doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Needing Low Pressure load for 12 Ga AA

Have used PB: Nice but pricey
Nitro 100: was OK but they have reformulated and not a good low pressure powder from what I can tell. A pretty good everyday powder.
7625: My favorite probably but apparently will be discontinued, a little pricey and nearly impossible to find now.
I try to keep my loads for the damascus guns around 5k or less.

any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you!

There's a 700X load that uses 1 oz. of shot and scoots out at around 1,000 fps. Not bad for developing only 6,400 psi. That's what I use, although my cousin is in charge of loading'em. He's a big-time trap shooter and a newbie vintager. He's now using them for his league and Annie-Oakly shooting as well..
Ken

I use 18.5 green dot with 1 oz. Low press and plenty power

Go to the Hodgdon site or Alliant site, there are plenty of low pressure loads.

+1 for the Green Dot, People complained about it being "dirty" but it is only the lightest of light ash. I have used it for decades, it's a fine powder for light shotgun loads

From another thread I posted on:

All is not lost. You can get low pressures with other powders, too. The last loads I had Tom Armbrust test was with Solo 1000.

Average for five:

1192 fps
5182 psi
1 oz. 7 1/2s

These were in either STS or Nitro hulls, not AAs, but I really wouldn't expect much difference as they are all compression formed hulls. Might want to send a sample to Tom to make sure, tho'.

SRH

On second thought, I need to check and make certain which hull I loaded those in. The letter from Tom A. is out in the shop. I'll get back to you on it, to be certain. Don't want to post any misinformation.

SRH

I was able to match very consistent low pressure (~7k) 1oz loads using either WinAA or Rem (STS, Nitro, Gun-club) hulls with either SR7625 or International clays. Loads were found in Lyman #4 Shotshell book. They used win-Lite 1oz wads (or clones).

I was also able to do similar 7/8 oz 20g loads in Rem STS or WinAA hulls with same powders from same loading source.

Win or Rem 209 primers worked with little difference in pressure.

The Intl Clays load would actually cycle a Beretta Auto 391 although the 7625 wouldn't.

I imagine that Hodgden could supply lower pressure loads such as what you want.

Green dot has a similar burn rate and flexibility but I found it didn't burn completely with these low-pressure/low payload reloads. Birds/clays couldn't tell the difference but it just meant a little more work cleaning the barrels.

Green Dot is a faster powder & will Burn, MUCH, MUCH more reliably than 7625 ever thought about at low pressure & particularly in cool temps. Plus you use less of it & its cheaper per unit to boot. Better all the way around than 7625 for anything other than the heavier loads for which 7625 was "Designed".

I've always wondered, whenever I read about 5,000 psi loads, whether some folks have determined that if low pressure is good, then even lower pressure must be better. Anyone have any basis, from vintage double literature, for keeping pressure that low? I sometimes think it must be people who were winners in a limbo contest: How low can you go? As noted above, one issue with very low pressure loads can be performance in cold weather. A lot of the old reloading manuals would carry notations such as "not a good cold weather load" on some low pressure recipes.

Larry this is reverse magnumitist at work. If 7K is good then 6 or 5 must be better. Logic of the lazy or ill informed.

I would rather find the load that patterns best, at a decent pressure level, but very few will pattern four or five loads to see if one low pressure load patterns well. When I use to reload for duck hunting I spent afternoons testing loads, perhaps trying as many as ten, to come up with the best one for the gun I was using. Kept notes for each load. Sometimes the pattern would be vastly different for just a few grains change or a wad change. Listed is not recommended in my books. But too many will just see it and use it without any more investment of their time than that.