Low pressure 12 ga loads

[Paul Harm]

I try to keep mine under 7500psi. With the powder shortage today sometimes you have to make do with what you can get and that may mean getting up in the 7500 range. Less would be nice but in the cold weather [ under 10 degrees ] the low, low pressure loads [ say in the 5000 to low 6000 range ] don't work too well - bloopers. Don't know what you're loading for - clay birds or hunting. For CBs, 3/4 or 7/8oz works just fine. For hunting then a bit more - 1 to 1 1/8oz would be better. http://www.claybusterwads.com/ has wads for everything and are a bit cheaper than most. I've used Nitro 100, Solo 1000, American Select, 700 and 800X, PB, and Red Dot - Promo is the same but cheaper. Promo is probably the cheapest of all and you'd use the same data as Red Dot, some claim it's a little dirty. For heavy loads some like Green Dot. And there's always black powder, good for any loads, if you don't mind the extra expense and clean up when you're done. Good luck - let us know what you settle on.

[Bill Jolliff]

Paul,

I've been loading some 12 gauge 0.5 and 0.6 ounce loads for about a year using Alliant Extra Lite powder. Work and sound fine for close in targets.

I sent some samples of these loads to Tom Armbrust for testing and they are all under 5500 psi with the velocities around 1300 fps. I used Win AA and Rem Gun Club hulls, about 14.0 grains of EL powder, Rem and Win primers and CB 0175-12 3/4 ounce pink wads. I used 20 gauge card wads of 0.070" and 0.125" thickness to take up space in the bottom of the wad.

This morning I FedEx'ed Ground two sets of similar 12 gauge loads to Tom for testing: 0.5 ounce using EL and 0.6 ounce using 700X.

Probably be a couple weeks before I get results but will be happy to share that data with you or anyone else that's interested.

Bill

[Alton Anker]

Any chance I could the contact info to send some of my reloads for presure testing
Thank you in advance
Alton

[Bill Jolliff]

Originally Posted by Alton Anker

Any chance I could the contact info to send some of my reloads for presure testing
Thank you in advance
Alton

Alton,

Tom Armbrust of Ballistic Research can do your shot shell testing. His address is 1108 W. May Ave., McHenry IL 60051.

Five of your loads would be fine. Include all the data, components, etc: hull; primer; powder what kind and how much; wads; shot size lead or steel.

They have to be sent UPS or FedEx Ground. Here is a web site for some of his articles: http://www.armbrust.acf2.org/. email address is there too.

[Alton Anker]

Thank you so much I will contact him and get this project going
Alton