Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary Carmichael Sr
Pete, I have some Bismuth in 12gauge 2-3/4" 3-1/4 drams 1220fps 1-1/4oz #4's
10gauge 2-7/8" 3-3/4 drams 1210fps 1-1/4oz #5's
10gauge 3inch max drams 1250fps 1-5/8oz #2's
10gauge 3-1/2" max drams 1350fps 1-5/8oz #4's
10gauge 3-1/2" max drams 1375fps 1-5/8oz #BB
10gauge 3-1/2" max drams 1300fps 1-7/8oz #4's
This info taken off the boxes, I need to know what are the pressures of these loads and what amount of powder is max drams? Thanks for the answer, Gary
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Gary, it will be very difficult to determine the pressures of those factory shells. Only the manufacturer would know, and they are out of production and if it's the original bismuth the company is out of business.
If you are really concerned you could sacrifice 5 shells of each and submit them to somebody like Tom Armbrust for pressure testing.
Dram is an outdated measure of velocity determined from the amount of black powder that would have been used. Long past it's usefulness.
Factory loads are designed to cycle auto loading shotguns so their pressures are generally on the high end of SAMMI max.
I can tell you that both Scott K. and I have shot the old factory bismuth 10ga 1 1/4 ounce load through both Twist and Damascus Parker's without issue.
Another option you can consider would be to open those shells up, strip them of the bismuth and then reload the bismuth with a recipe where you know the pressure and velocity data. Initially that may sound like heresy, but you could cut those hulls down, shoot 1 1/4 ounce in 10ga 2 7/8" and you would get many more reloaded shells to shoot at ducks and geese. Example. Ten 1 7/8 ounce shells stripped of their components would result in Fifteen 1 1/4 ounce reloads.
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