally Posted by 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 .

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

[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

[Mike of the Mountain]

Originally Posted by Alex Dawes

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.

[6pt-Sika]

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 of the Mountain]

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