Field Load for 10 ga. ?

[Larry Baer]

I recently acquired a Parker 10 ga hammer gun, serial #42873 . I sent it off to the gunsmith and he told me it would shoot fine. I'm sure this has been asked be fore but what is a field load for the 10 ga for pheasants, turkeys, squirrels, ect.? I load 12 ga black powder loads for another gun. Can I just shoot a square load or is there something in print somewhere?

Thanks, Larry

[OH Osthaus]

Go to the shotshell reloading forum and download Peter's great spread sheet of short ten loads

[Larry Baer]

Thanks- I downloaded it. That is a great resource.

[Researcher]

Back in the 1880s when 42873 was made, the big companies like Union Metallic Cartridge Co., Winchester, etc. offered empty brass and paper cases

1885-86 UMC catalog pages 12 & 13.jpg

and a lot of shooters were stuffing all kinds of loads in brass shells for themselves.

Loaded ammunition came from independent loading companies like Chamberlin
Cartridge Co.

1886-7 pg 5.jpeg

1886-7 pg 6.jpeg

1886-7 pg 7.jpg

Note the "special" loads specifically for Parker Bros. guns of that era.

Most metropolitan areas had companies or individuals that provided loaded shotgun shells. Here in Spokane we had Ware Bros.

1901 No. 10 Ware Bros.jpg

Over in Portland, Oregon it was Honeyman Hardware, while in Seattle it was Piper & Taft and Hardy Hall. The big loaders in California were Selby and California Powder Works.

[Larry Baer]

That's very interesting. Thanks. That 4 1/4 dram load looks like it would have been a pretty stout load.

[Researcher]

When Union Metallic Cartridge Co. began offering factory loaded shotgun shells, circa 1891, They offered 10-gauge shells loaded with as much as 5 drams of powder and 1 1/4 ounce of shot. By the 1893 catalog where the SMOKELESS and TRAP shells loaded with smokeless powders were charted separately from the CLUB black powder shells, the heaviest smokeless powder loads offered were 3 3/4 drams pushing 1 1/4 ounces of shot. For 1905, UMC upped the maximum 10-gauge load in their ARROW shell to 4 drams of bulk smokeless powder pushing 1 1/4 ounce of shot. The next year UMC upped the maximum 10-gauge load in their ARROW shell again to 4 1/4 drams of bulk smokeless powder (or 34 grains of dense smokeless powder such as Infallible or Ballistite) pushing 1 1/4 ounce of shot. That remained the heaviest smokeless powder 10-gauge load offered until Western Cartridge Co. introduced their high velocity, progressive burning powder, Super-X Super-Ten load of 1 5/8 ounce of shot.

[Larry Baer]

5 Drams? Wow, this is all very interesting. I have some things on order from BPI. This brings to light a whole new world of possibilities.

[Victor Wasylyna]

I like the following, which I gathered from this site:

1 1/8 oz. - 19 grains of Red Dot

1 1/4 oz. - 27 grains of Green Dot

1 3/8 oz. - 24 grains of Unique

Lead or bismuth.

All use a Remington hull cut to size (Chedites also work), Winchester 209 primer, SP-10 wad, and a 16 gauge fiber filler wad (about 1/4 inch) in the cup under the shot.

The last one was tested (http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthr...=Short+bismuth), but the first two are untested (to my knowledge).

-Victor

[Paul Harm]

4 1/2 drams and 1 1/4oz of shot with the old guns that had 3" or so of drop would most certainly jar any loose fillings out of your mouth. I just shoot clay birds, but 21grs of GD and 1 1/16oz of shot is about all I like. The 19 of RD and 1oz of shot is also nice.

[Larry Baer]

Thank you for the help. This is all new to me. The 10 gauge seems like a big step up from the 12. I got my gun back today from the gunsmith. Now I need to find some empties so I can load some shells and try it out.