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12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell patterning

oli700

oli700

12g
Supporter
"Philanthropist"
I decided to dedicate my day off to patterning hand loads.. They all have the same hull, powder, primer, wad and amount of buffer. The only difference between the shells is the way I cut the wad and pellet count. Some are 10 pellet and the others are 8 pellet.


Here are some patterns according to pellet count and the way I slit the wad

These were all shot at 10 yards

Mossberg 500, 20" smoothbore Vang Comp barrel.
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Here is a pic of an unslit wad. The tall one. Also in the pic is the gas seal and under pellet felt
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I call this the flight control cut.
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Some are cut so they have 4 petals (traditional wad), some with two petals and a couple with no slits.

This would be FC cut with salvaged pellets from a FC load and 1 from Remington load, 10 Pellet. Shell fed nice, low recoil
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4 petals slit full length, 10 pellets Lee mold, tight fit in chamber, average recoil
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Uncut wad, 10 pellets Lee mold. Good feed, average recoil
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4 pettals cut half way down the wad, 10 pellets Lee mold, tight feed and average recoil.
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4 full length petals, 8 pellet Lee mold, good feed, low recoil.
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FC cut, 8 pellets Lee mold, good feed, low recoil
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2 petals full length cut, 8 pellets Lee mold, good feed, low recoil.
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2 petals cut half way down the wad, 8 pellets Lee mold, good feed, low recoil
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Some findings. The 10 pellet had more recoil because of the heavier payload. This gave it a lower FPS.I think they patterned a little better because they weren’t traveling as fast as the 8 pellet shots. I am not going to be loading the 10 pellet loads because they feed terrible and I could see them causing short strokes and trouble in general.

I didn’t think I would be to the experimental stage this early in the game but here we go. I am going to experiment with bringing the power down a little for the 8 .34 caliber pellet Lee mold loads. The lower velocity seems to pattern better so far.

All in all I am happy though some of this is patterning better than some factory loads :cool:
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

WooHoo!!! Awesome awesome awesome! This is what I've been waitin for Oli!

Nice work man, I'm lovin this stuff and really lookin forward to the finished product!

What range were these fired at?
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

Wow... Talk about a poor man's slug! I'm very intrigued by the uncut wad. I'm wondering about the damage to tissue when it hits. Would it be like a glaser? Hmm... thinking of donating a pork shoulder or two to the experimentation :cool: I would say your casting is a success!
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

Blue, I was thinking that once it hit flesh the pellets would do some crazy stuff.Only one way to find out though. Too bad we wernt closer we could pit roast the pork when we were done. I am going to do alot more testing with 8 pellets and uncut wads at longer distances.
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

Great stuff oli700! I look forward to seeing more about the uncut wads.
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

Rossignol said:
What range were these fired at?
Click to expand...

10 yards, I would use any of them for HD pattern wise but the tight chambering of the 10 pellet load is scaring me off of that one. The 8 pellet loaded like a factory shell so I am going to work with that
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

Ok, I had a thought and it actually worked. I really wanted to work with the 10 pellet shells because they patterned good, recoiled fairly light and you can’t buy a 10 pellet load.
The felt shown in the picture does two things, cushion the pellets and take up space in the wad. I took the 1/4 “ felt and cut it in half so I had two 1/8 “ felts, built a 10 pellet shell using one of the halves and it worked. It is crimped good and feeds through the gun well so the 10 pellet loads are back in the testing rotation

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Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

I love this stuff...

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Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

Ok little update. I have a big stack of used targets from patterning but here are a couple.

Some were interested in the uncut wads. One at 20 yards and one at 40 yards. One pellet escaped the wad at 40…..excuse the crappy shot , I suck. For the most part I am done testing these. I would rather shoot slugs . I am going to get a slug mold soon. These might do some interesting things in gel or flesh .
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This is another attempt on the FC wad. The plastic is so much thinner than the FC wad that the cut can’t be the same and work. I am still working on this one and the cut doesn’t really look like the FC anymore but the idea is staying the same. 20 yards and the 10 th pellet was touching the pellet that was half way on the paper. So 8 ½ “ at 20 yards is getting there.
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This is a new cut idea 15 yards
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Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

Some good results there Oli !!

Looking forward to the Slug fest once you get that mold... ;)
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

You should definitely be proud. I'm sure they spent more on R&D than we even can guess on the FC wad design. Considering you're just applying that idea to what you have to work with you're getting awesome results! Casting slugs!? I am beyond impressed.
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

P.S. My safeway has "Buy one get one free" on Pork Shoulders.... :cool:
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

Thanks everyone. This is good fun and I highly recomend it. If I can do it anyone can.
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

blue said:
P.S. My safeway has "Buy one get one free" on Pork Shoulders.... :cool:
Click to expand...

It is tempting. I might try some home ballistic gel this winter. I have tried it before it’s just a pain in the ass to keep the right temp.

These things have great penetration by the way. I have a little stand I built just for patterning these. I lean it against a dead tree so it’s hard and dry wood. They are going into the wood several inches. At 10 yards and about 3 inches at 20. Originally had it against a 8 inch diam cedar and about 6 shots fell it so I am happy with my pellets.
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

Oli, I am super impressed, that is some darned fine work and youre def getting closer to a finished product!!!

The patterns arent bad at all Oli! Are you seeing consistency round to round?

Thanks Oli! This is a great thread!!!
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

Thanks, yeah for the most part they are consistent but I have yet to sit and shoot 5 of the same round from the same distance so its hard to give a judgment on that one yet. I am going to have to settle on a load and make a bunch….I already feel I am being too picky. . The patterns I have are really paying off now because I can compare a lot of factory shells with mine. I know I am matching or better than all but the low recoil law enforcement shells. I probably won’t be able to match the FC type rounds but I am not doing to badly. The VCS barrel isn’t hurting either. In the back of my head I know I can come up with effective 00 buck in a crisis like ammo shortages.
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

Oli700 wrote: "In the back of my head I know I can come up with effective 00 buck in a crisis like ammo shortages."

==========================

Heard that Oli...there's nothing like being self-sufficient !
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

Its definitely looking effective Oli!

On the cutting. Is it possible to turn the wad around so the cuts more resemble drag fins rather than petals of a flower? I dont know if the material would open or if it would essentially act the same as the uncut wad?
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

The thing with the FC cut is keeping the pellets from escaping through the cuts. That’s why the FC wad worked....the thick plastic doesn’t let the petals open up enough to let the pellets escape under acceleration. I think the drag fins would open due to the pressure of the pellets trying to push out of them....does that make since? I am trying cuts that won’t let out the pellets but slow the wad down. Not so great with thinner plastic. I have a couple more ideas before I just pick what I want to do.
 
Re: 12 gauge, home cast 00 Buck, hand reloaded shell pattern

2 words. Tiny. Parachutes.

Oh! almost forgot, yes that makes sense!
 
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