herco powder

[charlie cleveland]

this load i found was for the 2 7/8 inchlenth 10 ga shell it was a roll crimped shell using old style wads... 35 grains of herco 1 5/8 ounce lead shot... old remington hull... no 57 remington primer... charlie

[C. Aaron Beck]

can you tell me where? do you mean fiber wads?

[Bill Murphy]

You will not blow up an eight gauge with that load. The Herco will give somewhat better ignition in light loads in the eight than Blue Dot because of its faster burn. Blue Dot is a bit slower burning than Herco and will give very low pressures with light shot loads in the eight. It is very hard to find 2 7/8" ten gauge loads in powder company loading manuals. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and invent your own. The eight gauge loads are even harder to find. Unfortunately, Sherman Bell used a lot of obscure components in his recommended loads. I would rather stick to the Alliant powders that I have used for fifty years rather than go shopping for boutique powders that are hard to find and expensive.

[J.B. Books]

OK I will come out of the closet. File this under made up load for the 2 7/8" 10ga; Federal hull, Win 209 primer, 22grs Green Dot, SP10 wad, peel a sliver off (1/16 to 1/8") of a .50 16ga or 20ga fiber filler wad and put largest part inserted inside SP10 wad, 1 1/8 oz of shot. Star crimp. Pull, bang, dead bird and often it's a long way out there.

Disclaimer - I am an untrained unpaid non-professional ballistician who has not had a gun blow up on him in 35 years of making shotguns go bang. The above load is not in any reloading manual nor pressure tested but it works good for me. Your results may differ (but I doubt it).

[Bill Murphy]

The load Pete mentions will ignite well in good weather and won't blow up a ten gauge if it had plastic barrels. Way to go, Pete.