Light loads

[William Davis]

My light 12 load is 7/8 oz & Claybuster wads. Red Dot powder with all data and charge straight from Alliants site EXCEPT 1 powder bushing lighter than the recommended charge. Recoil is a bit lighter than published minimum charge weight load. Tight choked guns give adequate shot density for clay birds with fewer pellets. No need for 1 1/8 or 1 1/4 & have doubts 1 oz is necessary

Opinion, ideal light 12 G Parker & Targets factory load is B&P Competition One 7/8 oz. Buy them when I can find them. Alliants 7/8 load about duplicates it.

William

[Harold Pickens]

Richard, Claybuster makes a gray wad for 7/8 oz loads in 12 ga and a pink 3/4 oz wad. I prefer 7/8 oz in 12 ga..

[Mike of the Mountain]

Get yourself a 1 oz and a 7/8 oz charge bar. You can make light loads with 1 and 7/8 oz recipes. Keep the FPS under 1200 and you'll be happy. Velocity and load weight are what cause felt recoil so keep the velocity down. I prefer 1150-1180 FPS. They break anything that a 1250-1300 FPS load can break. I noticed you originally said you had #6 and #7 1/2 shot. If you're loading for clays you can't use anything larger than 7 1/2. It's a safety factor.

[William Davis]

Grey Clay-buster is the one I use, optional for 7/8 oz Remington or Winchester hull. I loaded some 3/4 oz 12 with the pink wad but found 3/4 really needs a different powder and higher velocity to burn well. Another powder to buy increases complication and higher velocity makes for more muzzle blast. If high volume Skeet is the game worth it otherwise 7/8 at 1150 or so ideal.

William

[Mike of the Mountain]

Bill, I use mostly the pinkish DR 7/8 oz wads. Bought a boat-load of them years ago. They perform great. I highly recommend them too. Those gray CB wads work well too.

[Woodcock survey]

Originally Posted by William Davis

Grey Clay-buster is the one I use, optional for 7/8 oz Remington or Winchester hull. I loaded some 3/4 oz 12 with the pink wad but found 3/4 really needs a different powder and higher velocity to burn well. Another powder to buy increases complication and higher velocity makes for more muzzle blast. If high volume Skeet is the game worth it otherwise 7/8 at 1150 or so ideal.

William

I have been using Extra lite in 3/4 and 7/8 for a long while and like you did not like the 1300 fps. I dropped it 2.5 grains and find it very pleasant to shoot. Was concerned about complete burning and cold weather performance but no change at all.
In 12 ga. that is all i use now and with the chokes in my Parkers 7/8 will reach anything i may want to shoot as far as clays go. Have made some very long,50-55 yard shots with good breaks.

[William Davis]

Here’s a tip friend gave me some time ago. If trying light charges wipe the bores after with a slightly oiled patch. In a safe place light the patches corner with a match. If the patch burns smoky it’s dirty no real problem. . See it fizzle, that’s unburned powder, loads too light & best avoided, particularly in colder weather.

William

[Bill Jolliff]

Originally Posted by Richard Mason

I’m looking for a little help on some light loads.

I can’t get my hands on the Advantages Reload manual
If any has one , could you please send me a couple picture of the loads they have listed at like 8000 PSI

Please and thanks

Dick,
If you'd like to go a little lighter, here is my recipe for 12 gauge with a 1/2 ounce of lead shot.

Remington hull: Gun Club, Nitro Gold or STS. Older Winchester AACF hulls OK too.
Cheddite, Winchester or Remington 209 primer.
14 grains of Alliant Extra Lite powder.
CB 0175-12 pink wad for 3/4 ounce.
I put a Circle Fly 20 gauge 0.620" dia by 0.135" thick nitro card in the bottom of the CB wad.

I had them tested in 2015 by Tom Armbrust. About 5500 psi and 1350 fps.

I've shot about 15,000 plus over the past 8 years.

They work fine, burn clean and if you hit the bird it breaks, if you miss it, it won't.

They may not make diesel smoke out there at 30 yards but they do break birds. Nice mild recoil and the lead and powder usage is a lot lower.

And by the way, there isn't a clay bird that can't be broken with this load at our local Sporting Clay's course.

I hope this helps.

Bill

[Bill Jolliff]

Originally Posted by Bill Jolliff

Dick,
If you'd like to go a little lighter, here is my recipe for 12 gauge with a 1/2 ounce of lead shot.

Remington hull: Gun Club, Nitro Gold or STS. Older Winchester AACF hulls OK too.
Cheddite, Winchester or Remington 209 primer.
14 grains of Alliant Extra Lite powder.
CB 0175-12 pink wad for 3/4 ounce.
I put a Circle Fly 20 gauge 0.620" dia by 0.135" thick nitro card in the bottom of the CB wad.

I had them tested in 2015 by Tom Armbrust. About 5500 psi and 1350 fps.

I've shot about 15,000 plus over the past 8 years.

They work fine, burn clean and if you hit the bird it breaks, if you miss it, it won't.

They may not make diesel smoke out there at 30 yards but they do break birds. Nice mild recoil and the lead and powder usage is a lot lower.

And by the way, there isn't a clay bird that can't be broken with this load at our local Sporting Clay's course.

I hope this helps.

Bill

For anyone that might have an interest in my loading recipe above, I wrote that late at night and made an error in the weight of the Alliant Extra Light powder. I wrote 13 grains.

It should be 14 grains which yields 500 rounds = 20 boxes of 25 for a pound of powder.

My apologies if this messed up anyone.

Bill

[Richard Mason]

It’s been awhile since I’ve been this excited about loading and hunting upland again

My MEC press will be here and I can’t learn it all fast enough

I was wondering
Can you load them brass hulls or cases with todays powders instead of the black powder
They sell them in 2 1/2 inches and would be perfect

I was think about buy 50 to start
Just not sure about loading them with todays powder , I was going to get some stuff from that site track the wolf

If load them by hand with the dippers in 1 ounce for shot and get the right one for powders